Comment by xg15 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by xg15 | Hacker News Reader

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Ok, but on the other hand, if the only way to compete in professional sports is to have the research team of a megacorp behind you, several million in the bank and contort your body in ways that are unhealthy and completely impractical for everyday life, what is even the point? Like, what would the winner of the competition actually represent?

Admittedly, shoes don't pass the third point as you can just step out of them after the competition, even if they were unhealthy. But still - if extremely optimized hi-tech running shoes are allowed, why not go one step further and add motorized rollers? Where would be the difference?

(This is an actual issue in biking, btw. You could also ask why relentlessly optimizing your bike for low weight and air resistance is allowed, but adding hidden motors is not)

The reason is the same reason these issues come up in Motorsports. In reality, technology matters. And sponsors (Nike, Pirelli, etc) are attracted to the sport in part for that reason. Sports don’t exist at the level they do without sponsors. So it’s a synergistic thing. The governing body has to come up with rules, and try to enforce them.

Why don’t they use recumbent bikes at the Tour? They are way faster, way more aerodynamic. But the rules prohibit it because bike companies think (almost certainly correctly) that they won’t sell like normal bikes due to the myriad issues with them.

People may think that something as simple as running is “pure” but they are just uninformed. Aerodynamic skin suits are useful in running (and have been used to win gold at the Olympics).

Most competitions will only allow runners to use publicly available shoes. The idea being that if you want the best shoes you still need to spend a couple hundred dollars, but you don't need the research team or megacorp to make a custom shoe for you.

I thought cycling competitions have a minimum weight/aero limit specifically to prevent people from buying their way to better times past a certain point? Is that not the case?

Ah, that's possible. Also only read about the "motor doping" incidents in some articles.

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