The Olympic Games might be coming to an end but the new set of records in the different disciplines give some new data for designers and others alike to work with. The New York Times came up with these very interesting interactive graphics that show in animated graphs how the world records have been broken every time since the first games in Athens in 1896. The technological development for the equipment used and the perfection of the skills and technique have allowed athletes to become faster, stronger- pretty much just better at it. It's quite amazing to see this complete evolution from the earlier events until now, like how Usain Bolt's last record on the 100m sprint is just 2 seconds faster than the first one achieved by Thomas Burke in 1896.
The infographics are interactive and allow you to explore the different records of 3 disciplines so far: Men's 100m sprint, long jump and 100m freestyle swimming. It would be very cool to see further infographics like these ones, you know, to keep the Olympic spirit going. (Sadly there's no embed option for the videos but here are the linked images)
Men's Long Jump
Men's 100m Sprint
Men's 100m Freestyle