The Olympic Games are a worldwide event and undoubtedly a symbol of strength, dedication, and inspiration. The very first Olympic game was held in 776 BC and was meant to signify dedication to the Olympic gods. The purpose of these games was to portray the physical qualities and performance of the young population as well as form good relationships between cities. "Although mortal, their Olympic victories immortalized them." (National Olympic Committee) The running contest in that day included three types of races: the stade race which was the test of speed and was the length of the Olympic track, the dialuos which equaled two stades, and the dolichos which ranged between 7-24 stades! (National Olympic Committee) Today, although the concepts are similar, the races are a little bit different. The sprint events of today are 100m, 200m, 400m, the 4X1 relay, and the 4X4 relay. The sprinters must start the relay in starting blocks. The current world records for these specific races are as follows. For men the 100m @ 9.58 sec, 200m @ 19.19 sec (both held by Bolt), 400m @ 43.18 sec (held by Johnson). For women the 100m @ 10.49 sec, the 200m @ 21.34 (both held by Griffith- Joyner), and the 400m @ 47.6 sec (held by Koch)( Rosenbaum). Records keep getting broken due to the ever evolving science behind sprint training. So what makes an Olympic sprinter? It is many things that are broken down into a very complex ideology. One of the undeniable factors that create elite sprinters is of course genetics. How a person is built and if they have more explosive muscle fibers are examples of good sprinting genetics. Different coaches have unique things that they think might benefit their athletes that other coaches may disagree with. However overall there are scientific approaches that tend to be universal when looking at an Olympic sprinter. .
"The two most important elements in the sprint training program plan are to maximum speed training and maximum strength training.