Ross Tucker – The Science of Sport

This is part 3 of the 3-part series on head injuries in Rugby!  If you missed the first two installments, you can read them here: Part 1: Overall summary of the research and the concepts of risk reduction Part 2: What makes a tackle dangerous? Risk factors for head injury… ... read more

In Part 1, I explained the principle behind trying to understand how head injuries happen in rugby, as well as the first important findings of our study, which were a) that the tackle is both the most numerous and riskiest match activity in rugby, and b) that the tackler has… ... read more

On January 1st 2017 World Rugby announced some law clarifications and changes related to the high tackle laws.  They are part of a zero-tolerance attitude to head contact during the sport, aimed at reducing the risk of concussion.  These changes were not ‘guesswork’, but rather the result of an 8-month… ... read more

This is a very SA-centric post, for which I apologize (sort of), because its immediate relevance may be minimal for many of you.  However, I post this in the light of recent controversies around the selection of the SA team for the upcoming World Championships in London. Brief background, our… ... read more

Early this week, a paper by Bermon and Garnier was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, called “Serum androgen levels and their relation to performance in track and field: mass spectrometry results from 2127 observations in male and female elite athletes” The paper is… ... read more

The incident below happened in the Tour of California yesterday.  Not fun footage to watch, as you may have seen.  The rider, Toms Skujins, goes down, is clearly concussed, and the first person to arrive is the cameraman followed by the race mechanic, who runs up with wheels to help… ... read more

Yesterday, I started writing what was going to be a shorter piece for a magazine or newspaper here in SA, but as sometimes happens, it turned into a long one, so I’m publishing it here instead.  Apologies for length, but it allows me to get into some technical details based… ... read more

The Breaking-2 attempt is over, and Eliud Kipchoge came mighty, mighty close.  In an unbelievable performance, he missed the barrier by 25 seconds, having been on course right up until 30km. Here is a summary of his race, showing you his 5km splits (green line), the target (14:13/5km, red line) the… ... read more

OK, I’ll try to be brief here, but I thought I should jot down a few thoughts on this proposed recalibration of world records, because the reaction I’ve seen so far (from an admittedly “biased” sample) has been a little bit hysterical at times, and focused on two athletes only – Radcliffe… ... read more

So the weekend is nearly upon us, and the Nike attempt at breaking the 2 hour marathon will happen in Monza, Italy. There’s obviously considerable interest in the attempt, both positive and negative.  I think for now, I’ve said what I think is negative about it, so let’s talk about… ... read more