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t is not the spindly fingers and long nails or the geeky appearance or the shy habit of looking at the table when he speaks that make Christophe Lemaitre unusual in the macho genre of world-class sprinting. It is the fact he is white.
The 100 metres final took place on Sunday without a single white man in the line-up. Just as it has every time since Allan Wells won gold at the Moscow Games of 1980.
But on Thursday Lemaitre, a 22-year-old Caucasian from France, will run in the Olympic 200 metres final after qualifying as a fastest loser from the semi-finals in a time of 20.03 seconds. It brings the debate about racial background and its bearing on running to the fore. The subject is entirely taboo in America and arouses deep passions on this side of the Atlantic, too.
But it was a theme recently explored in a television documentary by the four-time Olympic gold medallist and sprint legend Michael Johnson. He asked: 'Why shouldn't we discuss it?' and embarked on a personal journey to discover whether genetic factors give an advantage to Caribbean and Afro-American athletes, of which he was one.
His thesis, presented on Channel 4, was that the slave trade, with its emphasis on hard manual work and the survival of the fittest, uniquely equipped black athletes for success on the track.
Research over the past decade suggests a gene called ACTN3 or Actinen A, which is helpful to sprinting, is found more commonly in people of West African descent than those of European ancestry.
It prompts the question of whether it is not so much a couple of centuries of slavery but thousands of years of climatic and cultural conditioning in Africa that have played a defining part in producing the world’s greatest sprinters.
This brings us to Lemaitre’s athletics club in Aix-les-Bains in southern France. Outside the window it is stair-rodding down with rain. Inside the star athlete is fiddling with those long thumbs.
Lemaitre is the only white man ever to run 100 metres in under 10 seconds, a barrier he broke on July 9, 2010. The feat won him an invite from Texas to do promotional work with the Ku Klux Klan. He naturally declined. He has since run 9.92 in the 100m and 19.80 in the 200m, his sole individual event in London.
'This was my goal, to break the 10-second barrier,' he said. 'One has to do that to be ranked among the world's best. I will be recognised as the first white man to do it but it is mostly historic for myself.
'It's not about colour. It’s about hard work. I never put myself in the skin of a white man. It was not relevant to me before I began sprinting and it is not in my mind now.
‘I understand that the fact I have done sub-10 seconds is interesting and I live with it. But I hope I can encourage other people to take up sprinting, whether they are white or black. The more who do that, the more hang-ups will disappear.’
Lemaitre is doing his bit. He was named 2010 French Sportsman of the Year by L’Equipe after taking gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at the European Championships. Tellingly, the same newspaper carried his sub-10 second run on their front page, during the Tour de France. ‘White men can run,’ had media currency. He then went on to win 200m bronze at last year’s World Championships in Daegu.
Back in France, he steps up from the table and his appearance changes from the bookish University of Savoy electrical engineering and industrial data processing undergraduate into a sprinter. Standing nearly 6ft 3in, he looks athletic and lean rather than stocky in the mould of the Maurice Greene musculature. He does little heavy weights work.
It is still raining but he goes outside to warm up and his talkative coach Pierre Carraz sits down. 'I wondered if Christophe was autistic when he first came here,' he says. 'He did not speak. He was shy. But he has progressed physically and mentally.
'He is still very simple and discreet. This is his natural state. He listens well. He understands everything. With many athletes you have to repeat yourself but he only needs one explanation.'
Carraz, experienced and avuncular, has worked with Lemaitre since he proved his speed over 50m at a local sports festival aged 15. After one year’s training he ran 10.96 over 100m. In 2008, he won the world junior 200m title. The following year he broke Dwain Chambers’ 100m European junior record of 10.04 to win at the European Junior Championships.
'I don’t know whether the white question angers him or not,' says Carraz. 'He says it is not about that. The way I see it is that there is no difference in the physical make-up of white people and black people.
'But perhaps black people are more relaxed. In Europe, if someone has to wait two minutes for a bus they get worked up. But in the Caribbean, people do not worry. They may not see a bus for a week. It is that relaxed state of mind and body that they take out on the track. It is the most important factor - being loose in your limbs.'
If so, the greatest example of the relaxed arts is Usain Bolt, who qualified in 20.18 — Lemaitre recorded the third fastest time despite finishing third in his semi-final. Bolt has spoken positively about Lemaitre publicly and talks kindly to him privately.
'Usain is like a brother to me,' says Lemaitre. 'We get on well. It gives me belief. Reaching the final means the pressure comes off in a strange way,' he adds.
