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There was a time when the 100M Olympic champion and the heavyweight champion of the world were the two most important sporting personalities on the planet. That is just not true anymore.
But now that Bolt has gone some way to restoring this imbalance (with the commensurate level of remuneration that attends) perhaps we might see a testing of this theory.... although the allure of being a Payton Manning or Lebron James or Gareth Bale might make it difficult...
But anyway…the theory…
Rick Broadbent
Published at 12:01AM, September 6 2013
Here is a theory. The fastest man of all time is not even the man of the moment. Usain Bolt ends another season of alchemy in Brussels tonight. He is the undisputed best, what boxers call the GOAT (greatest of all time), a superhuman one-off. “I don’t think so,” David Epstein countered.
The American journalist’s new book, The Sports Gene, is provoking spirited debate about the merits of the 10,000-hour rule, which suggests that practice beats innate talent. Nature, nurture or neither, Epstein says it is actually down to both.
Bolt, who runs in the 100 metres in the Diamond League finale, has the AVTN3 speed gene, but would never have made it as a sprinter in the United States.
“I think we would definitely find someone as fast if we looked in other sports,” Epstein said. “I don’t think he’s a mutant that just happened, luckily, to be born in Jamaica.”
This is not a headline-grabbing quest for attention. Indeed, Epstein thought that publishers would “torpedo” his book proposal because it did not come to a shelf-shifting conclusion. However, he said: “Usain Bolt was 6ft 4in when he was 15 and wanted to be a pro soccer player or cricketer. If he was born anywhere else, other than Jamaica or certain parts of the Caribbean, no way would he be running track.
“In the States he would be playing American football or basketball. If we are talent-searching, we weed out the guys who are tall and explosive because height is so prized in other sports. Most elite sprinters are average height because taller ones tend to be in other sports.”
He cites the case of Calvin Johnson, a wide receiver in the NFL. He was also 6ft 4in when he was 15 and has clocked 4.35sec for the 40-yard dash, slower than Bolt but without specialist training. Johnson was courted by college football teams and last year signed a $132 million (about £85 million) contract. A Detroit Lions team-mate, Roy Williams, suggested amending Johnson’s nickname from Megatron to Bolt.
Epstein says that this is not to discredit Bolt, but to point out that athletes are distinguished both by their genes and training environments. Jamaica encourages people to run, other countries do not.
“There is no chance of a footballer slipping through the college system in the States,” he added. “In Jamaica, where high-school coaches bribe parents with refrigerators to go to their school, it’s the same with track.”
Epstein says one of the most surprising discoveries of his globetrotting survey was that scientists are withholding research on racial differences because of fear of a backlash. “That was an eye-opener,” he said.
Yet differences are obvious. Hence, most of the great sprinters of modern times have their roots in the same area of West Africa. Most of the great distance runners come from the Nilotic corridor in East Africa; many come from a specific tribe, the Kalenjin in Kenya. Epstein says that 17 Americans have run under 2hr 10min for the marathon, but 32 Kalenjin men did that in 2011 alone. The Kalenjin have narrow hips and long, thin limbs. Epstein visited Kenya and asked elite runners if they would swap running for a decent job. Many said yes.
“If Kenya had an economic explosion overnight, the running phenomenon would be done overnight,” he said. “And Kenyans are getting worse at track because they have no interest. Teenagers want to skip it altogether and go straight to the marathon, because that’s where the money is.”
There are always exceptions to theories. Mo Farah was born in Somalia, raised in Djibouti and moved to England at the age of 8. Epstein says that shows the culture is not a necessity, but Farah’s heritage means that he has the Nilotic body shape — “I have not measured him, but would expect him to have long legs in proportion to his body size”.
Size, then, is important. Paula Radcliffe has rare aerobic capacity and was “probably one of the best-trained athletes who ever lived”. So why did she not get the Olympic gold medal she craved? In a nutshell, she was too tall.
In the nadir of Athens, she was damned as a quitter for dropping out of the Olympic marathon in 95F (35C) heat. Epstein says she stopped because she is 5ft 8in. Smaller people have a greater skin surface area compared with the volume of the body, making them more able to unload heat. When body temperature reaches 104F, the central nervous system forces “a slowdown or complete stop of effort”. The winner in Athens was 4ft 11in. “If it’s hot, count out the tall runners,” he said.
So what of the 10,000-hour rule? Graft is clearly important, as Radcliffe proves, but so are genes, as her VO2 max suggests. Malcolm Gladwell, whose book, Outliers, built on earlier research about training, has criticised Epstein for the evidence he cited regarding chess masters. Epstein said that a 2007 study found the average time to become a master was 11,053 hours, but the range was from 3,000 to 23,000 hours. “Gladwell said I should have picked grandmasters,” Epstein said, “but it seemed strange that the level I’d picked was not good enough, yet they were already way beyond 10,000 hours.”
