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Chariots of Silicon
ToddML writes "I just spotted this article at wired.com which talks about the current deficiencies of the U.S. long-distance running program, and more importantly, what is being done about it. An interesting story from both a gadget perspective, and for the source of the program -- private industry."
First of all genetic variations between people groups across the various regions of the 2nd largest continent in the world are nearly as large as that of humanity across the entire globe. So your second sentence is a meaningless gross generalization.
Secondly, athletic prowess is also poorly defined. This article is about one particular event: long distance running. No one seems to comment on the dominance of Slavs in power lifting or Slavs and East Asians in gymnastics and diving. These are also basic sports in that they emphasize excellence in one particular area: power or flexibility, while not requiring the level of training in technique of sporst such as golf or baseball where good hand eye coordination can compensate for a difference in power. At this point I will make the obligatory mention of the lack of success of Kenyans at events shorter than 800m.
Third of all, anyone paying attention to the standings at world class competitions will note the rise of competitiveness of South Koreans and Mexicans at 10000m and longer events, Morroccans at events from 1500m to 10000m, Eastern Europeans in the Decathlon and so on.
Which brings me to my next point, we are discussing world class performances here. By definition this requires a level of training and commitment that most people are not willing to achieve. Excellence at the world class level depends on many factors: equipment, training and and taking advantage of whatever genetic advantages one has. Since Bikila's breakthrough at the Rome Olympics, there has been a concerted effort among East African nations to provide top athletes for the long distance events. This has led to national programs that identify, support and promote the best available talent on a scale that the US Olympic effort has only recently begun to match. Note that the original "African" long distance champions were Ethiopians who are as distinct from the current crop of Kenyans as a Swede is from an Italian when compared visually. No one was complaining when the US had a running obsession in the 70's and regularly produced long distance champions. There is no reason to suspect Kenya's current dominance, which I predict will fall to Mexico within a decade, is any different.
As for taking advantage of genetic heritage; any American whose family has been here for more than 3 generations can likely trace portions of their genetic heritage to ancestors from virtually any part of the globe. This is especially true of "African" Americans as they usually have ancestors originally from Europe at some point in their bloodline. The primary example is Tiger Woods who's ancestry is almost equally divided among Asian, European, African and Native Americans. As it becomes easier for population groups to intermingle Woods is going to be the rule rather than the exception.
Finally, anyone who has actually been to Japan as opposed to recieved "wisdom" from the popular culture will note that Japanese adolescents are on average much closer in height to other people groups than Japanese adults. Naoko Takashi, the Nagano Olympic Marathon Champion, is 1.62m or 5' 3" tall, this is 1" below the average height for a woman. Not exceptionally short or tall. Furthermore, elite long distance runners tend to be shorter than average so this is not an interesting case at all. From pictures her legs don't appear to be disproportionately short, in fact they seem long but she's pretty skinny so it's hard to tell.
In some circles it has become fashionable to blame genetics for one's circumstances. Also there is usually an unspoken corollary to the athletes of African descent have a genetic advantage argument. That of course is that African's are genetically predisposed to having a lesser IQ, or other quantifier linked to intelligence. The truth is the situation is far more complex that simply asking where one was born in an attempt to identify their capability at any particular endeavour. In nearly any meaningful test, the variation in performance of any group of humans is so large as to render the ability to predict the performance of an individual impossible.
And yes, there are of course some obvious physiological caveats; stride length, ratio of upper body mass to lower body mass, hemocrit etc. as to whether one is capable of a world class performance in long distance or not. But again, there are individuals from every region of the globe who meet the necessary criteria.