The topography explains it all. https://geology.com/articles/east-africa-rift.shtml
tl;dr The people of that area in East Africa naturally live close to sea level, however there are easily accessible elevations changes that distance runners have trained on for probably centuries. It turns out that training at high altitudes and recovering at low altitudes provides a tangible and demonstrable advantage compared to just single elevation training.
This can't be the whole story, otherwise we'd see places like Chile, Peru, and India competing too
No idea about the other two, but India's sports administration is corrupt to the core. Funds are stolen by those on top, and athletes who complain - even about obviously criminal things like sexual assault - are pushed out. Some sports bodies (chess, for example) are better, but the big ones (cricket, wrestling, football) are mostly bad.
Yeah like the other commenter said this isn’t it, nobody is commuting up and down 10,000’ on a regular basis, especially in antiquity. Just because different elevations “look close” on a map means nothing.
Far more likely is this is a concentrated population of folks with highly desirable traits for distance running.
The school of thought has generally changed.
Live high, train low is now the prevailing methodology.
That’s good. I thought the map was being racist
Maps aren't racist. Map owners are racist. Map creators are just filling demand.
(replace "maps" with "dogs" and "racist" with "at fault for dog eugenics")
Those Ethiopian and Kenyan runners live and train at high altitude, when they compete at lower elevations where there's more oxygen, they have a dramatic edge over other runners.
I'd wager we would see the same effect if athletes from Bhutan, Nepal and/or Tibet decided to compete in long-distance running.
Genetically I imagine the Africans have a more advantageous stride than the Asians?
This is why the US Olympic Training Center is in Colorado.
Thanks for adding context.
Also a region with good coffee. There must be a correlation…
I wonder how much caffeine doping goes on before races. It sure as hell gives me tons of energy
More likely the altitude helps with training & coffee growing, but a little caffeine never hurt
Explains the shit streaks
Crazy that most of them come from the same place as our earliest ancestors from 200.000 years ago. Must be a magical place.
They'll run as fast as Kenyans!
400 BABIES!
ENERGY LEGS!!!!!!!
the ones in America are ethnically the same ones in Africa
Who are you talking about? Galen Rupp? Grant Fisher? Chris Solinsky?
https://trackandfieldnews.com/tfn-lists/u-s-all-time-list-men/#10k
If you are talking about African Americans, they are descendants from west Africa, not east
Hell yeah Wisconsin
somebody forgot to label something
east africa isn't real, it can't hurt me
Djibouti getting left out
Time for a Djibouti call.
Persistence predator go brr. Epidemiology implies genetics are likely involved.
As the Oregonian in the thread: Steve Prefontaine!!
I could be wrong, but I think it would be Galen Rupp.
fun fact: Kenya has a very strong running culture and is very high altitude, which means most people in the region are naturally very good at running thanks to their higher lung capacities.
Someone should check what’s in the waters of Lake Victoria (tea leaves?)
More likely coffee beans.
If you can dodge a bullet, you can dodge a ball homie
Sorry to be the guy that brings controversial issues to this thread. But this kind of thing is exactly why the "trans women have a biological advantage in sports" argument holds no water. (Other than the fact its almost entirely untrue)
People from this region have a biological advantage in their sports, several orders of magnitude more of an advantage than trans women have. But no one is calling for these people to be banned from sports.
Sorry to be that guy, but this picture gives us no evidence that the advantage of these people is biological and not the result of other factors such as culture or environment.
This picture doesn't, but if you look into it then you'll see studies have shown the Kalenjin people have quite small ankles and calves which mean their legs weigh less and so make it easier for them to run long distances.
That isn't to say genetics are the sole reason they are good. But it's undeniable they have a genetic advantage.
What
several orders of magnitude more of an advantage than trans women have.
Have there even been studies which can back up this claim¿? Hell have there even been studies which even measure how much of an advantage having smaller calves and ankles gives¿?
There are tall asians, but there are no testosterone flooded women.
On an unrelated note, can i turn off reply notifications to posts ?
There are tall asians,
What does that have to do with anything?
but there are no testosterone flooded women.
Yes there are. Things like Polycystic ovary syndrome or Nonclassic congenital adrenal hyperplasia can cause women to have high levels of testosterone.
And also trans women take HRT to drop their levels of testosterone anyway so your point isn't even relevant.
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