  The development of sport performances in the future is a subject of myth and
disagreement among experts. As arguments favoring and opposing such methodology
were discussed, other publications empirically showed that the past development
of performances followed a non linear trend. Other works, while deeply
exploring the conditions leading to world records, highlighted that performance
is tied to the economical and geopolitical context. Here we investigated the
following human boundaries: development of performances with time in Olympic
and non-Olympic events, development of sport performances with aging among
humans and others species (greyhounds, thoroughbreds, mice). Development of
performances from a broader point of view (demography & lifespan) in a specific
sub-system centered on primary energy was also investigated. We show that the
physiological developments are limited with time. Three major and direct
determinants of sport performance are age, technology and climatic conditions
(temperature). However, all observed developments are related to the
international context including the efficient use of primary energies. This
last parameter is a major indirect propeller of performance development. We
show that when physiological and societal performance indicators such as
lifespan and population density depend on primary energies, the energy source,
competition and mobility are key parameters for achieving long term sustainable
trajectories. Otherwise, the vast majority (98.7%) of the studied trajectories
reaches 0 before 15 generations, due to the consumption of fossil energy and a
low mobility rate. This led us to consider that in the present turbulent
economical context and given the upcoming energy crisis, societal and physical
performances are not expected to grow continuously.
