"Discover your body!" An Open Research Project with Waseda University

Special Exhibition
Using the latest scientific research to get a close-up look at the secrets of athletes’ bodies
to
This exhibition has ended.
This exhibition provides a palpable sense of the amazing mechanisms and beauty of the bodies of athletes who have reached the top of their fields worldwide, and the greater possibilities of our own bodies.
Athletes at the top of their fields have used their miraculous physical abilities to set various sports records that were once thought unbreakable. In this exhibition, the inner-workings of the bodies of top athletes Usain Bolt (Jamaica; track and field), Tatyana McFadden (America; Paralympic track and field) and Caeleb Dressel (America; swimming) have been captured using a magnetic resonance imaging scanner (MRI), to offer views of their muscles and brains with unprecedented high-resolution images. Visitors to the exhibition will get to see and experience these superhuman individuals’ performances and physical beauty, and the astonishing physical features that lie behind them. Through interactive activities that actually move the body, visitors will also get a glimpse of the hidden potential of one’s own body and those of superhuman individuals.
You, too, may be superhuman… Unlock the miraculous abilities that lie within your body, at Miraikan.
Incidentally, in collaboration with this exhibition, an upcoming NHK Special that explores the superhuman abilities of world-class athletes, that also pursues the mysteries of the human body that produce those abilities, is scheduled to be broadcast.
When it comes to world record-breaking athletes, what is the nature of the bodies that support such superhuman performance? Here, we present three athletes: Usain Bolt (Jamaica, track and field), Tatyana McFadden (USA, Paralympic track and field), and Caeleb Dressel (USA, swimming).
Usain Bolt (Jamaica, track and field)
©NHK
Tatyana McFadden (USA, Paralympic track and field)
©NHK
Caeleb Dressel (USA, swimming)
©NHK
Usain Bolt achieved a never-before-accomplished feat of running 100 meters in 9.58 seconds, even while suffering from a long-standing condition known as scoliosis, a curvature of the spine. This section searches for the mysteries of a human body that is also described as a “miracle” of training.
Exhibit: Life-size MRI projection
In addition to various high-resolution images of Bolt’s entire body that were taken with an MRI, projection mapping has been used to recreate a life-sized image of his body. Visitors can view unseen images of the fastest man in human history.
Interactive corner: How do your legs measure up against Bolt’s?
Here you can measure the strength of your own legs. Compare it to the power of Bolt’s. See his physique and performance for yourself with a life-size model of his legs and see the stride he achieved when he broke the 100m sprint world record.
Usain Bolt (Jamaica; track and field)
Born August 21, 1986. Height: 195 cm. Weight: 95 kg.
2008: Reebok Grand Prix – ran a world record 9.72s in the 100m. Beijing Olympics – set world record in 100m for second time with 9.69s. Set world record at Beijing Olympics for 200m, running in 19.30s.
2009: Berlin World Championships in Athletics – ran the 100m in a record 9.58s (the first time a human has run under 9.6s). Set new world record 19.19s for the 200m.
©NHK
©NHK
©NHK
Tatyana McFadden holds medals for all distances in wheelchair racing, from 100 meters to the marathon in Rio Paralympics. McFadden was born paralyzed from the waist down, but has powerfully developed the muscles of her upper body through training. Major changes have also taken place within her brain, which moves those muscles.
©NHK
©NHK
©NHK
Caeleb Dressel set the world record for the 100-meter butterfly for the first time in 10 years. His swimming, which combines both overwhelming speed and beauty, is achieved not only as a result of his muscles, but also the workings of his distinctive respiratory functions. In the last 15 meters, Dressel holds his breath to overtake rivals
©NHK
©NHK
©NHK
Three world-class athletes who have built astounding bodies. Combining gorgeous images and sound, this section allows visitors to experience the split-second dynamism that enables these athletes to transform into superhuman individuals for a matter of seconds in the midst of competition.
This event has been certified by the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games as an official program of the Tokyo 2020 Participation Programme, based on an application by NHK.
*This Virtual Reality has ended.