One of the most important new methodologies is biomechanics, the study of the body in motion. A【A21】______ films an athlete in 【A22】______ and then digitizes her performance, 【A23】______ the motion of every joint and【A24】______ in three dimensions. By 【A25】______ Newton’s law to these motions, “we can say that this athlete’s run is not fast enough; that he is not using his arms【A26】______ enough during take-off,” says Dapena, who uses these methods to help high jumpers. To 【A27】______, however, biomechanics has made only a small 【A28】______ to athletic performance.

Revolutionary ideas still come from the athletes themselves. For example, during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, a 【A92】______ unknown high jumper named Dick Fosbury won the gold by going over the bar 【A30】______, in complete contradiction of all the 【A31】______ high-jumping wisdom, a move instantly【A32】______ the Fosbury flop. Fosbury himself did not know what he was doing. That understanding took the【A33】______ analysis of biomechanics specialists, who put their minds to comprehending something that was too complex and unorthodox【A34】______ to have been invented through their own mathematical simulations. Fosbury also required another【A35】______ that lies behind many improvements in【A36】______ performance: an innovation in athletic equipment. In Fosbury’s【A37】______, it was the cushions that jumpers land on. Traditionally, high jumpers would land in pits【A38】______ with sawdust. But by Fosbury’s time, sawdust pits had been replaced by soft foam cushions, 【A39】______ for flopping. In the end, most people who examine human performance are humbled by the 【A40】______ of athletes and the powers of the human body.