Joan Warmbold boldly asserts about the development of talented athletes: " The source of these high numbers of gifted children/young adults is not genetic folks".
Jim Clark demurs, and counter-asserts, "I would be very surprised if genes did not play some part in the radical sorting process that led some few to stardom". Jim's is the more modest of the assertions, claiming no more than that genes "play some part", which is hard to argue with, and which leaves relative contributions of each up for grabs. Joan's seems to leave no room for genes at all. So what we have here is a need for evidence. I search PubMed. Exhibit 1 Lucia et al (2010). Elite athletes: are the genes the champions? International Journal of Sports Physiological Performance, 5, 98-102. "Athletic champion status is a complex polygenic trait... we believe that factors beyond genetic endowment are likely to have a stronger influence in the attainment of athletic champion status. Genes, yes, but they also suggest that "factors beyond genetic endownment" are stronger than genes. That "we believe" is worrisome, 'tho. Exhibit 2 Macarthur, D. and North, K. (2005). Genes and human elite athletic performance. Human Genetics, 116, 331-9. "Physical fitness is a complex phenotype influenced by a myriad of environmental and genetic factors, and variation in human physical performance and athletic ability has long been recognised as having a strong heritable component" Exhibit 3 Brutsaert TD, Parra EJ. (2006). What makes a champion? Explaining variation in human athletic performance. Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 28;151(2-3):109-23. "Human physiological trait variance has both an environmental and genetic basis, although the classic gene-environment dichotomy is clearly too simplistic to understand the full range of variation for most proximate determinants of athletic performance, e.g., body composition. In other words, gene and environment interact" Exhibit 4 Trent RJ, Yu B. (2009). The future of genetic research in exercise science and sports medicine.Med Sport Sci. 2009;54:187-95. "There are many interacting genes involved in athletic performance. This class of genes is often described as 'complex' and the mode of inheritance is called 'multifactorial" Exhibit 5 Ostrander EA, Huson HJ, Ostrander GK. (2009).Genetics of athletic performance. Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet. 2009;10:407-29. "Elite athletes, and what separates them from the average competitor, have been the subjects of discussion and debate for decades. While training, diet, and mental fitness are all clearly important contributors to achieving athletic success, the fact that individuals reaching the pinnacle of their chosen sports often share both physical and physiological attributes suggests a role for genetics" Exhibit 6 Gonzalez-Freire M et al (2009).Unique among unique. Is it genetically determined? Br J Sports Med. 2009 Apr;43(4):307-9. "A favourable genetic endowment, together with exceptional environmental factors (years of altitude living and training in this case), seems to be necessary to attain the highest possible level of running endurance performance." Exhibit 7 This last one is of particular interest, because it's the only one to give a numerical value for the contribution of genes and environment. It's a study of MZ and DZ twins. De Moor MH et al (2007). Genome-wide linkage scan for athlete status in 700 British female DZ twin pairs. Twin Res Hum Genet. 10(6):812- 20. "Using structural equation modeling... the heritability of athlete status was estimated at 66%" [i.e. 2/3 genes; 1/3 environment to explain variation in human athletic status] Overall, the score is Jim 7, Joan 0 on the question of the existence of a genetic contribution to athletic performance. The last study cited provides data suggesting that the genetic contribution is the greater. Stephen -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca --------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=7698 or send a blank email to leave-7698-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