'You have a ticket and you can win the Lottery. It makes no difference whether you are white or not.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/oly...#ixzz24Z1DpnwQ
The 100 metres final took place on Sunday without a single white man in the line-up. Just as it has every time since Allan Wells won gold at the Moscow Games of 1980.
But on Thursday Lemaitre, a 22-year-old Caucasian from France, will run in the Olympic 200 metres final after qualifying as a fastest loser from the semi-finals in a time of 20.03 seconds. It brings the debate about racial background and its bearing on running to the fore. The subject is entirely taboo in America and arouses deep passions on this side of the Atlantic, too.
But it was a theme recently explored in a television documentary by the four-time Olympic gold medallist and sprint legend Michael Johnson. He asked: 'Why shouldn't we discuss it?' and embarked on a personal journey to discover whether genetic factors give an advantage to Caribbean and Afro-American athletes, of which he was one.
His thesis, presented on Channel 4, was that the slave trade, with its emphasis on hard manual work and the survival of the fittest, uniquely equipped black athletes for success on the track.
Research over the past decade suggests a gene called ACTN3 or Actinen A, which is helpful to sprinting, is found more commonly in people of West African descent than those of European ancestry.
It prompts the question of whether it is not so much a couple of centuries of slavery but thousands of years of climatic and cultural conditioning in Africa that have played a defining part in producing the world’s greatest sprinters.
This brings us to Lemaitre’s athletics club in Aix-les-Bains in southern France. Outside the window it is stair-rodding down with rain. Inside the star athlete is fiddling with those long thumbs.
Lemaitre is the only white man ever to run 100 metres in under 10 seconds, a barrier he broke on July 9, 2010. The feat won him an invite from Texas to do promotional work with the Ku Klux Klan. He naturally declined. He has since run 9.92 in the 100m and 19.80 in the 200m, his sole individual event in London.
'This was my goal, to break the 10-second barrier,' he said. 'One has to do that to be ranked among the world's best. I will be recognised as the first white man to do it but it is mostly historic for myself.
'It's not about colour. It’s about hard work. I never put myself in the skin of a white man. It was not relevant to me before I began sprinting and it is not in my mind now.
‘I understand that the fact I have done sub-10 seconds is interesting and I live with it. But I hope I can encourage other people to take up sprinting, whether they are white or black. The more who do that, the more hang-ups will disappear.’
Lemaitre is doing his bit. He was named 2010 French Sportsman of the Year by L’Equipe after taking gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at the European Championships. Tellingly, the same newspaper carried his sub-10 second run on their front page, during the Tour de France. ‘White men can run,’ had media currency. He then went on to win 200m bronze at last year’s World Championships in Daegu.
Back in France, he steps up from the table and his appearance changes from the bookish University of Savoy electrical engineering and industrial data processing undergraduate into a sprinter. Standing nearly 6ft 3in, he looks athletic and lean rather than stocky in the mould of the Maurice Greene musculature. He does little heavy weights work.
It is still raining but he goes outside to warm up and his talkative coach Pierre Carraz sits down. 'I wondered if Christophe was autistic when he first came here,' he says. 'He did not speak. He was shy. But he has progressed physically and mentally.
'He is still very simple and discreet. This is his natural state. He listens well. He understands everything. With many athletes you have to repeat yourself but he only needs one explanation.'
Carraz, experienced and avuncular, has worked with Lemaitre since he proved his speed over 50m at a local sports festival aged 15. After one year’s training he ran 10.96 over 100m. In 2008, he won the world junior 200m title. The following year he broke Dwain Chambers’ 100m European junior record of 10.04 to win at the European Junior Championships.
'I don’t know whether the white question angers him or not,' says Carraz. 'He says it is not about that. The way I see it is that there is no difference in the physical make-up of white people and black people.
'But perhaps black people are more relaxed. In Europe, if someone has to wait two minutes for a bus they get worked up. But in the Caribbean, people do not worry. They may not see a bus for a week. It is that relaxed state of mind and body that they take out on the track. It is the most important factor - being loose in your limbs.'
If so, the greatest example of the relaxed arts is Usain Bolt, who qualified in 20.18 — Lemaitre recorded the third fastest time despite finishing third in his semi-final. Bolt has spoken positively about Lemaitre publicly and talks kindly to him privately.
'Usain is like a brother to me,' says Lemaitre. 'We get on well. It gives me belief. Reaching the final means the pressure comes off in a strange way,' he adds.
'You have a ticket and you can win the Lottery. It makes no difference whether you are white or not.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/oly...#ixzz24Z1DpnwQ
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