How sports became the shape they are, and what the alternatives were.
3 stories
History
The Athletic Shoe Regulations define an approved shoe in four clauses, and each clause names a different date. Read as a chronology rather than a definition, it is the record of a governing body absorbing a technology it did not anticipate.
History
Until 2000 the sport had no official way to say how fast a surface played. What it built afterwards was replaced within eight years, because the first measure did not match what players said they felt — and the replacement is still only valid for the day the test was run.
History
In 1986 the men's implement was changed so that it would come down nose-first. The world record is the reason everyone cites; World Athletics' own account gives a different one — and the rule that made it work is not about the centre of gravity at all.
