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Message: [QUOTE="HoustonCuse, post: 2693105, member: 87"] My take is it is a combination of the factors you mentioned and population growth. If you imagine a normal curve of running capability, the top 0.1% of that curve has a lot more people in it than it did 20 years ago and whole heck of a lot more than 50 years ago. Add to it that it is more likely that talent/ability will be discovered and developed today than at any point in the past. For instance, there might have been guys in Kenya or someplace else that could have performed this feat 20 years ago but they never tried. Or if they did do it, nobody had a stopwatch or reason to publicize it. Another way to look at it is: what if Michael Phelps never took up swimming? How many people are out there that could beat Usain Bolt in the 100 meters but nobody knows it? As population goes up, so do the odds. But like I said, the world is better at finding talent now than it was at any point in the past. [/QUOTE]