Recently, the Nike Vaporfly shoes were questioned for use in the Olympics. Why? They’re made out of a rubber called Pebax and reinforced with carbon fiber plates to give runners 65% of the energy put into it. What’s the problem? It is considered “performance enhancing” and “technical doping”. Most, if not all, full and half marathon records, in the last few years, have been broken by runners wearing the Nike Vaporflys, which is what sparked the controversy in the first place. However, it was decided by World Athletics that the shoes shouldn’t be banned from the Olympics. I disagree. Why? This product is a cheat. Not all runners are endorsed by Nike, meaning they can’t run in Nike shoes, which is the only brand with such enhanced technology in their shoes. Eluid Kipchoge was the first person to ever run a sub-two hour marathon. In an article I read about the topic, he said that the shoe was a cheat and that runners still have to put in the hard work to achieve their goals. Like...you don’t need a car to go places but it helps. Traveling by car doesn’t count as walking, even though you’re still putting in the work to get to where you want to go. You’re only putting in a fraction of the energy needed to drive than to walk to your destination. It’s the same thing with these shoes. Runners wearing the Vaporflys don’t need to put in as much energy for every step because the sole of the shoe is designed to give them a boost.
Still don’t think these shoes are a cheat? The shoes were designed to make
runners less fatigue because of how much cushioning the soles have, meaning they would be able to run for much longer than others. The toe box is also much wider in order to give room for the swelling of feet during long distance running. Runners who can’t wear these shoes because of brand deals are then put at a disadvantage because they don’t have the boost that the Vaporflys give. It’s honestly stupid that they weren’t banned. In 2009, the Speedo LZR swimsuit was banned from the Olympics because over 100 records were broken that year by swimmers wearing the suit. This suit was designed to reduce drag to the smallest amount possible and when they were banned,
there were swimmers who felt “lost” without the suit because they enhanced their performance so much. It is the same fucking thing with the Vaporflys. Just ban them like they did with Speedo’s suit. What’s the difference? I have no idea.
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