Ross Tucker – The Science of Sport

Last week, I posted a lengthy but detailed article explaining how the current initiatives to sanction high tackles in rugby arose. It was an article that described a process, start to finish, that led experts to advise that head injury risk for both players might be reduced if high tackle ... read more

Why a red card? The tackle shown to the right saw New Zealand’s Scott Barrett sent off this past weekend against Australia, and it has triggered substantial discussion. The red card was the result of the application of a new World Rugby High Tackle Sanction Framework by referees, ... read more

This is a guest post. Something I’d love to host more of in the future. So if you’re reading this and thinking “I’d sure like to have a say on Topic XYZ”, then feel free to email me at ross.tucker@nullmweb.co.za, and if the pitch sounds right, and it’s a topic ... read more

OK, I’ll try to be brief, but I need to cover important context, so may fail… But I have to share some thoughts on this controversy that at first glance looks to be between swimmers – Sun Yang the common denominator, Mack Horton the first protagonist, Duncan Scott the latest. ... read more

So the Court of Arbitration for Sport have released their full decision in the Caster Semenya-IAAF case. You can read all 632 points of it here, and then evaluate the arguments offered by both sides in your own time! It is, as we all know, an incredibly complex case, made ... read more

About 6 weeks ago, we launched The Science of Sport Podcast, and today’s short thought is just a push towards that and a brief overview of what we are about. “We” is Mike Finch and me. Mike is a journalist, editor of the SA Runners World and Bicycling magazines for ... read more

This is a guest post, sort of. Well, it’s a post that was co-authored by myself, along with two other academics – Roger Pielke Jr from the USA and Erik Boye of Norway. You may recall that last year, about this time actually, the three of us tried to look ... read more

Prepare for a long read. Do it in instalments if it helps! I’ve written it as a list, I don’t know if that helps or hinders. But these are my thoughts, start to finish, on the DSD in sport issue, as pertains to Caster Semenya and others, and the CAS ... read more

I want to try to explain the conceptual problem for the integrity of runing performance because of the potential of a shoe to enhance performance by upwards of 2%. Let me try to do this by asking you to consider the following two statements, A and B. What you need ... read more

It’s the London Marathon this week. It will almost certainly be won by an athlete from east Africa. In both the men’s and women’s races. After all, it’s been 16 years since a non-east African won the men’s race, and nine years on the women’s side. Other major big city ... read more