Written by:
Ryan Heng, Year 12
In the 1988 Olympics, Kenya shocked the running world when its top male
runner won the 800m, 1500m and 5000m and the 3000m steeplechase. Based on
population percentages alone, the likelihood of such a performance is one in
1.6 billion. Since then, black athletes have been dominating both the speed and
endurance aspects of running.
There is substantial statistical data showing the superiority of blacks
in running. Blacks including African Americans who trace their ancestry back to West
Africa hold more than 95 percent of the top times in sprinting. Athletes from
Kenya make up more than one-third of the top times in middle and long distance
races; including top performances by other East Africans (most from Ethiopia),
that domination swells to almost 50 percent. Mexicans (Native Americans) are
strongest at longer races such as 10,000 meters and the marathon.
There are many theories as to why blacks seem to be faster sprinters and
endurance runners than whites. In 1995, when British athlete
Sir Roger Bannister spoke of 'certain natural anatomical advantages' possessed
by 'black sprinters and black athletes in general' at the
British Association for the Advancement of Science, he provoked a mixture of
fear, anxiety and silence. Sir Roger believed that blacks possess certain
anatomical differences that make them naturally better sprinters.
Edward Jones, a professor at Howard University who
specializes in adolescent obesity, nutrition and body composition, conducted an
investigation into this phenomenon. The study concludes that black athletes may
outperform athletes of other races in running events because their center of
gravity tends to be higher, as shown in the differences
of the length of their limbs and the structure of their bodies.
"Blacks tend to have longer limbs with smaller
circumferences, meaning that their centers of gravity are higher compared to
whites of the same height. Asians and whites tend to have longer torsos, so
their centers of gravity are lower," said Adrian Bejan, Jones' co-author
who is also an engineering professor at Duke University.
"These differences are small, and we don't
really see them when we look at someone, but these small differences certainly
matter in races lasting less than 10 seconds," Bejan told Life's Little
Mysteries. He adds, “A person's center of gravity
affects how fast his
feet are moving when they
hit the ground. Each step a runner takes is like falling, except the athlete
breaks the fall with his foot. So the feet of a person with a higher center of
gravity will hit the ground faster than someone with a lower center of
gravity.”
Apart from center of gravity, research carried out
at Laval University found that on average, blacks have more fast-twitch muscle
fibers compared to whites who tend to have more slow-twitch muscle fiber.
Fast-twitch muscle fibers are thought to be better adapted to power movements
such as leaping or sprinting. As such, blacks seem to dominate sprinting as
they have a more natural sprinting body.
This would scientifically and quite convincingly
explain why blacks with West African origins hold 95% of the top times in
sprinting. Then what would explain black domination in endurance running?
Even though whites tend to have more slow-twitch muscles, which are
better adapted in endurance running in long races, this does not make a big
difference in race times. Although white runners match or surpass black runners
at distances up to 5km, black runners are “clearly superior at distances
greater than 5km.” Research at the University of Cape Town shows that blacks
are able to run at a higher maximum oxygen capacity, while whites lag behind by
nearly 10 percent. The muscles of black athletes also reveal fewer signs of
fatigue, as measured by lactic acid concentration.
This presents a nature/nurture conundrum: Does hard training lead to a
change in oxidative capacity and fatigue resistance or does it merely reflect a
genetically well-endowed athletic machine? In my opinion, the complete
domination of black athletes in sprinting and endurance races indicates that
blacks are favoured by genetics, with higher chances of having high muscle
efficiency. Hard training will certainly improve oxidative capacity and fatigue
resistance of the muscles, but the innate advantages the blacks possess will always
make them more superior to the whites in running.
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