The Darwin Times
Natural Selection in Sports
By Connor McGriff and Nathan Miller
The same natural selection that eliminates many species or unwanted traits also produces better athletes and competition.
Natural selection is survival of the fittest. This concept also applies to sports. The team or person who adapts the best will win. Also, the competition for first place also increases, producing better athletes.
4,000 year old records of wrestlers in action. Taken from Wikipedia.com
Sports have been around for a very long time. Human nature is very competitive; this leads to the development of sports. Egyptians first recorded wrestling matches 4,000 years ago (See right). In ancient Greece is where the first organized competition was started. They started the Olympics in 776 B.C.E. These games consisted of the javelin throw, foot races, discus, wrestling matches, and jumping competitions.
Since this time sports have come a long way. As there is more competition to for winning, athletes must continue to get better and better. Charles Darwin once said, “In the long history of humankind those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” This goes with Darwin’s famous “survival of the fittest” theory. This can also be applied to sports.
Some sports, dubbed mature sports are evolving less and less. Mature sports are sports that simply have reached full potential. It is impossible for the human body to perform much better than it already is. Mature sports’ opposite is immature sports. These are sports that are relatively new and are continuing to be more and more competitive in great leaps instead of small steps. In immature sports, records are constantly being broken. In mature sports, it is more rare for a record to be broken.
Mature sports do not form because of lack of competition. Charles Darwin also said, “it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Races such as the 100-meter-dash are no longer susceptible to change. The human body has reached its full potential. This can be seen by the changes, which are very small, in times. In 1896 the winner, Thomas Burke, of the Olympics ran the 100 meters in 12 seconds. In 2008 Usain
Bolt ran it in a faster 9.69 seconds. This still shows the evolution of athletes due to competition, but not as much as events such as the immature sport: javelin throw.
In 1908 Eric Lemming from Sweden threw 54.825 meter. One hundred years later, in the 2008 Olympics, Andreas Thorkildsen threw an astonishing 90.57 meters. This shows the change is much greater when there is more room for improvement. New methods of throwing and training are still being developed for javelin throw. This adapting allows for improvement to keep up with competition.
Team U.S.A celebrating world record-breaking win
Taken from George Bridges / MCT
Swimming is another example of evolution in the world of competitive sports. Swimming is a relatively new Olympic sport, thus once again being a immature sport. There was some controversy over an adaption for the sport, new “speed suits.” These suits were used by the United States team in 2008. The 4x100 medley team of Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Jason Lezak, and Michael Phelps obliterated the competition with an unheard of time clocking in at 3:29.34. This further portrays that the competitor that can adapt the most to the surroundings will come out victorious.
Natural selection has been bettering the species on the earth. It also betters the people doing athletic activities. As the level of competition grows, so does the need for changes to give a person or team the upper hand. These changes continue to occur until one has reached its maximum potential.
Natural selection is survival of the fittest. This concept also applies to sports. The team or person who adapts the best will win. Also, the competition for first place also increases, producing better athletes.
4,000 year old records of wrestlers in action. Taken from Wikipedia.com
Sports have been around for a very long time. Human nature is very competitive; this leads to the development of sports. Egyptians first recorded wrestling matches 4,000 years ago (See right). In ancient Greece is where the first organized competition was started. They started the Olympics in 776 B.C.E. These games consisted of the javelin throw, foot races, discus, wrestling matches, and jumping competitions.
Since this time sports have come a long way. As there is more competition to for winning, athletes must continue to get better and better. Charles Darwin once said, “In the long history of humankind those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” This goes with Darwin’s famous “survival of the fittest” theory. This can also be applied to sports.
Some sports, dubbed mature sports are evolving less and less. Mature sports are sports that simply have reached full potential. It is impossible for the human body to perform much better than it already is. Mature sports’ opposite is immature sports. These are sports that are relatively new and are continuing to be more and more competitive in great leaps instead of small steps. In immature sports, records are constantly being broken. In mature sports, it is more rare for a record to be broken.
Mature sports do not form because of lack of competition. Charles Darwin also said, “it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Races such as the 100-meter-dash are no longer susceptible to change. The human body has reached its full potential. This can be seen by the changes, which are very small, in times. In 1896 the winner, Thomas Burke, of the Olympics ran the 100 meters in 12 seconds. In 2008 Usain
Bolt ran it in a faster 9.69 seconds. This still shows the evolution of athletes due to competition, but not as much as events such as the immature sport: javelin throw.
In 1908 Eric Lemming from Sweden threw 54.825 meter. One hundred years later, in the 2008 Olympics, Andreas Thorkildsen threw an astonishing 90.57 meters. This shows the change is much greater when there is more room for improvement. New methods of throwing and training are still being developed for javelin throw. This adapting allows for improvement to keep up with competition.
Team U.S.A celebrating world record-breaking win
Taken from George Bridges / MCT
Swimming is another example of evolution in the world of competitive sports. Swimming is a relatively new Olympic sport, thus once again being a immature sport. There was some controversy over an adaption for the sport, new “speed suits.” These suits were used by the United States team in 2008. The 4x100 medley team of Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Jason Lezak, and Michael Phelps obliterated the competition with an unheard of time clocking in at 3:29.34. This further portrays that the competitor that can adapt the most to the surroundings will come out victorious.
Natural selection has been bettering the species on the earth. It also betters the people doing athletic activities. As the level of competition grows, so does the need for changes to give a person or team the upper hand. These changes continue to occur until one has reached its maximum potential.
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