Thought this would provoke the usual outrage. If anyone wants to print this
unpublished article, or reproduce it on a website, please send me a note. I
will be most obliging.
******
9 August 2001
The End of the British Empire: Why a Brit (Black or White) Will Never Again
Hold a Distance Running Record
By Jon Entine
When the gun goes off for the men�s 1500 metre final at Sunday�s World
Championships in Edmonton, it might just as well signal the end of an era.
The age of great British middle distance runners is gone forever. Once the
world�s dominant power, with a bloodline of Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett,
Steve Cram, and Peter Elliott that regularly left competitors in the dust,
the British hopefuls are today mere also-rans in a field dominated by North
and East Africans.
The collapse of the once mighty British Empire is actually part of a more
sweeping trend. Where Brits, Aussies and others of Northern European stock
used to dominate distance running, former greats such as Steve Cram and
Sebastian Coe now indulge in British bashing. �So where is the problem?�
wrote Coe last week in the Telegraph. . �The answer, I rather fancy, as
Shakespeare said, �lies not in the stars but in our hands� � run faster.�
Coe went on to exhort aspiring Brits to train with the �brutal� commitment
of days gone by � �the mental and physical intensity of what was commonplace
20 years ago,� he added modestly.
Here�s a wake-up call: you might as well look to the stars, because distance
runners from Britain, northern Europe or North America, white or black, will
never reclaim the mantle as world's best. And cultural factors have little
do with this changing phenomenon.
The world rankings, which combine race results from the 800 metres to the
marathon, paint a stark picture. Africans, eight from Kenya, hold the top 10
places. Among the women, the top 3 and 7-out-of-10 are Kenyan. However,
because of social taboos against women runners in Africa, non-Africans
remain somewhat more competitive.
If you ask self-proclaimed experts what�s behind this extraordinary
phenomenon, be prepared for the usual clich�: the current crop of British
athletes is too soft. If they just tried harder, they�d challenge for gold.
Certainly, Coe�s 1981 800-metre run in Stockholm ranks as one of the great
all-time performances. But a look at the all time list of 800 metre runs
makes it clear that Britain�s reign as middle distance champion (and prior
periods of domination by the Finns and other Northern Europeans) speaks
mostly to the fact that for the most part Africans didn�t compete. While
nationalistic chest pounding may help deal with frustration of fading glory,
it can�t change the hard reality that Britain�s middle distance running
glory is gone for good, whatever training methods might be adopted. Now that
the playing field is more level�running is a worldwide sport, drawing
competitors from Africa, Asia and South America�Northern Europeans are
decidedly second-class.
Consider the list of all time top 800 meter runs and runners. While Coe�s
best time ranks third on the all time list, Elliott�s stands at 45, Cram�s
at 67, and Ovett�s at 341. On a regular basis, none could expect to
challenge the current world record holder, Kenyan Wilson Kipketer, who has
28 times in the top 100. Other Kenyan runners bring the total in the top 100
to fifty. Overall, athletes of African ancestry hold 92 of the top 100
times, with Northern Europeans holding but eight.
What about Coe�s whine that British runners could transform themselves from
joggers into champions if only they paid they mimicked the Kenyans. As the
myth goes, Kenyans are great because they ran to school as kids and torture
themselves in practice. That brings belly laughs from Wilson Kipketer, who
destroyed Coe�s long-held 800-metre record in 1997. "I lived right next door
to school," he laughs. "I walked, nice and slow."
The reality is that for every Kenyan monster-miler putting in 100-mile
weeks, there are others, like Kipketer, who get along on less than thirty.
�Training regimens are as varied in Kenya as any where in the world,� notes
Colm O�Connell, coach at St. Patrick�s Iten, the famous private school and
running factory in the valley that turned out Kipketer and other Kenyan
greats. O�Connell eschews the mega-training so common among world champion
wannabees in Britain and Europe.
The explanation for African domination of running, it turns out, can be
found mostly in the genes. �Africans are naturally, genetically, more likely
to have less body fat, which is a critical edge in elite running,� notes
Joseph Graves, Jr., an African American evolutionary biologist at Arizona
State University. "Evolution has shaped body types and in part athletic
possibilities. Don�t expect an Eskimo to show up on an NBA court or a Watusi
to win the world weightlifting championship. Differences don�t necessarily
correlate with skin color, but rather with geography and climate. Genes play
a major role in this.�
Highly heritable characteristics such as skeletal structure, muscle fiber
types, reflex capabilities, metabolic efficiency and lung capacity are not
evenly distributed among populations and cannot be explained by known
environmental factors. Though individual success is about opportunity and
"fire in the belly," thousands of years of evolution have left a distinct
footprint on the world's athletic map.
"Very many in sports physiology would like to believe that it is training,
the environment, what you eat that plays the most important role," states
Bengt Saltin, director of the Copenhagen Muscle Research Center, who
outlined his findings in Scientific American. "But we argue based on the
data that it is 'in your genes' whether or not you are talented or whether
you will become talented. The extent of the environment can always be
discussed but it's less than 20, 25 percent."
