Science Helps Modern Athletes, But Not Sure Sports Are Making Progress: Edwin Moses

Edwin Moses forever changed the way athletes trained with his use of biomechanics in sports. As athletes sought ways to increase performance levels, the American champion hurdler tapped into his knowledge of science and engineering to devise innovative training methods.

At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Moses won gold and set his first world record of 47.64 seconds. He continued to push the boundaries: 47.45 seconds (1977), 47.13 seconds (1980) and 47.02 seconds (1983). His record stood for nine years. That was all possible thanks to his scientific training approach.

The US-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games kept him away at his peak, but he was still unparalleled in Los Angeles in 1984, winning his second Olympic gold. Moses was also known for his superior passing pattern that kept his rivals behind. Hopes of a third gold at the 1988 Games in Seoul were dashed when compatriot Andre Lamar Phillips won and Moses took bronze. Moses was undefeated in the 400 meter hurdles for ten years until 1987, winning 122 consecutive races and 107 finals in a row.

The Moses era is far behind us. Groundbreaking technology, whether in training, diet or footwear, is helping athletes go faster and higher than ever before.

“If I had run in the shoes they run now with carbon plates and the tracks that are made to use the energy you put down and give it back like a spring, like a rebound effect, I could have done 45 seconds flat. I talked at the time about how running sub-46 seconds was a reality even on those tracks,” Moses said on the sidelines of the 2024 Laureus World Sports Awards.

However, despite these better performances, the sport is not really improving, he says.

“With automation and visualization to the point where you can record everything on your phone and process it through software programs, more athletes can visualize the biomechanical part. I studied it. I was a physicist and an engineer, so I knew the numbers part. I know that a lot coaches look smarter because there is more information. The times are faster because they now have shoes that respond to the track and give you feedback that would have been illegal. So the technology helps and the times are a lot faster. It seems that the sports is moving forward, but I don’t think that’s really the case.

“You can’t really compare the times today. Noah Lyles does 19.6 seconds, 19.5 seconds, Tommie Smith (1968 Olympic 200 meter champion) fifty years ago ran 19.8 seconds on tracks that aren’t even close came from what it is now. So that is possible. I can no longer compare the times, and cannot compare the relative greatness.”

Moses used computers and heart rate monitors, which were unheard of at the time.

“I was a data person, a scientist and engineer, so I relied on data. I don’t know what athletes do now, most of them listen to their coaches. I didn’t have a coach. I had to develop myself. I was the first to use an ice bath and use computers. Biomechanics didn’t even exist when I used them. There were only a few PhDs in biomechanics in the US. The 400 meter hurdles is the most difficult event. It is technical, running over obstacles and you get tired.”

Technological progress alone does not guarantee world-class performance.

“There is always enormous pressure on athletes to clock world record times. Most never get closer to one, just a few are enough. So the expectation that an athlete will reach that level is quite unrealistic. Fast times are not for everyone. You just don’t walk across the bow and run fast. It takes special people for that.”