It's a trivial matter - actually two weird ones, but inextricably linked. In May 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the top of Mount Everest, a challenge that killed more than a dozen people over the past few decades, and scientists once declared impossible. Harvest: They breathed jars of pure oxygen, aid that Everest pioneer George Mallory (one of those who died on the hills) was once regarded as a "abnormal heresy."

A month later, a young British medical trainer, Roger Bannister, just missed the first less than four minutes mile, another long-standing obstacle sometimes referred to as “mountain of Everest.” But he did it in one game, his training partner letting himself be beaten to get Bennister all the way to the finish line, violating the advantage of the rhythm and the rules about fair competition. Bennister's U.S. rival Wes Santee was not impressed. "Maybe I could run four minutes behind one of my father's ranch horses, if that's what you want," he said.

What’s interesting is how history repeats itself. Fast forward to a few weeks ago: It was controversial in the mountaineering world, when four British climbers climbed Mount Everest just five days after flying from Britain to Nepal. To skip the weeks or months that usually take to gradually adjust to high altitude, they paid $153,000 per person for a custom protocol, which includes inhaling xenon to help them make faster adjustments. Meanwhile, on the track, Kenya’s three-time Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon is preparing a carefully choreographed Nike sponsorship attempt to become the first woman to run a miles in less than four minutes. It is scheduled to take place in Paris on June 26 and will almost certainly violate Bannister's running rules.

In any case, both initiatives are extraordinary feats of human creativity and endurance. They also make people angry.

Xenon Burning Expedition was organized by Austrian guide Lukas Furtenbach, who is known for his technology-centric approach to adventure. He had previously let clients sleep in their homes in an altitude tent for weeks to pre-limit them to thin mountain air. What sets the new rise apart is that, in addition to sleeping in an altitude tent, four British climbers visited a German clinic where they inhaled Xenon gas, rumored for years of oxygen-promoting potential. The World Anti-Doping Agency banned XENON in 2014 after accusing Russian athletes of using it at the Winter Olympics that year. But subsequent studies on its motor effects produced different results. Other studies in animals suggest that it may provide protection from potentially lethal forms of altitude diseases that can occur when climbers rise too quickly. For now, the strongest evidence suggests that it can help high-altitude climbers, which is Furtenbach's own self-experiment over the past few years.

When news about the Fertenbach program emerged earlier this year, the International Federation of Rock Climbing and Mountaineering’s Medical Committee issued a statement deeming that Xenon may not work due to its sedative effects and could be dangerous. Other critics point out that shorter expeditions mean less paid work for Sherpa guides in the region. However, these criticisms may be an afterthought, as many climbers simply have stomach aversion to what seems to be a shortcut to the summit. Their objection is not to xenon itself, but to the idea of ​​making Everest easier.

This is a problem many runners have encountered in the following four-minute attempt at Kipyegon. Women have made remarkable progress since Diane Leather won the first Diane Leather in 1954, but under traditional racing conditions no one expected to be under four points soon. Kipyegon is the fastest female acquaintance in history: her current world record, scheduled for 2023, is 4:07.64, which puts her over 50 yards behind in four minutes, a huge deficit in a sport that measures progress at a professional level centered on the second second. Nike promises, “the overall support system, optimizes all aspects of her attempts”, including “footwear, clothing, aerodynamics, physiology and psychological science,” but has not disclosed any details that support the appearance. This means that critics (and many) have no specific innovations to object; they only have a heavy-tongued understanding that any intervention that can immediately develop Miller's 7.7 seconds must be accelerated by definition by definition. (I got more details about the attempt from Nike, but the company declined to comment.)

To be sure, new shoes will be involved. Kipyegon's efforts, known as Breaking4 by Nike, are the sequel to the company's 2017 Breaking 2 marathon, where Kipyegon's Kenyan compatriot Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge broke into 25 seconds of 25 seconds in the official world record of 2:02:57. The Kipchoge feat was partly a reason for a new type of running shoe that features stiff carbon fiber boards embedded in a thick and elastic foam midsole, an innovation that revolutionized the sport. But the reason his time doesn't count as a world record is that, like Bennister, he has a Pacers team that spins in and out for him all the way to the finish line. This may also be the key to Jibuyuan. In fact, scientists published an analysis earlier this year showing that similar drafting methods were enough to get Kipyegon from 4:07 to 3:59 without any other aids.

