Examples: The Kalenjins are Nilothes, descendents of people from the upper Nile regions. They are naturally lean with small bone structures.
Other ethnic groups in Kenya: The Luas, Louos, Kikuyo, Gusii, Kisii, etc. are descendents of Bantus, who came from the Congo regions. These people are stockier and have bigger frames and bone structures. Omanyala is a Lua, as are most elite soccer, rugby and sprinters in Kenya.
Kalenjins typically have names beginning with "Kip" -Kipyego, Kiprotich, Kiptoo, Kiproch, and names like Koech, Cheruiyot etc.
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I am here in Kenya now, and can often spot these differences. I usually look at the legs to get a quick impression. Kalenjin legs are usually impressively lean, especially down at the ankles where those elite kalenjins can put their fingers and connect them around their ankles. A Lua would rarely, if ever be able to do that.
If any of these basics are incorrect, I stand corrected, with thanks
We never see Kenyans play NCAA football, never see them running the 100/200 either. All we actually see are skinny distance runners. so to see a big muscular Kenyan is a unique sight.
A Kenyan running back would be something new.
If you looked at the Kenya 7's Rugby team, you would see plenty of muscular players, mostly luhyas I am guessing.
We never see Kenyans play NCAA football, never see them running the 100/200 either. All we actually see are skinny distance runners. so to see a big muscular Kenyan is a unique sight.
A Kenyan running back would be something new.
If you looked at the Kenya 7's Rugby team, you would see plenty of muscular players, mostly luhyas I am guessing.
Thank God someone else on this thread knows how to use Google instead of people like Ghost over here saying "he's been tested many times". Uh yeah, he has. Did you look at the results? No?
Uh yeah? People don't just sit back and take steroids and hope they get huge. You still have to workout hard. And in fact one of the main benefits of the juice is that you're able to workout even harder with even less recovery.
I knew a guy who took roids, uppers, protein, and inositol or something like that in HS. Hardly worked out. Ended up HUGE in a few months, his voice and face etc were all effed up.
Wow, talk about a terrible life choice. Willing to do untold damage to his body and lifespan but unwilling to put in the work in the gym to take full advantage of the drugs. Kids are dumb
Yep, he was a moran for sure. Was an overly-compensatory thin kid, who literally almost doubled his weight, from 132 to 250, he was so proud when he hit it.
By hardly worked out, I mean 2x per week, all weights.
We all get the why behind the PEDs. The thing is if you plan on hanging with the elite you will need to know how to do the PED thing like they do. You cannot compete on just your talent alone. How to get around not being busted is the task.
BUT......why does anyone have to? We all know what vitamins and minerals do for us we all get how important diet is so just add these other supplements, what is the big deal? Unless you do the work it won't matter what ya do.
So there are 8 sprinters in the field all of them are drugged to the gills, so where is any avantage, yep, there isn't one so why worry about it?
I do get this......now stay clean boys and girls......at the HS/NCAA level, but once a pro forget all that and do whatever it takes.
You're largely correct, Ghost. But the tribes are Kalenjin (most Kenyan runners), Kisii and Gusii are the same tribe, "Kisii" is an anglicisation of the pronunciation (Hellen Obiri and Yobes Ondieki are from this tribe). Then there others like Kenya's largest tribe, the Kikuyu, not "Kikuyo" (Sammy Wanjiru, Catherine Ndereba, John Ngugi) and Maasai (David Rudisha, Elijah Manangoi). It is true Luhya, not "Lua" (Omanyala) and Luo (Barack Obama and actress Lupita Nyong'o)tend to be stockily built, fast-twitch muscle types who go into soccer, rugby, sprinting, basketball etc.
Interestingly, the new 800m sensation, Emmanuel Wanyonyi looks Kalenjin but has a Luhya surname, so he's likely of mixed heritage. So blending those two attributes together could be what's making him beast the 800m.
Apparently, Kenyans are such offshoots of humanity, that even within their country their 'tribes' show marked genetic differences that dispose one group to dominate the marathon, and another to dominate the 100m. Mixing the two together apparently results in an 800m 'beast'.
I'm not an expert in genetics, and unlike most here, I'm not a racist who believes there are marked genetic differences between groups of people, but even if there was some truth in the idea that East Africans have some natural advantange for distance running, it seems to me absurd to believe that in one tiny patch of the Earth, there are two tribes living alongside each other, one with special genetic advantages for distance running, and the other for sprinting.
Wouldn't a simpler explanation be that Kenya is almost unique in having nearly all of its professional sports people in athletics, and that combined with a proven lack of testing and doping culture, that this allows them to throw up the occasional world beating sprinter, not to mention javelin thrower, to go along with all the distance running champions? What tribe does Julius Yego come from btw? I guess that tribe has been throwing javelins and spears at the Kalenji for the last 10,000 years giving them a natural adaptation for it, while the Kalenji ran away, giving them in turn a natural advantage in running?
Maybe they manage the same way that Dina Asher-Smith and Mo Farrah can both be successful.
I didn't notice that in 2017, but it did come up here on letsrun when he ran his 9.77. So I added him to the list of all sub-9.8 sprinters. All twelve of them either got a ban or had a doped teammate:
9.58 Bolt (doped teammate) - Jam 9.69 Blake - doped - Jam 9.69 Gay - doped - US 9.72 Powell - doped - Jam 9.74 Gatlin - doped - US 9.76 Coleman (banned for 3 whereabout failures in 12 months) - US 9.77 Bromell (doped teammate) - US 9.77 Omanyala – doped - Ken 9.78 Carter – doped - Jam 9.78 (DQ) Montgomery – doped - US 9.79 (DQ) Johnson – doped - Can 9.79 Greene – doped - US
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