Mike:
How is the Jamaican track and field system structured?
It is not too dissimilar than the U.S. system. High schools compete against each other. There are professional clubs which are somewhat of a minor-league for track that also compete on the island.
You are introducing the idea of environmental cause with use of grass tracks as a training surface. Not sure if that was your idea.
I was actually thinking that it was more a disadvantage than anything else. Countries like cuba have tracks and they achieve equal levels of success in track and field with similar populations. My point was that people of Caribean descent or more accurately West African descent, show an undeniable 'knack' for being among the fastest in the world. The exact traits remain somewhat unknown but the fact that they dominate the way they do under a wide variety of environmental circumstances (Nigerians, Cubans, Americans, Jamaicans, etc.).
One problem I have with "taboo" is american distance runners don't train like they used to.
Agreed but this is changing….also, Americans of the past weren't running anywhere near where the current crop of Kenyans, Ethiopians, and Morrocans are running. Also, the research I mentioned actually accounted for training and found that under the EXACT same training environment that Kenyan teens were considerably faster than their European counterparts.
The baltic states have concentrated on xc skiing, and the imported africans to that sport have not adapted well because of environmental conditions.
I think this is again a genetic issue that may be a byproduct of environment. The Africans who've attemped nordic sports have generally failed to achieve any level of international success. While environment is certainly an issue so is their differences in anthropometry and other genetic traits.
At Footlocker or NTN XC meets they brought in the best kenyan or ethopians who demolished the field in the open race, but the results from the team race would have suggest an all-star team of the top kids in the usa would have competed or won.
An all-star team of US kids beating an all-star group of kenyans? Are you sure about that? Ever look at the results from the World Junior Championships. There are 15 year old Kenyan girls that run faster than many of our state champs.
It's tough for me to believe because tribal populations (east africa) compared with mixed populations (westernized countries) are not a solid methodology, IMO.
I don't understand this statement.
Discounting the role of the environment within genetic variance is a mistake.
As I said before, Entines stats are overwhelming and indicate that people of West African descent tend to be considerably better at the sprinting events than others regardless of where they are from (his lists include West Africans, African-Europeans, Afriacan-Americans, Caribean people, etc). The same is also being shown for distance runners.
Now, this isn't to say that an asian, indian or caucasion can't become an elite level sprinter….it just appears that they tend to not be as likely to have the genetic prerequisites.
To be politically correct, we could flip this whole thing and say that Asians tend to be the best at gymnastics and diving. Everyone's best at something…
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