The British sports scientist John Velzian was the first to propound the view that Kenyans were 'natural born runners'. And just like today's LetsRun, even back in the 1960's, he was segregating Kenyan genetic prowess by tribe.
Only his was very different. As he prepared the team for the 1968 Olympics, there was not even any mention of the Kalenjin in his Kenyan tribal heirarchy of genetic advantages. After all, Kip Kenio, the first living proof of natural born runner dominance, was from the Nandi tribe. Velzian knew why Keino's talent was predestined by tribal birth. He had observed that the Nandi's legs were much longer in relation to their bodies than other tribes, and of course Europeans.
However, although he felt the Nandi (along with the Kipsigis) were destined to dominate the middle-distance, there was another tribe that were genetically favored to dominate distance running. But it wasn't the Kalenjin, it was the Kisii tribe. All of his distance runners, he claimed, were from the Kisii tribe.
Meanwhile, the Luo tribe contained all the talented explosive athletes, from the sprints to the shotputters.
