Ok, I'm going to say it. Black people dominate sports because they are genetically superior. Let's face it. Just like Jewish men run the world. Gates, Fauci, Bezos, Zuckerberg, pretty much every lawyer and doctor in America: all Jewish. Are Jewish people smarter than the rest of us or do they value education more? Do black people value sports more or are they just genetically superior?
run more and more wrote:
I think that the less talented work harder to develop in running than the more talented do. Many 18 minute 5k runnrrs spend their lives eating right and sleeping right and run and lift and stretch 2 hours every day just to run 17:59 while world class talented guys go through the motions not enjoying it, just so they can earn a scholarship and the earn a living for a few years. They run 13:20 at 23 years old and end up weighing 200 pounds at 35.
No one with out a masochistic personality is going to train that hard to run 17:59 and going through the motions will not get anyone even remotely near 13:20. Being on a scholarship and being one of the top runners in the nation would be quite enjoyable for most people.
It's interesting. I think everyone have a genetic ceiling but that it varies how fast we get there. People who are fast responders will at least get some confidence. Others may quit long before reaching theirs.
If they have a family of champions it may be easier to believe in themselves. Take Jakob Ingebrigtsen as an example. He started running at a younger age than his brother's and therefore bet their youth records. Things like that gives confidence.
In soccer and many other team sports one of the three most important thing to succeed is being born early in the year. While growing up a child born in January will most likely be better than one born in december. So many factors... :-P
Every time this topic comes up you get the same group of people saying how hard work is key, muh 10000 hours, etc. etc. The point is that it's the COMBINATION of genetics and hard work. And guess what, they're intensely correlated because tasting some success at an activity is naturally going to reinforce the practice of that activity. I got hooked on running because I showed a modest amount of talent in it as a freshman in HS. So I started training in the off season and kept improving. If I had been struggling to break 20:00 that year I probably would've either quit or just kept participating as a fun diversion rather than a serious athletic pursuit.
Even a modest amount of talent reinforces the motivation to work hard. I respect the hell out of people who keep grinding even when they suck. But I'd be willing to bet most of the people on this board were like me and realized early on that running fast relative to their peers was satisfying, so they kept doing it.