Bannister was ruled to be ineligible for the record at the 1953 Rhythm Time Trial, because according to the British Amateur Sports Commission, it was not " bona fide Compete according to the rules. "Nevertheless, the effort has achieved its goal. There is no doubt that less than a year later, Bannister entered the history books with a record law 3:59.4. Hillary and Norgay's history rose, with Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler climbing Mount Everest without replenishing oxygen.

One view of sports innovation, proposed by bioethicist Thomas Murray, is that people's perceptions are influenced by the introduction of new ideas and technologies. The status quo always seems reasonable: of course, we used graphite rackets instead of wooden rackets to clean up the high jumper using the first Fosbury drag board, and developed a mountain range with slightly stretched Kernmantle ropes in the 1950s. However, many of the same innovations seem more troublesome during the transition period, especially when only some people can access them.

When Bennister finally broke the four-minute barrier, he was trained with partner rhythm again, but only in the first three-quarters of the game. This form of pacing is still very controversial, but because no pacemaker deliberately allows itself to be defeated, it is allowed to record standing. These days, such rhythms are so routine that some runners do nothing but race for others and always drop out of school before the end. Jibwon may use the full-game rhythm in breaking4. The pace of guiding runners almost all the way through the race is slightly different, but forcing them to just run the last lap as usual. The oxygen in the tank is good; the xenon in the tank is bad. These are subtle differences.

Sports is a zero-sum game, at least in some ways: when a person wins a game or sets a record, it inevitably means that others don’t. Even at the entertainment level, if everyone decides to go marathons in their carbon disc shoes, making them five minutes faster, it’s five minutes faster to get the Boston Marathon. “Once an effective technology is adopted in a sport, it becomes authoritarian.” Murray told me a few years ago when I wrote about athletes doing electric brain stimulation. "You have to use it." In the 1950s, a version of the justification seemed to help British expeditions, including Hillary and Norgay, overcome long-standing opposition from British climbers to use oxygen, the French planned to take a Mount Everest expedition in 1954, while the Swiss planned to 1955 in 1955, and both were able to use oxygen.

But what is less clear is why this fundamental principle should apply to the modern world of leisure mountaineering carried out by Furtenbach. When people huff Xenon check Mount Everest with the highest efficiency, you'll be better than the climber itself, if you think the climber itself, what if you're? Maybe they are making the mountain more crowded, but you might also say that they make it less crowded by going up and down faster. And it is hard to imagine that Fertenbach's critics are indeed awake at night, worried about the long-term health of their clients.

There are other things happening here, and I risk it with human psychology. A Dutch economist named Adriaan Kalwij believes that much of modern life is a pathological tendency for people to see everything as competition. “Whether in essence or through institutional design, competitions are an integral part of human life, from college entrance exams and scholarship applications to jobs, promotions, contracts and awards,” Kalwij wrote. The same spirit seems to be like the way we see dating, leisure travel, hobbies, etc.: stand out from the zero-sum dichotomy of winners and losers.

Kalwij's smoking gun is a phenomenon that sociologists call "SES health gradients" and refers to health differences between people with high and low socioeconomic status. Despite the rise of welfare support, such as pensions and health care, the SES health gradient has been expanding globally, even Kalwij has been found among Olympic athletes. There was no life span for Dutch Olympic athletes. However, in the latest cohort born between 1920 and 1947, athletes who have advanced careers (such as lawyers) tend to make low-working athletes over 11 years on average. Being an Olympic team is a life-win, but trapped in a death-ending job, a loss, a series of endless losses: flying assaulters, living in bad apartments, flying economy. These losses have cumulative psychological and physiological consequences.

Of course, some things in life are indeed competition. Track and field is one of them, so we should be alert to the bending rules. Other things, such as being directed to Mount Everest, or at least it shouldn't be done. Those who feel the most frustrated with the idea of ​​smashing Rich Bros into Everest in a week are those who climbed it in six, eight or 12 weeks, whose position in the cosmic pecking order has been downgraded by infinite hours. But, even though I was never tied to crampons, I was also angry. Their victory felt like my loss in a puzzling way.

Another detail in Kalwij's research is in my mind. Among American Olympic athletes, silver medalists often die for several years than any gold or Bronze medal winner. Kalwij theory believes that these results are also related to people's prospects. The gold medalist is happy to win, and the bronze medalist is happy to be the podium. As Jerry Seinfeld said, the silver medalist sees himself as the "No. 1 loser." With this in mind, I try to reframe the attitude towards the xenon controversy. Let the annual Everest fanaticism continue, with or without xenon, let its charm continue to attract the most stubborn and full summits. Meanwhile, leave another little-known mountain range and let the rest of us enjoy in tranquility. I call it victory.