There are over a billion people in India. So why havent they had any great runners yet?

Go live in India then tell me if you would have the opportunity or interest to run. I also suggest watching slumdog millionair its a good watch.

I

Genetically, Indians have thinner heart arteries.

Culturally, they look down on manual labor.

gonna be politically incorrec wrote:

ok I am an indian american runner and I have a few things to say on the topic...

the reason indians might not be as good is simply the same reason why africans are so much better than everyone else GENETICS. im not saying that indians could not have a few good runners but genetically we might not be as capable in any type of athletics as other people. we make up for that in smarts.

also and probably more importantly, culturally indians never really cared much for sports. the emphasis is on education. so people aren't really good runners there because they emphasize other things in their culture.

I disagree; GENETICS has nothing to do with it!

There are a lot good young Asian-American athletes competing for U.S. high schools. Go to a track meet in NJ or anywhere in the U.S. that has a large Indian population and you will see young Indians who are competitive in sprints, distance and field events.

GENETICS is an easy copout, granted some athletes are born with certain GENETIC advantages, but are usually also disadvantaged in other ways. U.S. athletes have the best training, nutrition and overall infarstructure, whereas China and India could produce great runners by shere volume; East Africa has altitude, perfect body builds and great tradition....any race can produce great runners if they focus on it.

- I trained two Indian girls, who were very talented; I will tell you that there is absolutely nothing unique about Indians that precludes them from running. The parents of the two girls eventually pulled them off of the track team becasue it distracted from school work, which made no sense to me becasue the team was full of straight students. Culturally, Indians are very career minded and see the U.S. as the land of opportunity and take advantage of the 'vocational' opportunities, but fail to realize that sports is an intergal part of the American experience and that it not all about getting into a good college and getting a good job.

ohh sorry but did i not just say that cultural differences are more important?

by the way i don't see how being straight has anything to do with school work.

also check dyestat idiot, do you ever see indians there or at footlocker or at NXN? and exactly how talented were these girls? 4:50 mile? huh??

MikeDiamond wrote:

Why aren't there any great American Cricket players?? We have over 300 million people...

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Exactly. They really don't care about track or cross country. We do not really care about Cricket.

However, Track and Field is the premier of any Olympic games.

And, India would do itself a great service to promote the sport for worldwide attention in athletics.

gonna be politically incorrec wrote:

ohh sorry but did i not just say that cultural differences are more important?

by the way i don't see how being straight has anything to do with school work.

also check dyestat idiot, do you ever see indians there or at footlocker or at NXN? and exactly how talented were these girls? 4:50 mile? huh??

You have to learn to relax, my child. I have a slight suspicion that you are not an Indian. We don't call strangers on the Internet "idiot". Shame on you, my son.

I agree with the other poster - I don't think it's genetics. For example, I run local races here and there's this Indian guy who always wins. He's runs low 17's 5K on 15 mpw. I bet if he trained harder he could break 15:30.

Genetics is just a cop-out. It's like saying - "God made us this way. No matter how hard we try, we ain't gonna make it"

Really really really lame cop-out for being lazy.

I think a real Indian would readily admit that they are lazy. Part of it is the heat. It does make you lazy and unenergetic. Have you noticed how in the southern parts of Europe, people are more lazy? 2 hour lunches, afternoon siestas? It's the heat, my friend. Heat is an integral part of culture and how it changes our outlook on life.

jamaicanmecrazy wrote:

because indians are naturally slow.

🤡🤡🤡🤡

In gonna be honest as a runner of Indian descent, India has great sprinters in the 400m like Hima Das and Milkha Singh. I doubt distance running will be far behind as in the future, there will be lots of fast runners from India.

MikeDiamond wrote:

Why aren't there any great American Cricket players?? We have over 300 million people...

Say it again for the original poster.

There are about 30,000 wild bear in U.S. and about 3000 wild tiger in India. Is it reasonable for Indians in India to be more afraid of 3000 wild tigers as opposed to 30,000 wild bear in U.S. Wild life while on 5 plus mile runs are a concern. Eight-hundred metres and longer, wild life on longer runs must be considered.

I thought this place becoming an ignorant racist cesspit was new. Turns out it has been like this for at least 12 years.

<sigh> wrote:

I thought this place becoming an ignorant racist cesspit was new. Turns out it has been like this for at least 12 years.

Are you implying a bear and tiger question is racist? There is a bear den on my property. Maybe you live somewhere where wild life is no concern.

Avinash Sable, 8:18 steeple last summer at the Olympics. Got COVID prior to Olympics and might have run faster if not for that. 1:00:30 half marathon also.

Serious distance running is not popular or lucrative in India.

The only Olympic sports that even have regional popularity are freestyle wrestling and field hockey. India does fairly well in both. Maybe the last Olympics will change things but I doubt it.

I don’t think genetics can be blamed here, Indians are very genetically diverse. Lack of popularity, sporting culture, poor training/facilities are to blame.