In Olympic races, all the times are within a few seconds?

Question

The difference between the first place time and the last place time is only a few seconds, most of the time less than that. Does this mean that the peak of human performance, which these elite athletes have achieved, is almost exactly the same among all of them?

Answer 1

I guess they are REALLY fast, lots and lots of practice, takes years to get to the point they are at!!!!!!!!!

Answer 2

This question has been asked over history quite a few times.

Most sports have plateaus where times are not broken for years and then all of a sudden they are broken left and right.

I believe you're seeing a part of history where everyone (esp in swimming) has acquired similar technology that has drastically helped their performances at the same time. (training techniques, new swim suit designs, new turn rules, new stroke rules, etc) Once one athlete learns how to capitalize on it better than his competitors you'll see wider gaps between the winners and the rest of the field (i.e. Michael Phelps)

It's also important to not that as times get faster the fastest times of the elite competitors will always tend to gravitate towards each other and we'll see closer races. This is simply a logical argument.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy!