Can you imagine ...? Interesting how predominant the imagination is in these discussions.
Imagine if Scots lived and train in higher lands, and grew up at high altitude to be a heathly mature adult at 90-110 pounds (6 stones 7 pounds to 8 stones)?
And I thought you had moved on from talking about "genes" to include enviromnental influences like altitude.
Why can't you understand that the middle distances (800m and 1500m) are not Kenya's best events? These are events where non-Africans have always had a chance to be competitive. A top Coe and Cram and Ovett would have been competitive throughout the EPO-era.
How does your analysis look, for the very same small populations, for steeple, 3000m, 5000m, 10000m, 5K roads, 10K roads, 15K roads, half-marathon, marathon and cross-country, if we count performances comparable to your third place Gourley? Is it still 3-2 in Scotland's favor? How does it look for the last four decades, when East Africans started dominating the world in cross-country with the depth of top talent, long before EPO was widely used (according to you in 1992)?
What is different in 2022, than say 2021, or 2018? In other threads, Armstronglivs tries to say that, while official WADA test reports show in 2021 that ~11% of positives tests are Kenyan, for 2022, according to Coe, that fraction is now 40%, a nearly 4x increase in Kenyan doping. How does this alleged rapid increase in Kenyan doping sit with your observation of Kenyan decline in performance in the 1500m in 2022? The increased doping made the Kenyans slower?
While Kerr and Wightman have produced great (top-100) 1500m performances (Australia and Spain have also done well with two athletes each in 2022), you have to dig pretty far down the list to find your third Scot, Gourley, coming in just about the top-1000th best performance. Does that mean the whole country of Scotland now has better depth than the whole region of Kalenjins? I think you have to consider other more basic reasons why Kenyan depth is drying up on the tracks, and has been since 2010 (when the IAAF switched from Golden League to Diamond League) -- money is drying up on the track and Kenyans have followed the money to the roads. A third best Kenyan generally cannot afford to go to international meets, like the Scots can, and their domestic meets are at altitude, on inferior tracks.
To the extent that doping culture is rampant, the whole world has a rampant doping culture. If Cathal Lombard and Martin Fagan can get EPO in Ireland, and Christian Hesch can get EPO from Mexico, and virtually anyone can get it shipped from China, then the Scots can also get EPO in Scotland. Indeed, if you were consistent, you would have to suspect these Scots of doping with EPO.
And what about the women? Isn't Laura Muir a veterinarian, with access to all kinds of drugs? Vets can prescribe EPO. Why get EPO from high street pharmacies, when you can be a high street pharmacist? She can supply the whole country, men and women. Is that why the Scots have become so good? Where does your sense of conspiracy go when it comes to pasty-white non-Africans?