On stagnant records and a crazy proposal

Do you remember the 80s? Year in, year out, one could expect a dozen men's world records and even more of them for women. Things became more tame in the 90s (except for some chinese women fireworks) and the the 00s brought everything almost to a standstill. In the last ten years we have had as many new records as in a single year a quarter century before. Here is a list of the various events and the year where the standing record was established.

Event	Men	Women
100 m	2009	1988
200 m	2009	1988
400 m	1999	1985
800 m	2012	1983
1500 m	1998	1993
5000 m	2004	2008
10000 m	2005	1993
Half Marathon	2010	2003
Marathon	2013	2003
3000 m st	2004	2008
110 m hd	2012	1988
400 m hd	1992	2003
4x100 m	2012	2012
4x400 m	1993	1988
High jump	1993	1987
Pole vault	1994	2009
Long jump	1991	1988
Triple jump	1995	1995
Shot put	1990	1987
Discus throw	1986	1988
Hammer throw	1986	2011
Javelin throw	1996	2008
Decathlon	2012	1988

(I do not mention the walk events: one day I will write an entry on the matter). While the situation is not so bad for men, thanks to such talented athletes as Bolt, Rudisha, Bekele, Merritt and the decathletes it becomes catastrophic for women. If one discards the new and relatively new events the only recent world record is that of the 4x100 m! What is happening here? The answer is simple: anti-doping. At a certain point the international instances decided that they would seriously test for doping in and out of competition. That was the end of the avalanche of women's records. (I know that I am being unfair: the record explosion in the 80s was not only due to doping but also to the new synthetic surfaces and improved equipment, let alone the more scientific methods of preparation, but doping is the thing that changed since). 

So here is a crazy proposal of mine. Let us proceed to a tabula rasa. Discard all records prior to some recent date, say 2010. Let us start afresh.

Rollins and Pearson, to my eyes the best high-hurdlers ever

(I know that what I propose is unthinkable for the IAAF, but who cares, this is a blog not anything official). Here is the list of the records if we did what I suggest.

Event	Men		Women
100 m	U. Bolt	9.63	C. Jeter & S.A. Fraser	10.70
200 m	Y. Blake	19.26	A. Felix	21.69
400 m	L. Merritt	43.74	A. Krivoshapka	49.16
800 m	D. Rudisha	1:40.91	M. Savinova	1:55.87
1500 m	A. Kiprop	3:27.72	M. Selsouli	3:56.15
5000 m	D. Gebremeskel	12:46.81	V. Cheruiyot	14:20.87
10000 m	K. Bekele	26:43.16	M. Defar	30:08.06
Half Marathon	Z. Tadese	58.23	P. Jeptoo	1:05:45
Marathon	W. Kipsang	2:03:23	L. Shobukhova	2:18:20
3000 m st	B. Kipruto	7:53.64	Y. Zaripova	9:05.02
110 m hd	A. Merritt	12.80	B. Rollins	12.28
400 m hd	B. Jackson	47.32	L. Demus	52.47
4x100 m	Jamaica	36.84	USA	40.82
4x400 m	Bahamas	2:56.72	USA	3:16.87
High Jump	B. Bondarenko	2.41	A. Chicherova	2.07
Pole Vault	R. Lavillenie	6.02	J. Suhr	4.91
Long Jump	A. Menkov	8.56	B. Reese	7.25
Triple Jump	T. Tamgho	18.04	O. Rypakova	15.25
Shot Put	C. Cantwell	22.41	V. Adams	21.24
Discus Throw	P. Malachowski	71.84	S. Perkovic	69.11
Hammer Throw	K. Pars	82.40	B. Heidler	79.42
Javelin Throw	A. Thorkildsen	90.61	M. Abakumova	71.99
Decathlon	A. Eaton	9039	J. Ennis	6955

There are plenty of new names, some of them unexpected.  The big surprise comes when one compares the "since 2010 records" with the standing world records. Blake instead of Bolt on 200 m, no sign of Dibaba, no mention of Isinbayeva. Just for the fun of it. When I was looking for the best, post-2010, women discus performance I had to triple-check: S. Perkovic is number 286 in the all-time list!