Is It In The Knees? Researchers try to discover how Jamaican sprinters outrun the world....Scientists have long wondered about Bolt's extraordinary speeds.

Published: Monday | December 29, 2014

Researchers try to discover how Jamaican sprinters outrun the world

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is the fastest person in the world.

Fraser-Pryce (left) and Carter.-File

He is the very first Olympic athlete to hold 100 metres and 200 metres world records, having accomplished the former in just under 10 seconds in 2009. He can also travel for 30 miles per hour on foot and in some small towns, that is already the driving norm.

Scientists have long wondered about Bolt's extraordinary speeds.

In their search for Usain's sprint secrets, researchers stumbled upon Bolt's country Jamaica, home to some of the world's most elite sprinters. Researchers have begun to wonder how Jamaica, a country with less people than New York City, gave birth to some of the best runners history has ever known.

physiology

Bolt

Rutgers University decided to investigate the Usain Bolt phenomenon, and their first step to uncover the secrets of Jamaica's greatest runners is to go through the physiology.

Scientists hypothesised that the alignment of the knees may have had something to do with how Jamaican runners perform on the track and they began to test their ideas by examining the knees of 74 elite Jamaican sprinters, including well-known names such as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Nesta Carter. more