Sport and Recreation

It’s quite usual for us to get to know that some American athlete wins another world or Olympic title in sprint event. Last time it was news from Helsinki World Championships, where the Americans had clear superiority over others in individual sprint disciplines. They won more titles than all other nations taken together. Of course, that’s not every time that it happens, but the advantage of American athletes which is due to their high level is obvious. While athletes from other countries come to sport elite and go away, Americans always stay in. Moreover, it’s impossible to imagine the sprint elite without Americans. They dominate short-distance running championships now. They have been dominating for all history of modern athletics since the first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896.

To prove this point of view I’m giving the so-called rating of all nations’ Olympic performance athletes of which ever took prices at the modern Olympic Games. A nation gets 3 points for every gold medal, silver is 2 points and bronze is 1 point. For example, at the 2004 Olympics the Americans won all medals in men’s 200 meters dash. In women’s 200 meters dash a Jamaican won gold, an American got silver and a Bahamian got bronze. Thus Americans get 8 points, Jamaicans – 2 point, Bahamians – 1 point. Summing up points for all years we get following statistics:

100 meters:
USA – 120
Germany – 22
Great Britain – 20
Canada – 14
Australia – 13
Other countries – 69

200 meters:
USA – 117
Germany – 18
Jamaica – 16
Australia – 14
Great Britain – 12
Other countries – 63

400 meters:
USA – 97
Germany – 22
Great Britain 20
Jamaica – 13
Australia – 12
Other countries – 52

Treadmills have many advantages over real running and walking. Sure, you don’t get to go outdoors in the nature, but you can also avoid bad weather and all the other hazards that come with going out of your house, such as cars and passers-by. It’s much more relaxing to not have to keep your mind and one eye on the potential problems, and just concentrate on your running.

Apart from that, though, there are many more serious benefits. The ground remains at the same level for the whole run, which avoids you having to constantly adjust the way you’re running – you can build up a pace and then keep going. Also, the run is always at the speed you’re most comfortable with, and you can change it whenever you like. If you do want to run uphill, though, you can simulate that too, by adjusting the gradient of the machine.

Another advantage is in all the statistics you can collect about your running: because the machine is setting the pace of the run, it can calculate all sorts of things automatically, such as the amount of energy (calories) you have burned. You can also hook yourself to various monitors – heart rate monitors, breathing monitors, and so on – to check all the different aspects of your health when you run.

One of the best things about running indoors is that you don’t have to be bored while you’re doing it – you can watch TV or read a book while you’re using it. Even though it can be quite relaxing, though, treadmills are still a more effective form of exercise than some complex cardiovascular exercises. Faced with a choice between getting into all sorts of strange positions and contorting my body into odd shapes or just running on a treadmill, I know which one I’d choose.