ABSTRACT
Competition and performance improvement are at the core of sports. The Olympic Motto Citius, Altius, Fortius, as proposed by the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin, describes the ultimate intentions of sportsmen. Competition is a necessary condition for performance improvement. In this chapter, I review the improvement rates of the historical best performances in Track and Field, Rowing, Swimming, andWeightlifting at the Olympic Summer Games and Skating at the Olympic Winter Games. Indeed, performances improve as De Coubertin prescribed, but the rates of improvement vary substantially across events and over time. It is a fact that there are limits to improvement, although nobody knows the ultimate best performances. Athletic performances depend on the development of talents of sportsmen, the progress in knowledge of training, and technological progress in equipment and facilities.