East Africa is the epicenter of world distance running. Runners from
highlands that snake along the western edge of the Great Rift Valley have
clocked more than 60 percent of the best times ever run in distance races.
Kenyans alone win 40 percent of top international events. The Nandi district
of 500,000 people�1/12,000 of Earth's population�boasts an unfathomable 20
percent, marking the greatest concentration of raw athletic talent in sports
history.
East Africans share a genetic history with mountain populations of North
Africa. As a result of millions of years of evolutionary pressures, these
populations turn out a disproportionately high number of body types with a
biomechanical package for endurance activities: lean, physiques, large lung
capacity, and a preponderance of slow twitch muscle fibers that propel
endurance athletes. These are genetically-endowed attributes. No amount of
hard-training can radically change what we are born with.
This is not an issue of black and white, but the consequence of evolving in
varying terrains. In fact, black East Africans have a very different
biomechanical and genetic make-up than blacks who trace their ancestry from
West Africa, which includes almost all British, Canadian, and American
blacks.
�West Africans have already about 70 percent of the fast type muscle fibers
when they are born,� says Dr. Saltin. �And that�s needed for a 100 metre
race around 9.9 seconds.�
Canadian geneticist Claude Bouchard, director of the Pennington Biomedical
Research Center at Louisiana State University, found that West African
descended blacks have naturally smaller lung capacity (about 15 percent when
compared to whites and East Africans), a preponderance of fast twitch muscle
fibers, and a more muscled, mesomorphic physique � a goldmine for sprinting.
Not surprisingly, there are no elite distance runners of West African
ancestry.
All the training in the world is unlikely to turn a black Brit into an elite
marathoner or an East African into a top 100-metre runner. While the fastest
Kenyan 100-metre run is 10.28 seconds, ranking 5,000 on the all-time list,
blacks who trace their ancestry to West Africa, the ancestral home of almost
all African Americans, hold the top 200 and 494 of the top 500 100-metre
times.
The pattern of which athletes excel has little to do with skin color but
much to population genetics. Asian athletes, and their ancestral descendants
in Mexico and South America, are very competitive in distance races, in part
because of their small frames and extra layer of energy-generating body fat,
which is otherwise a hindrance in sprinting. The few great white male
distance runners are almost exclusively from southern Portugal, Spain, and
Italy, and share many of the physical and physiological characteristics�and
some of the genetic make-up�of North and East Africans.
"Differences among athletes of elite caliber are so small," notes Robert
Malina, a Michigan State University anthropologist and editor of the
American Journal of Human Biology, "that physique or the ability to fire
muscle fibers more efficiently that might be genetically based ... it might
be very, very significant. The fraction of a second is the difference
between the gold medal and fourth place."
If genetics and race really do matter in athletic performance, then we might
expect to find noticeable differences in the ways different population
groups sustain anaerobic and aerobic functioning. Sure enough, by applying
population genetics to athletic performance and examining the
aerobic/anaerobic energy cycle, scientists are beginning to understand the
racial pattern in sports.
Timothy Noakes, long-time director of the Sport Science Center at the
University of Cape Town Medical School, and author of many scholarly books,
including Lore of Running, has observed that black South Africans, who share
much of their genetic ancestry with East Africans, sweep more than 90
percent of the top places in endurance races held in his country, despite
the fact that blacks represent no more than one-quarter of the active
running population. Noakes has attempted to figure out why in his
laboratory. In a treadmill study, black marathoners consistently bested
whites. Although white runners matched or exceeded the black runners at
distances up to 5,000 metres, blacks were "clearly superior at distances
greater than 5km." The fine print in the data was particularly revealing.
There was a dramatic difference in the ability of the blacks to run at a
higher maximum oxygen capacity. In the case of the marathoners, blacks
performed at 89 percent of the maximum oxygen capacity, while whites lagged
by nearly 10 percent. The muscles of the black athletes also showed far
fewer signs of fatigue as measured by lactic acid.
Noakes noted a link between his findings and the training habits of
well-known Kenyan runners who report favoring low-mileage, high-intensity
workouts. This presented a nurture/nature conundrum: Does hard training lead
to a change in oxidative capacity and fatigue resistance, or does it merely
reflect a genetically well-endowed athletic machine?
The answer can be found in the wild card in performance: muscle efficiency.
David Costill, former head of the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State
in Muncie, Indiana, has shown that the adaptability of the muscle fiber for
aerobic metabolism - its oxidative potential - is more important than the
basic composition of the muscle. More aerobically efficient fibers produce
fewer fatigue-producing lactate toxins, resulting in better performance. And
although fiber composition is genetically fixed, which effectively limits
the pool of possible successful athletes in each event, exercise can help
muscles better utilize oxygen.
