Building a Better Jock

ByABC News
August 5, 2004, 11:53 AM

Aug. 13, 2004 -- In the Mexico City Olympics of 1968, Bob Beamon stunned the athletic world when he shattered the record for the men's long jump. Leaping over 29 feet, he beat the former record by almost 2 feet -- so far that the officials' measuring rail didn't even extend that distance.

What unlocks these record-setting performances? For many coaches and athletes, the answer seems to be science, in the form of nutrition, physiology and materials technology.

But is the reliance on new scientific innovations stealing the soul of athletic competition?

What athletes eat and drink -- the super-foods precisely engineered to address their nutrient needs -- is one of the ways that science lends a helping hand.

"We have foods now that are specifically designed for athletes," says Ron Pfeiffer, professor of kinesiology at Boise State University in Idaho and co-director of its Center for Orthopedic and Biomechanics Research.

"Elite athletes aren't the kinds of people you'll see walking down the street next to you," Pfeiffer adds. "They have different nutritional needs. Their diets are carefully monitored for things like muscle glycogen and liver glycogen levels."

Some companies have excelled at devising sports drinks and other products that address athletes' fluid-replacement and carbohydrate needs. But are these super-foods creating super-athletes?

Pfeiffer, like most others in sports science, doesn't think so. "There's no real magic to it," he says, though he doesn't think anyone is likely to return to the diets of a generation ago.

"I didn't know a protein from a hockey puck when I went to the Olympic trials for speed skating in 1968 and 1972," Pfeiffer says.

The most gifted athlete in the world can't perform up to Olympic standards with an injury. But science has stepped up to the plate here, too.

"Training against injuries is now a major focus," says Pfeiffer. "It improves performance when you focus on programs to reduce injuries. We're applying medical principles to the training of athletes."

Some innovative new training and rehabilitation concepts have joined the arsenal of weapons available to sports trainers and coaches.