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Montana Ott

Lindsay Ferrara

ENW 100

15 November 2019

Rhetorical Analysis

In our competitive world, it seems as though we are making huge strides towards

becoming the best athletes we can be. What is the cause of our success? David Epstein helps us

find an answer to this seemingly obvious question. It is assumed that athletes are simply

becoming stronger, faster, and better. Epstein attempts to persuade the audience, including

athletes themselves, sports fans, and scientists, by using the rhetorical appeals of ethos and logos.

Logos is the dominant appeal in this TED talk due to the statistics and timing used to measure

athletic ability. This allows for a very clear and understandable argument, which Epstein gives in

a formal and scientific tone. Epstein discusses three main causes of improvements in athletics

throughout history; technology, genes, and mindset.

David Epstein focuses his TED talk mostly on the development of technology in athletics

and how it has affected the results in multiple sports. Epstein uses ethos when he uses Olympic

statistics for his comparisons between past and current athletes (Epstein, 00:14:25-00:14:14).

The Olympics are a well-known and trusted source for accurate race times, making this

information creditable. He also uses ethos when he references sports scientists Ross Tucker

(Epstein, 00:12:43-00:12:17). Epstein provides that the source of his research is an expert on the

topic, which allows the listeners to trust the information that is being given to them. The use of

mathematics in this portion uses logic to fulfill the rhetorical appeal of logos. He also uses logos
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when describing the difference in technology between time periods. Epstein gives detailed

descriptions of a race, helping the audience to visualize the situation and make his argument

seem simpler (Epstein, 00:13:34-00:11:53). To further his argument, Epstein includes multiple

race lengths and sports to support his research. He uses a swimming example to confirm that

technology is the cause of our improvement in athletic performance. The record for the 100-

meter freestyle swim is always on a trend downward due to new inventions and adaptations in

the sport (Epstein, 00:10:17-00:09:44). Epstein also uses a cycling example, a sport where

technology matters greatly. He compares the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour,

which was set in 1972 (Epstein, 00:09:40). The record was broken by almost 5 miles in 1996

(Epstein, 00:09:23-00:09:15). This massive jump in the world record was disregarded by the

International Cycling Union because of the difference in equipment used in each case (Epstein,

00:09:14-00:09:04). Using the same equipment as Eddy Merckx, the record was brought back

down to nearly 800 feet within the original record, supporting David Epstein’s case (Epstein,

00:08:46-00:08:36).

David Epstein supports his argument further by discussing the change in body type. We

obviously have not evolved into a new species, so what is the cause of our improvements in

athletic performance? Epstein claims it is because of the gene pool and specialization of body

types (Epstein, 00:08:39). He supports this statement by showing the rapid jump in NBA player

height, and how specialized their bodies are (Epstein, 00:06:50-00:05:55). The difference in

body types between sports became drastically different and as Epstein describes, “The tall got

taller, the small got smaller, and the weird got weirder” (Epstein, 00:05:02) Epstein includes

ethos and logos once again in his argument by referencing Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man”

(Epstein, 00:05:53). By using this model, Epstein shows once again that he gets his research
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from a well-known and credible source, as well as showing the statistics and averages in body

types. He not only uses basketball as an example, but adds body type changes in gymnastics,

swimming, running, and water polo (Epstein, 00:05:13-00:04:17).

Epstein furthers his argument by claiming that current athletes, which he states there are

more of, train smarter than past athletes (Epstein, 00:10:53-00:10:30). We are more

knowledgeable about how to fuel our bodies correctly to get the best performance possible,

leading to faster times. On top of this, Epstein states that our mindset has also improved (Epstein,

00:02:47).
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Works Cited

Epstein, David. “Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger?” TED, March 2014.

https://www.ted.com/talks/david_epstein_are_athletes_really_getting_faster_better_stronger#t-34472