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Raechel Painovich

Brooke Anderson

College Composition 2

23 March 2021

The Real Reason Athletes are Getting Faster, Better, Stronger

In his TED Talk, “Are Athletes Really Getting Faster, Better, Stronger?” David Epstein

approaches the argument of whether or not athletes are getting better or the technologies and

advancements in the studies of the human body are what’s causing this major improvement in all

athletes. Epstein makes a lot of comparisons using athletes from several years ago and

present-day athletes to prove his main point. This main idea is that growing technology, the

change in the ideal body type for specific sports, and incoming athletes having different mindsets

are ultimately what has made the drastic change in sports through the years. He continues to

address that natural talent has somewhat increased within athletes as we are a growing species,

but the revolution of technology within each sport is the real reason athletes have faster times

and are becoming more successful. This is evident in almost every example he identifies and

clearly explains that this innovation in sports over the years has led to the evolution of athletes

which will continue to grow and become faster, better, and stronger. Epstein explains that with

the formation of new and improved ideas, the new imaginations of athletes, and the better

understanding of what the human body is truly capable of will consistently increase the skills of

athletes.

Epstein’s message is seemingly a good concept for all walks of life to learn from because

there is often the misconception that athletes are just evolving into these mere animals when in

reality science proves that technology is what is giving athletes a helping hand. Although Epstein
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is giving his speech to the TED Talk audience, he is really approaching the audience of people

who share a similar interest in watching sports through the years and who were left with the

same dwelling thought as him, are athletes really getting faster, better, and stronger. When

explaining the answer to this question Epstein assumes that the audience knows the famous

athletes he is talking about so he avoids introducing them and rather dives straight into why he is

comparing the two athletes and how it contributes to his main claim. He approaches his topic in a

very informative manner yet with a very dull facial expression along with a stern tone of voice

that makes for an uninteresting presentation. His attitude towards his topic makes it of lesser

importance and slightly loses the audience’s attention. However, he tries to regain this attention

by throwing in-jokes throughout the statistics. This method was aimless and therefore he receives

no reaction from the audience. Although his serious tone distracts from the enthusiasm of this

powerful topic, David Epstein provides an abundance of credible resources to add to the power

of his message, appeals to the audience’s ability to paint pictures in one’s head, and engages the

viewers logic by bringing into importance almost every sport that surrounds this impactful TED

Talk.

While the talk is overall very informative and illuminates the misconception of why

athletes are surpassing old records, Epstein uses a very distinct dull voice that distracts from the

overall message of the TED Talk. He approaches a very in-depth topic that requires a lot of

statistics but fails to intrigue the audience in a creative way to keep them interested and attentive.

This can be seen near the beginning of the speech when he is talking about famous runners from

nearly a decade ago. While sharing this valuable information, he continues on by saying, “that

guy who won the 1904 Olympic marathon in three in a half hours, that guy was drinking rat

poison and brandy while he ran along the course. That was his idea of a performance-enhancing
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drug” (3:55-4:10). Although this is very comical, the audience doesn’t react because they have

just been overloaded by information and their attention has been lost, consequently, Epstein

receives no reaction from his audience. Although it is important that he shares all of his critical

information it is more important for him to create a balance of emotion and facts so that the

audience doesn’t get bored and they can stay vigilant throughout his entire speech. On the other

hand, he succeeds in adding emotion through the first minute of his speech where the audience

does react with laughter but as the presentation goes on he slowly loses followers. For this

reason, Epstein fails to adhere to the audience’s emotional aspect and loses the attention of his

consumers.

Despite his monotonous voice, the approach Epstein took when presenting his

information gave the audience several credible sources that proved his main claim. Within

almost any point he brought up, he had data charts to prove the statistics and even mentioned the

scientist/researcher that he got the information from along with adding his own thoughts.

Specifically, when talking about the technology used for track athletes who once started on

cinders as opposed to a synthetic track. Epstein makes himself credible by saying, “I consulted

biomechanics experts” (3:15) and then begins to use data from this source to help address his

main claim. This makes him a very credible speaker and thus the audience is more susceptible to

believing the information he presents. Epstein also starts out strong by offering counterclaims

and then attacking them by going straight to his point of view, which shows that he

acknowledges the other side to his argument but has more support for his argument. This

purposeful way to start out his speech makes him a more credible speaker right from the get-go.

