Even before this year’s race began, only five or six riders had any real chance of winning.
Usain Bolt surprisingly synchronised his steps with Tyson Gay (left) when he broke the world record at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in 2009.
AAP/Christophe Karaba
In a $5 billion industry, there’s no longer a level playing field.
It’s hard for a human to keep an eye all the players’ performance in any game, such as this typical AFL match at the MCG in Melbourne. So let the machines do all the work.
Flickr/Sascha Wenninger
When it comes to keeping an eye on all the action in sport a coach can only see so much. But machine learning can crunch all the data and look for improvements.
Whether kids play pickup sports or organized sports may have varying effects on their development.
Tony Baldasaro/Flickr
Youth sports are viewed as a rite of passage in a child’s development. If the clichés that permeate sports broadcasts and locker room speeches are to be believed, sports participation teaches children…
Even at major NCAA Division I schools like Alabama, whether or not their athletic programs turn a profit varies by year.
Tim Murphy/Flickr
Parents, government officials, and tuition-paying students are all seeking solutions to the skyrocketing costs of higher education and the burden of student debt. Currently, public universities in America…
It is never easy to run 100m in less than ten seconds, as the recent Commonwealth Games demonstrated. However, as the world record stands at 9.58 seconds, the attention in recent years has turned to whether…
When it comes to physical exercise, we don’t tend to take into account how important our brain is for keeping our whole body going. But our ability to control our muscles – to keep them contracting and…
World champion sprinters Tyson Gay (centre) and Asafa Powell (right) have tested positive to the banned substance oxilofrine.
EPA/Peter Klaunzer
American sprinter Tyson Gay and former 100m world record-holder Jamaican Asafa Powell are reported to be among six athletes to test positive for a banned substance: oxilofrine. But what is this drug that…
Over the last 100 years there have been countless outstanding athletic performances, such as Ed Moses, Daley Thompson, Michael Johnson, Emil Zatopek, Roger Bannister, Fanny Blankers-Koen and Cathy Freeman…
Time (of the month) stands still for no woman, but how does it affect elite performance?
Hannibal/EPA
For some female athletes, “counting the days” to their Olympic event may have a double meaning. These Olympians may be worried about “what time of the month” it is going to be when they are expected to…
If an athlete believes sex will harm their performance, there’s a good chance it will.
Slagheap
From the ancient Greeks to modern soccer World Cups and the Olympics, there has been an enduring belief by some athletes and coaches that engaging in sexual activity before athletic competitions may be…
Ceilings on physical ability are there – sometimes – to be broken.
EPA/Hannibal
We once thought no-one could run a mile in less than four minutes – and yet the current world record stands at three minutes, 43 seconds. So will records keep tumbling as people get fitter and technology…
“Blade Runner’s” selection for the London Olympics has made sporting history.
RAINER JENSEN/EPA
Oscar Pistorius – the South African double amputee athlete known as Blade Runner – will run at the at the London Olympics. Until a week ago, his hopes of inclusion in the South African Olympic team looked…
Professor of Social Inclusion - UTS Business School - Centres for Business and Social innovation, and Business Intelligence and Data Analytics, University of Technology Sydney
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford