It's ok Malmo .. I'm still trying to figure out what part of Africa Kederis
is from ...
Conway Hill
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
From: "malmo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'Jon Entine'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "'Track and Field List'"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2001 2:28 PM
Subject: RE: t-and-f: The End of the British Rule in Running
> GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Jon Entine
> > Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2001 4:06 PM
> > To: malmo; Track and Field List
> > Subject: Re: t-and-f: The End of the British Rule in Running
> >
> >
> > Malmo:
> >
> > You are an angry person...
> >
> > Except the sprint results certainly do reflect, without
> > question, the underlying bio-genetic reality. Absolutely and
> > unequivocally.
> >
> > How you can turn science into bigotry is an issue you'll have
> > to deal with in the confessional both.
> >
> >
> > On 8/9/01 12:43 PM, "malmo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> > > I guessed that because the sprints aren't complying with Entine's
> > > bigoted views he'd focus on the 1500.
> > >
> > > Nothing new, the same tired, old sh!t.
> > >
> > > malmo
> > >
> > >> -----Original Message-----
> > >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > >> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Jon Entine
> > >> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2001 2:46 PM
> > >> To: Track and Field List
> > >> Subject: t-and-f: The End of the British Rule in Running
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Thought this would provoke the usual outrage. If anyone wants to
> > >> print this unpublished article, or reproduce it on a
> > website, please
> > >> send me a note. I will be most obliging.
> > >>
> > >> ******
> > >>
> > >> 9 August 2001
> > >>
> > >> The End of the British Empire: Why a Brit (Black or White)
> > Will Never
> > >> Again Hold a Distance Running Record
> > >>
> > >> By Jon Entine
> > >>
> > >> When the gun goes off for the mens 1500 metre final at Sundays
> > >> World Championships in Edmonton, it might just as well
> > signal the end
> > >> of an era. The age of great British middle distance
> > runners is gone
> > >> forever. Once the worlds dominant power, with a bloodline of
> > >> Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, Steve Cram, and Peter Elliott that
> > >> regularly left competitors in the dust, the British hopefuls are
> > >> today mere also-rans in a field dominated by North and
> > East Africans.
> > >>
> > >> The collapse of the once mighty British Empire is actually
> > part of a
> > >> more sweeping trend. Where Brits, Aussies and others of Northern
> > >> European stock used to dominate distance running, former
> > greats such
> > >> as Steve Cram and Sebastian Coe now indulge in British
> > bashing. So
> > >> where is the problem?. wrote Coe last week in the
> > Telegraph. . The
> > >> answer, I rather fancy, as Shakespeare said, 'lies not in
> > the stars
> > >> but in our hands - run faster.. Coe went on to exhort
> > aspiring Brits
> > >> to train with the brutal. commitment of days gone by - the
> > >> mental and physical intensity of what was commonplace 20
> > >> years ago,. he added modestly.
> > >>
> > >> Heres a wake-up call: you might as well look to the
> > stars, because
> > >> distance runners from Britain, northern Europe or North America,
> > >> white or black, will never reclaim the mantle as world's best. And
> > >> cultural factors have little do with this changing phenomenon.
> > >>
> > >> The world rankings, which combine race results from the
> > 800 metres to
> > >> the marathon, paint a stark picture. Africans, eight from
> > Kenya, hold
> > >> the top 10 places. Among the women, the top 3 and 7-out-of-10 are
> > >> Kenyan. However, because of social taboos against women runners in
> > >> Africa, non-Africans remain somewhat more competitive.
> > >>
> > >> If you ask self-proclaimed experts whats behind this
> > extraordinary
> > >> phenomenon, be prepared for the usual clich: the current crop of
> > >> British athletes is too soft. If they just tried harder, theyd
> > >> challenge for gold. Certainly, Coes 1981 800-metre run in
> > Stockholm
> > >> ranks as one of the great all-time performances. But a look at the
> > >> all time list of 800 metre runs makes it clear that
> > Britains reign
> > >> as middle distance champion (and prior periods of domination by
> > >> the Finns and other Northern Europeans) speaks mostly to the
> > >> fact that for the most part Africans didnt compete. While
> > >> nationalistic chest pounding may help deal with frustration
> > >> of fading glory, it cant change the hard reality that
> > >> Britains middle distance running glory is gone for good,
> > >> whatever training methods might be adopted. Now that the
> > >> playing field is more level-running is a worldwide sport,
> > >> drawing competitors from Africa, Asia and South
> > >> America-Northern Europeans are decidedly second-class.
> > >>
> > >> Consider the list of all time top 800 meter runs and
> > runners. While
> > >> Coes best time ranks third on the all time list,
> > Elliotts stands at
> > >> 45, Crams at 67, and Ovetts at 341. On a regular basis,
> > none could
> > >> expect to challenge the current world record holder, Kenyan Wilson
> > >> Kipketer, who has 28 times in the top 100. Other Kenyan
> > runners bring
> > >> the total in the top 100 to fifty. Overall, athletes of African
> > >> ancestry hold 92 of the top 100 times, with Northern Europeans
> > >> holding but eight.
> > >>
> > >> What about Coes whine that British runners could transform
> > >> themselves from joggers into champions if only they paid they
> > >> mimicked the Kenyans. As the myth goes, Kenyans are great because
> > >> they ran to school as kids and torture themselves in
> > practice. That
> > >> brings belly laughs from Wilson Kipketer, who destroyed Coes
> > >> long-held 800-metre record in 1997. "I lived right next door to
> > >> school," he laughs. "I walked, nice and slow."
> > >>
> > >> The reality is that for every Kenyan monster-miler putting in
> > >> 100-mile weeks, there are others, like Kipketer, who get along on
> > >> less than thirty. Training regimens are as varied in Kenya as any
> > >> where in the world,. notes Colm OConnell, coach at St. Patricks
> > >> Iten, the famous private school and running factory in the valley
> > >> that turned out Kipketer and other Kenyan greats.
> > OConnell eschews
> > >> the mega-training so common among world champion wannabees
> > in Britain
> > >> and Europe.
> > >>
> > >> The explanation for African domination of running, it
> > turns out, can
> > >> be found mostly in the genes. Africans are naturally,
> > genetically,
> > >> more likely to have less body fat, which is a critical
> > edge in elite
> > >> running,. notes Joseph Graves, Jr., an African American
> > evolutionary
> > >> biologist at Arizona State University. "Evolution has shaped body
> > >> types and in part athletic possibilities. Dont expect an Eskimo to
> > >> show up on an NBA court or a Watusi to win the world
> > >> weightlifting championship. Differences dont necessarily
> > >> correlate with skin color, but rather with geography and
> > >> climate. Genes play a major role in this..
> > >>
> > >> Highly heritable characteristics such as skeletal
> > structure, muscle
> > >> fiber types, reflex capabilities, metabolic efficiency and lung
> > >> capacity are not evenly distributed among populations and
> > cannot be
> > >> explained by known environmental factors. Though
> > individual success
> > >> is about opportunity and "fire in the belly," thousands of
> > years of
> > >> evolution have left a distinct footprint on the world's
> > athletic map.
> > >>
> > >> "Very many in sports physiology would like to believe that it is
> > >> training, the environment, what you eat that plays the
> > most important
> > >> role," states Bengt Saltin, director of the Copenhagen Muscle
> > >> Research Center, who outlined his findings in Scientific American.
> > >> "But we argue based on the data that it is 'in your genes'
> > whether or
> > >> not you are talented or whether you will become talented.
> > The extent
> > >> of the environment can always be discussed but it's less
> > than 20, 25
> > >> percent."
> > >>
> > >> East Africa is the epicenter of world distance running.
> > Runners from
> > >> highlands that snake along the western edge of the Great
> > Rift Valley
> > >> have clocked more than 60 percent of the best times ever run in
> > >> distance races. Kenyans alone win 40 percent of top international
> > >> events. The Nandi district of 500,000 people-1/12,000 of Earth's
> > >> population-boasts an unfathomable 20 percent, marking the greatest
> > >> concentration of raw athletic talent in sports history.
> > >>
> > >> East Africans share a genetic history with mountain populations of
> > >> North Africa. As a result of millions of years of evolutionary
> > >> pressures, these populations turn out a disproportionately high
> > >> number of body types with a biomechanical package for endurance
> > >> activities: lean, physiques, large lung capacity, and a
> > preponderance
> > >> of slow twitch muscle fibers that propel endurance athletes. These
> > >> are genetically-endowed attributes. No amount of
> > >> hard-training can radically change what we are born with.
> > >>
> > >> This is not an issue of black and white, but the consequence of
> > >> evolving in varying terrains. In fact, black East Africans have a
> > >> very different biomechanical and genetic make-up than blacks who
> > >> trace their ancestry from West Africa, which includes almost all
> > >> British, Canadian, and American blacks.
> > >>
> > >> West Africans have already about 70 percent of the fast
> > type muscle
> > >> fibers when they are born,. says Dr. Saltin. And thats
> > needed for a
> > >> 100 metre race around 9.9 seconds..
> > >>
> > >> Canadian geneticist Claude Bouchard, director of the Pennington
> > >> Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University,
> > found that
> > >> West African descended blacks have naturally smaller lung capacity
> > >> (about 15 percent when compared to whites and East Africans), a
> > >> preponderance of fast twitch muscle fibers, and a more muscled,
> > >> mesomorphic physique - a goldmine for sprinting. Not surprisingly,
> > >> there are no elite distance runners of West African ancestry.
> > >>
> > >> All the training in the world is unlikely to turn a black
> > Brit into
> > >> an elite marathoner or an East African into a top
> > 100-metre runner.
> > >> While the fastest Kenyan 100-metre run is 10.28 seconds, ranking
> > >> 5,000 on the all-time list, blacks who trace their
> > ancestry to West
> > >> Africa, the ancestral home of almost all African
> > Americans, hold the
> > >> top 200 and 494 of the top 500 100-metre times.
> > >>
> > >> The pattern of which athletes excel has little to do with
> > skin color
> > >> but much to population genetics. Asian athletes, and their
> > ancestral
> > >> descendants in Mexico and South America, are very competitive in
> > >> distance races, in part because of their small frames and
> > extra layer
> > >> of energy-generating body fat, which is otherwise a hindrance in
> > >> sprinting. The few great white male distance runners are almost
> > >> exclusively from southern Portugal, Spain, and Italy, and
> > share many
> > >> of the physical and physiological characteristics-and some of the
> > >> genetic make-up-of North and East Africans.
> > >>
> > >> "Differences among athletes of elite caliber are so small," notes
> > >> Robert Malina, a Michigan State University anthropologist
> > and editor
> > >> of the American Journal of Human Biology, "that physique or the
> > >> ability to fire muscle fibers more efficiently that might be
> > >> genetically based ... it might be very, very significant. The
> > >> fraction of a second is the difference between the gold medal and
> > >> fourth place."
> > >>
> > >> If genetics and race really do matter in athletic
> > performance, then
> > >> we might expect to find noticeable differences in the ways
> > different
> > >> population groups sustain anaerobic and aerobic functioning. Sure
> > >> enough, by applying population genetics to athletic
> > performance and
> > >> examining the aerobic/anaerobic energy cycle, scientists are
> > >> beginning to understand the racial pattern in sports.
> > >>
> > >> Timothy Noakes, long-time director of the Sport Science
> > Center at the
> > >> University of Cape Town Medical School, and author of many
> > scholarly
> > >> books, including Lore of Running, has observed that black South
> > >> Africans, who share much of their genetic ancestry with East
> > >> Africans, sweep more than 90 percent of the top places in
> > endurance
> > >> races held in his country, despite the fact that blacks
> > represent no
> > >> more than one-quarter of the active running population. Noakes has
> > >> attempted to figure out why in his laboratory. In a treadmill
> > >> study, black marathoners consistently bested whites. Although
> > >> white runners matched or exceeded the black runners at
> > >> distances up to 5,000 metres, blacks were "clearly superior
> > >> at distances greater than 5km." The fine print in the data
> > >> was particularly revealing. There was a dramatic difference
> > >> in the ability of the blacks to run at a higher maximum
> > >> oxygen capacity. In the case of the marathoners, blacks
> > >> performed at 89 percent of the maximum oxygen capacity, while
> > >> whites lagged by nearly 10 percent. The muscles of the black
> > >> athletes also showed far fewer signs of fatigue as measured
> > >> by lactic acid.
> > >>
> > >> Noakes noted a link between his findings and the training
> > habits of
> > >> well-known Kenyan runners who report favoring low-mileage,
> > >> high-intensity workouts. This presented a nurture/nature
> > 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?
> > >>
> > >> The answer can be found in the wild card in performance: muscle
> > >> efficiency. David Costill, former head of the Human Performance
> > >> Laboratory at Ball State in Muncie, Indiana, has shown that the
> > >> adaptability of the muscle fiber for aerobic metabolism - its
> > >> oxidative potential - is more important than the basic
> > composition of
> > >> the muscle. More aerobically efficient fibers produce fewer
> > >> fatigue-producing lactate toxins, resulting in better performance.
> > >> And although fiber composition is genetically fixed, which
> > >> effectively limits the pool of possible successful
> > athletes in each
> > >> event, exercise can help muscles better utilize oxygen.
> > >>
> > >> A team from South Africa and Australia, including Noakes,
> > has found
> > >> an apparent link between oxidative capacity, resistance to
> > fatigue,
> > >> and race. The researchers measured "running economy"-the amount of
> > >> metabolic work (and therefore oxygen
> > >> consumption) that is required to run at a given speed,
> > much like the
> > >> fuel economy of a car. Running economy can be affected by
> > a variety
> > >> of factors both environmental, such as running technique, and
> > >> physiological, such as body-mass distribution and muscle
> > elasticity.
> > >> "We've shown that the oxidative enzyme capacity of the [black]
> > >> athletes we looked at was one and a half times higher on
> > average than
> > >> the white runners," reported Kathy Myburgh, a co-author of
> > the report
> > >> and senior lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch in
> > >> South Africa. Comparing black and white athletes with nearly
> > >> identical race times, the researchers found that blacks were
> > >> both more efficient runners and able to utilize a
> > >> considerably higher percentage of their maximum oxygen
> > >> potential - a decided advantage if two athletes otherwise
> > >> have the same capacity.
> > >>
> > >> "Whilst the current study does not elucidate the origins of these
> > >> differences," the report concluded, "the findings may partially
> > >> explain the success of African runners at the elite level." A
> > >> subsequent study determined that the superior fatigue resistance
> > >> during high-intensity endurance exercise is partially
> > related to the
> > >> higher skeletal-muscle oxidative capacity and lower plasma lactate
> > >> accumulation found more commonly in blacks.
> > >>
> > >> Bengt Saltin has also come to the conclusion that certain
> > population
> > >> groups, including Northern Europeans, who are notable endurance
> > >> runners and cross-country skiers, may have superior fatigue
> > >> resistance encoded in their genes. He has found that Scandinavian
> > >> distance runners, Kenyans, and South African blacks all have
> > >> consistently lower blood-lactate levels and perform more
> > efficiently
> > >> than athletes from other regions, the likely result of
> > their having
> > >> evolved in mountainous regions. Population genetics -
> > ancestry-is the
> > >> key determinant.
> > >>
> > >> Saltin brought a half-dozen established Swedish national class
> > >> runners to Colm OConnells school, St. Patrick's, in
> > Iten, Kenya, to
> > >> see how they might match up against up-and-coming East African
> > >> schoolboys. It was a demoralizing experience for the
> > Swedes. National
> > >> champion after national champion was soundly trounced in
> > races from
> > >> 800 metres to 10 kilometres. Stunned, Saltin estimated
> > that in this
> > >> one tiny area of the Rift Valley there were at least five hundred
> > >> school boys who could best his national champions at 2,000 metres.
> > >>
> > >> In a subsequent study, Saltin brought several groups of Kenyans to
> > >> the Karolinska labs in Sweden, where he was then working.
> > >> Muscle-fiber distribution was similar for the Kenyans and
> > Swedes. But
> > >> biopsies of the quadricep muscles in the thighs indicated that the
> > >> Kenyans had more blood-carrying capillaries surrounding the muscle
> > >> fibers and more mitochondria within the fibers. That's important
> > >> because mitochondria act a little like power stations,
> > processing the
> > >> glucose with oxygen brought in by breathing into energy. The
> > >> Kenyans also were found to have relatively smaller muscle
> > >> fibers than the Swedes, which Saltin speculated might serve
> > >> to bring the mitochondria closer to the surrounding
> > >> capillaries. This process aids in oxidation, bringing more
> > >> "fuel" to the mitochondria, the engine of the muscles.
> > >>
> > >> The Kenyans also showed little ammonia accumulation in
> > their muscles
> > >> from protein combustion, and less lactic-acid buildup.
> > They have more
> > >> of the muscle enzymes that burn fat, and their glycogen
> > reserves are
> > >> not burned as quickly, which improves endurance. Most
> > impressively,
> > >> they are able to take months off from regular training and then
> > >> regain their old form quickly. When they do train, more
> > than half of
> > >> their total mileage occurs at heart rates of 90 percent of maximum,
> > >> far higher than the rate for Europeans or Americans. In
> > >> general, Saltin reported a 5 to 15 percent greater running
> > >> economy at far less mileage, but at a higher intensity.
> > >> Saltin has privately suggested that Kenyans appear to be
> > >> innately efficient, durable, and fast - with the most perfect
> > >> aerobic potential measured so far on earth.
> > >>
> > >> Could a North European or British runner defy the odds and
> > emerge as
> > >> a middle distance world record holder? Certainly, for genes only
> > >> circumscribe possibility and any race opens the door for
> > the roulette
> > >> wheel of the human spirit. As a result of natural human variation,
> > >> there will always be great runners from every part of the
> > globe. But
> > >> dont expect a return to glory. Remember, there were almost no
> > >> Kenyans or North Africans in the mix in the days when British
> > >> athletes used to rule. Todays aspiring British athletes would be a
> > >> bit foolish to follow Coes exhortations and devote
> > >> themselves to grueling training regimens in hopes of cracking
> > >> African hegemony. More than likely, in a sport in which a few
> > >> hundredths of a second is the difference between a gold medal
> > >> and finishing back in the pack, they dont have the innate
> > >> potential to become the elite of the elite. They are making a
> > >> rational choice to focus on events and sports in which they
> > >> are more likely to succeed.
> > >>
> > >> Humans are different, a product of the inseparable relationship of
> > >> genes and environment. Popular thinking, still reactive to the
> > >> historical misuse of race science,. lags this new
> > bio-cultural model
> > >> of human nature. Events such as the World Championships provide an
> > >> opportunity to broaden our understanding of the genetic revolution
> > >> now unfolding. Get used to it
> > >> Sebastian: the glory days of the British distance running
> > >> empire are gone forever.
> > >>
> > >> Jon Entine [http://www.jonentine.com] is author of Taboo:
> > Why Black
> > >> Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It.
> > >> E-mail him at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> Jon Entine
> > >> RuffRun
> > >> 6178 Grey Rock Rd.
> > >> Agoura Hills, CA 91301
> > >> (818) 991-9803 [FAX] 991-9804
> > >> http://www.jonentine.com
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> >
> > --
> > Jon Entine
> > RuffRun
> > 6178 Grey Rock Rd.
> > Agoura Hills, CA 91301
> > (818) 991-9803 [FAX] 991-9804
> > http://www.jonentine.com
> >
> >
>
>