A team from South Africa and Australia, including Noakes, has found an
apparent link between oxidative capacity, resistance to fatigue, and race.
The researchers measured "running economy"-the amount of metabolic work (and
therefore oxygen consumption) that is required to run at a given speed, much
like the fuel economy of a car. Running economy can be affected by a variety
of factors both environmental, such as running technique, and physiological,
such as body-mass distribution and muscle elasticity. "We've shown that the
oxidative enzyme capacity of the [black] athletes we looked at was one and a
half times higher on average than the white runners," reported Kathy
Myburgh, a co-author of the report and senior lecturer at the University of
Stellenbosch in South Africa. Comparing black and white athletes with nearly
identical race times, the researchers found that blacks were both more
efficient runners and able to utilize a considerably higher percentage of
their maximum oxygen potential - a decided advantage if two athletes
otherwise have the same capacity.
"Whilst the current study does not elucidate the origins of these
differences," the report concluded, "the findings may partially explain the
success of African runners at the elite level." A subsequent study
determined that the superior fatigue resistance during high-intensity
endurance exercise is partially related to the higher skeletal-muscle
oxidative capacity and lower plasma lactate accumulation found more commonly
in blacks.
Bengt Saltin has also come to the conclusion that certain population groups,
including Northern Europeans, who are notable endurance runners and
cross-country skiers, may have superior fatigue resistance encoded in their
genes. He has found that Scandinavian distance runners, Kenyans, and South
African blacks all have consistently lower blood-lactate levels and perform
more efficiently than athletes from other regions, the likely result of
their having evolved in mountainous regions. Population genetics �
ancestry�is the key determinant.
Saltin brought a half-dozen established Swedish national class runners to
Colm O�Connell�s school, St. Patrick's, in Iten, Kenya, to see how they
might match up against up-and-coming East African schoolboys. It was a
demoralizing experience for the Swedes. National champion after national
champion was soundly trounced in races from 800 metres to 10 kilometres.
Stunned, Saltin estimated that in this one tiny area of the Rift Valley
there were at least five hundred school boys who could best his national
champions at 2,000 metres.
In a subsequent study, Saltin brought several groups of Kenyans to the
Karolinska labs in Sweden, where he was then working. Muscle-fiber
distribution was similar for the Kenyans and Swedes. But biopsies of the
quadricep muscles in the thighs indicated that the Kenyans had more
blood-carrying capillaries surrounding the muscle fibers and more
mitochondria within the fibers. That's important because mitochondria act a
little like power stations, processing the glucose with oxygen brought in by
breathing into energy. The Kenyans also were found to have relatively
smaller muscle fibers than the Swedes, which Saltin speculated might serve
to bring the mitochondria closer to the surrounding capillaries. This
process aids in oxidation, bringing more "fuel" to the mitochondria, the
engine of the muscles.
The Kenyans also showed little ammonia accumulation in their muscles from
protein combustion, and less lactic-acid buildup. They have more of the
muscle enzymes that burn fat, and their glycogen reserves are not burned as
quickly, which improves endurance. Most impressively, they are able to take
months off from regular training and then regain their old form quickly.
When they do train, more than half of their total mileage occurs at heart
rates of 90 percent of maximum, far higher than the rate for Europeans or
Americans. In general, Saltin reported a 5 to 15 percent greater running
economy at far less mileage, but at a higher intensity. Saltin has privately
suggested that Kenyans appear to be innately efficient, durable, and fast -
with the most perfect aerobic potential measured so far on earth.
Could a North European or British runner defy the odds and emerge as a
middle distance world record holder? Certainly, for genes only circumscribe
possibility and any race opens the door for the roulette wheel of the human
spirit. As a result of natural human variation, there will always be great
runners from every part of the globe. But don�t expect a return to glory.
Remember, there were almost no Kenyans or North Africans in the mix in the
days when British athletes used to rule. Today�s aspiring British athletes
would be a bit foolish to follow Coe�s exhortations and devote themselves to
grueling training regimens in hopes of cracking African hegemony. More than
likely, in a sport in which a few hundredths of a second is the difference
between a gold medal and finishing back in the pack, they don�t have the
innate potential to become the elite of the elite. They are making a
rational choice to focus on events and sports in which they are more likely
to succeed.
Humans are different, a product of the inseparable relationship of genes and
environment. Popular thinking, still reactive to the historical misuse of
�race science,� lags this new bio-cultural model of human nature. Events
such as the World Championships provide an opportunity to broaden our
understanding of the genetic revolution now unfolding. Get used to it
Sebastian: the glory days of the British distance running empire are gone
forever.
Jon Entine [http://www.jonentine.com] is author of Taboo: Why Black Athletes
Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It. E-mail him at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
Jon Entine
RuffRun
6178 Grey Rock Rd.
Agoura Hills, CA 91301
(818) 991-9803 [FAX] 991-9804
http://www.jonentine.com
