licensed under CC-BY-NC ON YOUR MARK name Should Olympic sprinters run distances based on their heights? date Act One: Lightning Bolt? 1 In the 2012 London Olympics, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won the gold medal in the men’s 100 meter dash, finishing in 9.63 seconds. Bolt was the fastest runner. He was also the tallest. At 1.96 meters tall (around 6’5”), Bolt was much taller than the silver and bronze medalists, Yohan Blake and Justin Gatlin. Imagine if instead of running the same distance, sprinters ran distances based on their heights. Below, calculate how many times his height Usain Bolt ran. Then, if Blake and Gatlin ran this same multiple of their heights, how far would they have to go? Draw this below. Usain Bolt 100 m 1.96m 09.63 s “ times your height” dash Yohan Blake m 80 100 m 1. 09.75 s Justin Gatlin m 85 100 m 1. 09.79 s 2 Yohan Blake ran 100 meters in 9.75 seconds, while Justin Gatlin ran it in 9.79 seconds. If they ran as fast as they did in London, how long would it take them to run their new distances…and would Usain Bolt still win the race? 2 Act Two: Gatlin Gun 3 Usain Bolt doesn’t have to be the one to run 100 meters. If Justin Gatlin were the athlete chosen to run 100 meters, how far would Bolt and Blake have to run…and who would win gold, silver and bronze now? Justin Gatlin m 100 m 1.85 09.79 s Yohan Blake m 80 100 m 1. 09.75 s Usain Bolt m 96 100 m 1. 09.63 s 4 The graphs below show the results of the 100 meter finals for the Olympics since 2000: on the left, the actual results; on the right, what would have happened if sprinters had run distances proportional to their heights. Based on this, do you think the International Olympic Committee should change how far sprinters run? Explain. Time vs. Height (Actual) Time vs. Height (Adjusted) 10.20 s 10.40 s 10.0 s 9.70 s 9.80 s 9.0 s 9.60 s 8.30 s 1.6 m 1.7 m 1.8 m 1.9 m 2. m 1.6 m 1.7 m 1.8 m 1.9 m 2. m .