Blue, green, red, yellow and black Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower representing 2024 Olympic records

Freddie Clemo

The 2024 Paris Olympics have been feats of human endurance, with the best athletes in the world constantly pushing the boundaries of what we thought was possible. 

Since the first modern Olympics was held in Athens in 1896, we have seen astronomical improvements in Olympic sports with records broken across the board. Technology has revolutionised many sports, and there have been developments in technique and training. 

Shattered records

In 1896, Spyridon Louis won the first recorded Olympic marathon in 2:58.50 in Athens. In 2024, Tamirat Tola set a new Olympic record in a time of 2:06:25. This has taken nearly an hour off the first recorded record. 

The first recorded male pole vault Olympic record saw Frank Foss clear 4.09m at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. Armand Duplantis soared metres above to take the gold at Paris 2024 with a stunning Olympic and World Record clearance of 6.25m. 

Faith Kipyegon flew round the track at the Paris Olympics to break her own Olympic record of 3:51:29 in the 1500m, while GB’s Georgia Bell took bronze in a national record time of 3:52:61. The times of all the finishers in the final were significantly faster than Lyudmila Bragina’s first recorded Olympic record of 4:06.9 at the 1972 Munich games. 

So why have we seen such monumental improvements in times? 

The power of super shoes 

Any astute viewer may have wondered why elite runners a few years ago began lining up in strikingly similar fluorescent shoes. ‘Super shoes’, first popularised by Nike in 2016, contain a combination of carbon-fibre plates and hyper-responsive foam that propels runners forward. Now, most major sporting brands boast their own version of the carbons and all major record breakers from 5,000m up have been wearing some version of the super shoes. 

The New York Times found that runners wearing Vaporflys ran 4%-5% faster than normal running shoes. 

Nike still dominates the ‘super spike’ scene. All the athletes who won races at the Paris Olympics from 800m upwards were wearing either Nike Air Zoom Victory 2 or Dragonfly 2 super spikes. This includes GB’s Keely Hodgkinson who was propelled to gold medal glory in the 800m. 

Controversial kit

Super shoes have changed the game for elite runners, but developments in technology haven’t come without controversy. Super shoes have been termed by some to be ‘technological doping’. In 2021, World athletics ruled that they must adhere to physical specifications to be used in competition. This year, requirements for super spikes meant that heel-stack height couldn’t exceed 20mm, and that every athlete must declare in advance what spikes they are wearing. 

“Everything is designed to help the athletes run faster”

Former Olympians have claimed super shoes have ‘devalued’ records. Tim Hutchings, an Olympic finalist who competed in the 1980s, believes data should show the differences made through new super shoes in record breaking. 

“One big mark of greatness is record-setting, and that’s a devalued currency,” he told The Telegraph. 

While he praised Tigist Assefa’s 2023 record breaking marathon run, he believed “the shoe-tech should have been policed better and a ‘new era’ formally recognised”. 

Super tracks?

Shoes aren’t the only area where technological developments have led to record-breaking performances. Trevor Painter, Keely Hodgkinson’s coach believes that new super fast Mondo tracks help propel athletes forward. 

He told the Guardian: “On some tracks you wouldn’t go anywhere near as quick if you went in the wrong direction, because it’s set up to propel you. Everything is designed to help the athletes run faster.”

Bike to glory 

Track cycling has been revolutionised by developments in technology, but often at an eye-watering cost. The British bikes give GB an aerodynamic advantage at a cost of £55,000. The price of a Vorteq skinsuit starts at £3,000, but scientists say the difference between a good and bad skinsuit can be up to 10 per cent. 

Team GB sprint cyclists wowed the world as they broke the world record three separate times, from qualifying to the final at the Paris Olympics. This impressive performance was aided by a wider track and low air pressure in the velodrome, alongside their pricey specialist kit. 

Revolutionising technique 

Not all record breaking performances involve flashy new technology. Changes in technique through advancements in coaching and plain creativity have also revolutionised sport. 

The ‘Fosbury flop’ is now the standard high jump technique. However, before it was popularised by Dick Fosbury at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, athletes were using the straddle technique or the scissor jump to clear the bar. 

Ellery Harding Clark set the first Olympic record when she cleared 1.81m. This is a far cry away from the current- post-Fosbury – Olympic record (2.39m) held by Charles Austin. While the technique clearly revolutionised the jump, Austin’s record set in 1996 is yet to be challenged. This beggs the question of whether we have hit the peak of development in high jump technique. 

Untouchable records 

Defying advancements in technology and training, there are some Olympic records that have stood the test of time. 

Bob Beamon’s iconic performance in the long jump at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics still stands as the record. Beamon’s astonishing jump of 8.90 metres was beyond the limit of the measuring equipment, breaking the existing record by 55cm. His jump stood as the world record for almost 23 years, and it remains the Olympic record. 

Florence Griffith Joyner still holds the Olympic record for the 200 metre sprint that she set in Seoul in 1988. Her time of 21.34 is also the world record, yet to be bettered by any female athlete. 

Nadezhda Olizarenko holds the Olympic record for the 800 metres that she set at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Her time of 1:53.43 is firmly in Keely Hodgkinson’s sights for LA 2028. 

Have we surpassed the peak?

Data from Sky News shows the number of world records broken at the Olympics has declined. Just 17 were broken in 2024, compared to 30 records broken in 2008. 

This has prompted some to question whether we have reached a peak of athletic performance. Only time will tell how far technology and training can go, and whether we will see more longstanding records shattered. 

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Featured image courtesy of Amada MA on Unsplash. No changes made to this image. Image licence found here.

First-Class English Literature grad from Edinburgh University, currently completing my NCTJ at News Associates and living in Sussex.

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