The Sports Researcher

25/07/2021

I've been thinking about what is my greatest Olympic moment. Keiren Perkins 1500m final 1996; the Champion who seemed invincible. He squeezed into the final as the slowest qualifier. "He was down and out yesterday". Cometh the moment cometh the man. (please revisit this moment in full with me by going back to watch the whole race). Happy Olympics everyone but remember those that cannot be here today to watch with us in these trying times.

27/01/2020

You may often hear phrases such as "You've got to be in it to win it", and "Last man standing" but the phrase "doing a Bradbury" is now part of the Australian Dictionary. But "what's luck got to do with it?" Steven Bradbury was world champion in 1991 and then spent many years with luck against him. Every morning he would wake up to see the sign above his bed "This is the Olympics get up". He said "In sport if you miss a day’s training, you know the people that you’re racing against aren’t missing a day’s training, so they’ve got one up over you and that’s the driver to never miss a day". Success comes from perseverance and hard work. Because of this the man is immortal.

Australia's Steven Bradbury achieves an unexpected gold medal in the short tack speed skating event, taking advantage of a mistake causing his fellow finalis...

18/01/2020

It's just not possible that the person standing in the lane next to you in any sporting event has vastly superior genetics. Milestones are made by those who innovate, those who think outside the square. We pay tribute to those who use their minds to bring us those unforgettable moments of achievement.

At the 100m backstroke final in at the Olympic Games 1988 in Seoul, a new underwater technique called "Dolphin Kick" revolutionized the swimming world and br...

01/06/2019

Japanese sports scientists changed the world of swimming. They had some ideas which they tested and found small but significant improvements. "Only a fool would not copy them". Test your ideas if you are a coach or scientist. If you are an athlete test your coaches ideas; Don't waste years of your life going down a path of "wishful thinking".

A look at the era in Olympic history when the swimming pool was dominated by the pioneering Japanese. Starting off with a gold in 1928. The most famous Olymp...

26/05/2019

Photo of me participating in (supervising) a VO 2 max test at Uni many years ago. "A foolish man never learns from his mistakes, a smart man learns from his mistakes but a wise man learns from another man's mistakes". The knowledge gained from learning from the scientific experiments of others has made achieving results more of a certainty. Don't waste years of your life chasing a goal through training methods that have little chance of assisting you. Choose wisely who you listen to. Most importantly, make your judgement based on data.

24/11/2018

"I used my intellect to gain an advantage" said Graeme Obree. This article measures the advantage of aerodynamics but are we missing something here? Is Graeme able to produce more power at his legs in the superman position? This is the type of thinking needed to produce the next champion.

Athlete or Genius? Graeme Obree shot to fame in the early 90s after twice breaking the world hour record on a bike he'd built using parts from an old washing...

03/11/2018

Scientifically prepared vs gut instinct and feel. One athlete has scientists to design his bike and training program. The other athlete designs his own bike and program. Both methods rely on innovation. Neither one of them would have succeeded if they did not measure if their innovations were working. Ingenuity in sport! Boardman said of Obree "the man does not know what he is capable of". The same applies to all of us.

07/04/2018

Dick Fosbury not only changed the world of high jump but changed the world of sports science. He is immortal because of his innovative technique. He is the inspiration behind this page. What can we achieve in sports through further innovation?

Dick Fosbury fortæller om hvordan han som en af de første udviklede den nye springstil og vandt guld ved OL 1968. Bemærk at han til sidst i videoen nævner at...