Can Black Americans Run Well At The Marathon?

Sydeny Maree isn't American.

kenyan are africans........you idiot...

Uh... Meb maybe?

marijuologist wrote:

everybody knows that Meb et. al don't count as "African Americans" because they are east African. The real question is whether blacks Americans of West African descent can run well at the marathon.

Yes thank you it is obvious that I should have clarified that. Why did someone say that Maree is not American?

Sydney Maree (b. 1956) is a former middle distance runner who competed at the international level in the 1980s. He was born in South Africa but ran for the United States. Maree's greatest success came in August 1983 when he broke Steve Ovett's world record over 1500 m at a meeting in Cologne. Maree clocked 3:31.24 min. Two years later, Maree broke the 3:30 min-barrier when he set a new US record of 3:29.77 min. However, this was not a world record as a few weeks before Steve Cram and Said Aouita had already run 3:29.67 and 3:29.71 min respectively. Maree was an excellent 5000 m runner, too. In Oslo in 1985 he set a new US record at 13:01.15 min. finishing just behind Aouita who set a world record.

I Am A Dreamer wrote:

No offense is intended by this question. It is inspired by another thread on racism, where someone points out that "blacks don't think about marathons", perhaps because they think they cannot succeed??. I accept cultural norms exist but I say these norms are racist based. It is untrue that white men cannot run 100m well, and also untrue that black americans cannot run the marathon well.

Any hard information would be appreciated. (For middle distance, what ethnic background did Sydney Maree or Mr Holman have?)

I would have thought the answer was obvious - especially to an American.

It was in the late 40's as a scrawny kid still on wartime rations when I first sailed up and down the West Coast of Africa.

It was immediately obvious that I was in the area of world where mankind’s natural mesomorphs reigned.

(Later sailing on the East Coast - it was equally obvious we were in an area where ectomorphs prevailed)

Every male was naturally, powerfully muscular, many, like the natives that paddled the huge cargo barges out to us anchored offshore, had biceps that Schwarzenegger would envy.

As all the slaves were taken from that area; presumably the strongest were initially selected, the weakest of them would die on voyage - and there was further selection later on in the US - it’s hardly a surprise that American blacks are naturally superior at such sports as sprinting, football, basketball etc - and not very proficient at dragging a heavy body around 26 miles.

wow, i didnt know sydney maree was a black guy

The physiological qualities that were advantageous to surviving the journey on slave ships were not necessarily such that they would also be advantageus to dominating the sports at which "American blacks are naturally superior" today. It may well have been that the bigger and stronger may have been more likely to die. But I digress...

FWIW there are several West or at least "non-East African" countries with quite decent marathon NRs: Congo 2:08, Rwanda 2:09, Angola 2:11, Burundi 2:13, Zambia 2:15, Malawi 2:17, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Ghana 2:18.

I would argue that genetic variation both in West Africa and among black Americans of slave descent is so large that these populations quite naturally contain enough "marathon types" for some to reach the absolute top. The problem - such as it is - is rather that such types are either directed towards other sports or never come into contact with organized sports in the first place.

runnerJT4U2C wrote:

wow, i didnt know sydney maree was a black guy

its normal for the average American not to know much, dont feel disheartened

Can white Americans run well at the marathon?

coach wrote:

Can white Americans run well at the marathon?

nice one

Yes, Darrell General

Add Herm Atkins.

I Am A Dreamer wrote:

Yes thank you it is obvious that I should have clarified that. Why did someone say that Maree is not American?

Why did someone say that Maree is NOT an American? Because he is NOT. He renounced his citizenship years ago -- he's now a South African citizen awaiting trial for bank fraud.

Sydney Maree is not an "African-American." He's not even American. Keep up on your current events, would ya?

Lets just except that for black Americans (born and raised in the states),to run sub 2:10 in the marathon is like becoming an allstar NHL player.

marijuologist wrote:

yeah wikipedia is great isn't it?

It's only as good as the yahoos who contribute. In other words SISU (shit in, shit out).

Tar Merchant wrote:

FWIW there are several West or at least "non-East African" countries with quite decent marathon NRs: Congo 2:08, Rwanda 2:09, Angola 2:11, Burundi 2:13, Zambia 2:15, Malawi 2:17, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Ghana 2:18.

I would argue that genetic variation both in West Africa and among black Americans of slave descent is so large that these populations quite naturally contain enough "marathon types" for some to reach the absolute top.

Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and Malawi certainly are considered "East African". Furthermore, The Dem Rep of the Congo (formerly Zaire), and Angola can be considered "non-West African" as well, since the population phenotypes and terrain (high, arid savannahs) match those of other literal "East Coast African" countries.

The so-called "slave coast" extends from what is now Cameroon to Senegal. That is the "West Africa" where "African-Americans" were descendant from.

I'd also disagree with your assessment of the genetic diversity of the slave stock. Slave traders for Atlantic markets did not exploit the full genetic diversity of the entire continent of Africa, mostly because of geography and terrain, and the fact that only coastal West African tribal chiefs kept slaves. Muslim slave traders expoited Eastern Africa.

I think everyone is overlooking the fact that black americans currently have a wide variety of genetic material. Most black Americans have significant white and native american genetics. A few months ago there was a pbs special that attempted to trace the genetic make up of some prominent African AMericans. I think those results would be representative of most African AMericans: varied ancestry.

I think that black americans don't attempt much distance running (just like whites avoid the spints) because we don't see much African American success in the distance races. There are also a lack of coaching and running environment in the inner city (where a large percentage of African Americans live)...I think that east/west African explanation is exagerated. That would be like saying that Americans in the South and west coasts are genetically supererior because most of our elite runners come from those regions.