Later on in the speech, after he has given several credible examples from professional scientists,

he is able to create his own example using data from other sources as well as his personal
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knowledge to create a valid argument that is believable and original. Furthermore, he uses a

comparison, “if you apply a one and a half percent slowdown conversion to every man who ran

his sub-four mile on a synthetic track, this is what happens. Only 530 are left” (3:20-3:30). Here

Epstein is stating that this is what he found after consulting an expert and how he has applied this

information to formulate his own scenario. All of these methods of credibility are very

purposeful because they provide a solid basis that is easily agreeable with the audience and make

for a very factual speech.

Aside from credibility, Epstein interacts with the audience by referring to their

imagination as a way to put his point of view in their perspective. This is in fact very resolute

because it helps the audience have an image to go along with the information which will

ultimately make it easier to understand and remember. Epstein approaches this aspect

exceedingly well by supplying the audience with vivid imagery and superior storytelling. For

instance, Epstein gives voice to his story by saying, “ Now picture the stadium last year at the

world championships of the 100 meters: thousands of fans waiting with bated breath to see Usain

Bolt, the fastest man in history; flashbulbs popping as the nine fastest men in the world coil

themselves into their blocks.” This is a perfect example of him switching into a storytelling mode

that makes it easy for the audience to ultimately grasp the concept he is portraying and to add the

interaction with his viewers. Epstein then follows this passionate voice with a recording that goes

along with the picture he is painting regarding the time that the track athletes finish using little

beeps. This activity is very purposeful and gives the audience a chance to participate in his

speech but also adheres to the people in the audience who are the hands-on learners. As has been

noted, Epstein has the ability to paint pictures in the audience’s head which allows his consumers
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to easily and fully grasp the argument he is making about athletes and how they are evolving

through technological advancements.

Another way that Epstein establishes credibility is through his use of logic in regards to

the various sports he mentions as well as his productive reasoning. Throughout his informative

speech, he provides examples the help prove his argument from a majority of popular sports and

popular athletes which makes it seem very logical to the audience. Not only does he appeal to the

audience’s logic by using famous competitors, but also uses rhetorical questions to very clearly

express his perspective. To give you an idea, Epstein asks himself, “ So what's going on here?”

(0:33) and later he asks, “When you think of it like that, it's not that big a difference, is it?”

(1:15). This is very purposeful on his part because he can specifically address the audience’s

logical thoughts and attack them directly by answering his own questions. Additionally, his

inclination towards the audience’s basic knowledge of various sports appeals to their logical

reasoning. Through discussing well-known names in athletics, the audience is able to apply their

pre-existing knowledge to his claims which makes the audience more receptive. For example,

Epstein compares Jesse Ownes to the current 100-meter world champion, Usain Bolt. In doing

this, he establishes a connection between the new information to the audiences’ basic knowledge

of athletics. As can be seen, Epstein appeals to the audiences’ attention by using rhetorical

questions and building on their already established understanding of athletics by referencing

popular athletes and events.

David Epstein’s TED Talk effectively appeals to the audience by establishing his

credibility and by approaching their emotional and logical predispositions. Although he lacks

enthusiasm in his tone of voice, he is able to regain the audience’s attention through his content

and relatability. He establishes his credibility by pulling information from professional scientists
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and researchers which contributes to the impact of his argument. Aside from credibility, he

captures his audience’s attention by inviting them to become actively involved in the scenario he

has created. By building on the audience’s preexisting knowledge of athletics using well-known

sports and athletes, he is able to portray his information effectively. In essence, Epstein is an

informative speaker who gains credibility by referencing scholars and uses emotional and logical

techniques to deliver a compelling argument for the rapidly evolving abilities of athletes.
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Works Cited

Epstein, David. “Are Athletes Really Getting Faster, Stronger, Better?” TED: Ideas Worth

Spreading, Mar. 2014

https://www.ted.com/talks/david_epstein_are_athletes_really_getting_faster_better_stronger