When it comes to genes, Epstein says we are rolling the dice, but whether you come down on the side of nature or nurture, or somewhere in between, the Bolt era remains the tallest of stories.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/...cle3861624.ece
But now that Bolt has gone some way to restoring this imbalance (with the commensurate level of remuneration that attends) perhaps we might see a testing of this theory.... although the allure of being a Payton Manning or Lebron James or Gareth Bale might make it difficult...
But anyway…the theory…
Rick Broadbent
Published at 12:01AM, September 6 2013
Here is a theory. The fastest man of all time is not even the man of the moment. Usain Bolt ends another season of alchemy in Brussels tonight. He is the undisputed best, what boxers call the GOAT (greatest of all time), a superhuman one-off. “I don’t think so,” David Epstein countered.
The American journalist’s new book, The Sports Gene, is provoking spirited debate about the merits of the 10,000-hour rule, which suggests that practice beats innate talent. Nature, nurture or neither, Epstein says it is actually down to both.
Bolt, who runs in the 100 metres in the Diamond League finale, has the AVTN3 speed gene, but would never have made it as a sprinter in the United States.
“I think we would definitely find someone as fast if we looked in other sports,” Epstein said. “I don’t think he’s a mutant that just happened, luckily, to be born in Jamaica.”
This is not a headline-grabbing quest for attention. Indeed, Epstein thought that publishers would “torpedo” his book proposal because it did not come to a shelf-shifting conclusion. However, he said: “Usain Bolt was 6ft 4in when he was 15 and wanted to be a pro soccer player or cricketer. If he was born anywhere else, other than Jamaica or certain parts of the Caribbean, no way would he be running track.
“In the States he would be playing American football or basketball. If we are talent-searching, we weed out the guys who are tall and explosive because height is so prized in other sports. Most elite sprinters are average height because taller ones tend to be in other sports.”
He cites the case of Calvin Johnson, a wide receiver in the NFL. He was also 6ft 4in when he was 15 and has clocked 4.35sec for the 40-yard dash, slower than Bolt but without specialist training. Johnson was courted by college football teams and last year signed a $132 million (about £85 million) contract. A Detroit Lions team-mate, Roy Williams, suggested amending Johnson’s nickname from Megatron to Bolt.
Epstein says that this is not to discredit Bolt, but to point out that athletes are distinguished both by their genes and training environments. Jamaica encourages people to run, other countries do not.
“There is no chance of a footballer slipping through the college system in the States,” he added. “In Jamaica, where high-school coaches bribe parents with refrigerators to go to their school, it’s the same with track.”
Epstein says one of the most surprising discoveries of his globetrotting survey was that scientists are withholding research on racial differences because of fear of a backlash. “That was an eye-opener,” he said.
Yet differences are obvious. Hence, most of the great sprinters of modern times have their roots in the same area of West Africa. Most of the great distance runners come from the Nilotic corridor in East Africa; many come from a specific tribe, the Kalenjin in Kenya. Epstein says that 17 Americans have run under 2hr 10min for the marathon, but 32 Kalenjin men did that in 2011 alone. The Kalenjin have narrow hips and long, thin limbs. Epstein visited Kenya and asked elite runners if they would swap running for a decent job. Many said yes.
“If Kenya had an economic explosion overnight, the running phenomenon would be done overnight,” he said. “And Kenyans are getting worse at track because they have no interest. Teenagers want to skip it altogether and go straight to the marathon, because that’s where the money is.”
There are always exceptions to theories. Mo Farah was born in Somalia, raised in Djibouti and moved to England at the age of 8. Epstein says that shows the culture is not a necessity, but Farah’s heritage means that he has the Nilotic body shape — “I have not measured him, but would expect him to have long legs in proportion to his body size”.
Size, then, is important. Paula Radcliffe has rare aerobic capacity and was “probably one of the best-trained athletes who ever lived”. So why did she not get the Olympic gold medal she craved? In a nutshell, she was too tall.
In the nadir of Athens, she was damned as a quitter for dropping out of the Olympic marathon in 95F (35C) heat. Epstein says she stopped because she is 5ft 8in. Smaller people have a greater skin surface area compared with the volume of the body, making them more able to unload heat. When body temperature reaches 104F, the central nervous system forces “a slowdown or complete stop of effort”. The winner in Athens was 4ft 11in. “If it’s hot, count out the tall runners,” he said.
So what of the 10,000-hour rule? Graft is clearly important, as Radcliffe proves, but so are genes, as her VO2 max suggests. Malcolm Gladwell, whose book, Outliers, built on earlier research about training, has criticised Epstein for the evidence he cited regarding chess masters. Epstein said that a 2007 study found the average time to become a master was 11,053 hours, but the range was from 3,000 to 23,000 hours. “Gladwell said I should have picked grandmasters,” Epstein said, “but it seemed strange that the level I’d picked was not good enough, yet they were already way beyond 10,000 hours.”
When it comes to genes, Epstein says we are rolling the dice, but whether you come down on the side of nature or nurture, or somewhere in between, the Bolt era remains the tallest of stories.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/...cle3861624.ece
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