Do you believe that Black Africans are the best runners?

Question

Usain Bolt, the Jamaican 100m world record holder, has said that the former transatlantic-slave trade is partially responsible for the high performance of African American, and Afro-Caribbean athletes in running competitions. I think this makes a good amount of sense tbh. I am not trying to hint at any kind of racial-superiority here, I just think that it is an interesting theory.

So, what I decided to do is look at a variety of running events and compare, Black African (excluding African Americans & Afro-Caribbeans), Caucasian, and East Asian records to see if black Africans still come out on top. It is a bit of a crude analysis; you have factors such as training facilities working against Africans, but at the same time, you have the fact that in more developed European/Asian economies, with more highly paid jobs available, less people desire to go into athletics.

Anyway, look (some records are missing because they are particularly slow, and are therefore too hard to find):


100m:

Male
1st Black: Fasuba – 9.85. 2nd Caucasian: Lemaitre 9.92 (he is only 21). 3rd Asian: too slow, so no data.

Female
1st Asian: Xuemei - 10.79. 2nd Black: Alozi – 10.90. 3rd Caucasian: Taylor 11.12


1500m:

Male

1st Caucasian: El Guerrouj – 3:26.00. 2nd Black: Lagat – 3:26.34 (close!). 3rd Asian: Too slow, so no data.

Female
1st Caucasian: Ivan – 3:53.96. 2nd Qu: 3:50.40. 3rd Black: Too slow, so no data.



Marathon

Male
1st Black: Makau – 2:03:38, 2nd Asian: Takoaka - 2:06:16, Caucasian: Pinto - 2:06:36

Female
1st Caucasian: Radcliffe – 2:15:25. 2nd Black: 2:18.37. 3rd Asian: 2:19:12

I chose these events because they are the most iconic sprint/middle distance/long distance.

To me, it looks like (for men anyway) that Black Africans do marginally come out on top.... but only marginally

Answer 1

Talking of athletics



Do you know a site where it has records of sprinters in states aged 11-20



Just want to compare with the UK

Like this

http://www.topsinathletics.info/

Answer 2

Equipment does play a big role but running and cycling are very different sports. Cycling requires frequent bouts of explosive power over the course of a 6 or 7 hour event. Also, being able to recover rapidly and compete the next day is crucial. Athletes from Kenya or other traditional endurance running nations might do well in cycling but they seem built for running. On the other hand, there are many black African cyclists in Burkina Faso. There is a UCI sanctioned race there, the Tour de Faso, that is run by the same organization that runs the Tour de France. There are teams that compete from Europe as well as many African teams. The race has been won by white Europeans as well as black Africans so they compete fairly evenly.

Answer 3

A lot of runners from the likes of Kenya and places like that are actually average. The difference occurs because those countries have a fairly high elevation above sea level. What that means is they train in thinner oxygen levels, so when they go to Europe or America to run in the Olympics or big marathons, they're getting much more oxygen than they're used to. This in turn causes a larger amount to be sent to the muscles allowing for a time of greater stamina. Plus they have low weight calves which is a further benefit for competitive running.



Really there are a lot of factors.

Answer 4

Aziz Zachari is a Ghanaian ( West African ) sprinter who made it to the Olympics against Carribean & African-American runners like Usain Bolt & Tyson Gay



He didn't win, but the point is his running speed was a mere milliseconds from those of the winners



People ascribe WAY too much credit to slavery for the SUPER HUMAN ATHLETIC abilities of Blacks. I think they do this to feel better about the fact that Blacks are DESTROYING other races in many popular sports, in America particular running, Football & Basketball



Black Africans ( as differentiated from Black Americans & Carribeans ) are no less capable than they are when it comes to running. Sprinting tends to be dominated by West Africans ( the group from which most American Blacks descend), distance running by East Africans ( Ethiopians, Somali etc)

Answer 5

Yes, East Africans are the best at distance running. They use the endurance or slow-twitch fibers, but they also have very low weight calves. The less weight on your calves, the more efficiently you can stride - or in other words, it takes less energy for you to stride.

Answer 6

Sprinters especially from around Africa





They have a larger amount of a amino acid in their fast twitch muscles than we do



I think this is right

Answer 7

No not black Africans,,just Africans.

Answer 8

what the hell is with this black african stuff ?