Why are the africans so good?

SonNative,

By and large what you are saying is true. But none of us want to remain in that kind of life style forever. And YOU KNOW THAT WELL YOURSELF! The life style you mentioned reflects nothing other than poverty. Both of us here in the United States because we didn't like what we have back at home and came here so that we could go back and CHANGE it!!! It is an Olympics season, understandably, and running, among other, is in the air. But at the end of the hoopla, we still need to confront the things that keep us shackled.

So, as a fellow citizen, you may need to tone this "our vs. yours" rivalry down, a bit!

Luke, you misinterpretted what I said.

There is nothing "our vs. yours" rivalry in my post.

I was just responding to "help me!" who inacurrately wrote that Kenyans enjoy a 'poor diet.' All I was doing is contrasting.

In my view, a rich, healthy diet is one that serves your body well without any negative consequencies like packing unprocessed sugar and carbs in your tummy and torsos.

Infact, we have very less cases of heart attacks and stroke in Kenya and this is due to our food among other things. I am not here to drive a wedge issue. Please don't get me wrong.

Forget all these other reasons.

Their success is culturally related.

Sorry, I stand corrected!

Luke -- Which part of the U.S. do you live in? Do you get back to Kenya much?

My understanding is that the usual story about young Kenyans running 10 miles barefoot to school each morning has become a thing of the past; any insight on this? I have no doubt that Native Son's point about the Kenyan diet being quite rich and unprocessed is correct -- I can't imagine how it would be more processed than ours.

Another reason often cited, especially for east Aficans, is the simple math of where that talent goes: these countries put an enourmous proportion of their athletic talent into distance running and work it ruthlessly. This is perhaps akin to western Pennsylvania coal-mining kids playing football, or inner-city NYC kids playing basketball, or poor Brazilian kids playing futbol. From all the examples around them, the Kenyan kids know they have a chance to be worldbeaters. And in Kenya running doesn't compete with 93 other sports for talent. So a large proportion of kids with talent try it out, they get into those training camps at Eldoret and workout brutally (what, 2 a day, 3 a day, often at intense effort at altitude) -- and a good proportion fail or drop out or get injured. But when you put that many in at one end, grind that hard in training, what survives at the other end is going to be bullet proof.

This doesn't mean they don't have talent (they clearly do) or great quality food (I'm sure they do).

Luke, Native Son: do Kenyans feel only the understandable pride at this accomplishment, or is there also a sense that some of this effort might benefit the country more if it went into producing, say, teachers, engineers and doctors? Just curious.

P.S. Go Tergat.

First I live at the West Coast. Second, just my opinion, running is not the only thing that we (Kenyans, Ethiopians, or Africans in general) to be known for. In addition to strong running tradition, how about being considered as a place of investement and business? Half a billion people all over Africa could easily be seen today's strong labor force and tomorrow's dependable consumers. I would rather prefer IBM, GE, ADM or global companies see the whole continet as a place to do business as opposed to exotic animals.

Spider wrote:

is there also a sense that some of this effort might benefit the country more if it went into producing, say, teachers, engineers and doctors? Just curious.

P.S. Go Tergat.

doctors sure don't produce healthier people.

what makes you think teachers and engineers would produce better runners.

Hey all,

Thanks for the responses they are very useful, unfortunatly i am only in high school so a trip to kenya for this project is a little bit unrealistic. It is a practical experiment and i am using the distance races at the olympics as my subjects (finally a way to relate running to my school work!).

I appreciate the things people have said, i am interested in finding out more about their biomechanics and their bodies. Things about their blood, muscles, hearts, lungs etc... how their living conditions help (i.e-what does the thinner air at altitude do? what in their blood and breathing does it help?)

Once again, any support would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

why are the aussies so good at swimming?

It's genetics. Runner's World or perhaps it was The Runner had an article a number of years ago detailing the genetics and predisposition to certain events based upon what part of Africa the athlete was from.

so why are the aussies so good at swimming?

they swim a lot and have a strong national program

Ah! So, nothing to do with genetics?

It's genetics. Swimmer's World or perhaps it was The Swimmer had an article a number of years ago detailing the genetics and predisposition to certain events based upon what part of Australia the swimmer was from.

ah! I see. So is that why the chinese are good at gymnastics?

they Gymnasticate a lot and have a strong national program

Ask Rosa, Hermens, Kostre... These gentlemen will tell you that despite their own shady dealings with drugs in the past, that all success is due to genetics.

your talking bullshit

Read "Train Hard, Race Easy." It will tell you everything you need to know.