BBC Article about black runners

that's the issue.... people lump all "black people" together into one group, regardless of their genetic makeup...as the article stated (not sure if true or not), that there is more genetic variance within races than between races... now leona lewis is mixed race (part caucasian). Its like obama, who is half caucasian yet he is described as black. I suppose it goes with the whole 'one-drop theory'...

I think that one-drop theory is so dumb. Biracial people should recognised as biracial rather than black, if I was mixed race I wouldn't give in to it.

I live in london and meet and talk with people of all races and I've never met one mixed race (black/white) who views themselves as white.

The author is arguing that black people are not naturally better sprinters than other races - which they clearly are.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14679657

I've never read such a load of crap in my life. To say that black people aren't better sprinters than other races is simply a slap in the face to the entire race.

The author seems to have completely neglected very basic statistics. If we assume black people make up 0.15 of the world's population, then the odds of having 10 black athletes in every previous final, going back 10 finals, are 0.15^100, i.e. an impossibly small number.

*correct me if I'm wrong, maths isn't my strong point.

It's a curious case, because instead of the ludicrous PC establishment slapping the face of whites and asians, it has now turned on black people.

Is it really so hard for these fools to realise that humans are not all identical clones of each other? How can anyone be so stupid as to deny that genetic, physical difference exist between races?

Indeed, to deny there is no physical difference between races is to deny that there is no physical difference between Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals. Seeing as Caucasoids and Mongoloids bear Neanderthal genes, but Negroids don't, then if there was a genetic physical difference between Sapiens and Neanderthal, there must then be a physical difference between those humans who bear Neanderthal DNA and those who bear only Sapiens DNA.

I agree that the article is ridiculous. It too strongly emphasises the author's idea that it isn't black people that are faster, but a small group of people, that happen to be black (if that makes sense). But, that "85% genetic variation within race 15% between race" is just misleading tosh.

The author fails to acknowledge the idea that it might be partly environmental, partly genetic. Kenyan athletes from that small region run at high altitude all their life, are born into a culture of long distance running, but to say that there is no genetic element to it is a pretty big statement to make with no evidence. Jamaican and African American sprinters are descendants of slaves and thus were selectively bred by the slave masters to be physically strong.

There should be nothing uncomfortable about debating the correlation between genetic attributes and race. It doesn't matter if black people are on average faster, smarter or whatever - as long as people are given equal rights regardless of race, gender, sexuality etc. then we should be able to have this type of a discussion from a purely scientific standpoint.

. That just as stupid and racist as the people who say that the reason black people are fast is because they are used to running away from the police.
Anyway race is not just about the colour of your skin, its deeper than that.

Black people are naturally athletic

EDIT: what the article fails to realise when it says that all the black people that make up that finals are either carribean or african americans and not africans is that, African american and carribeans were from africa, west africa to be precise. Or did they forget all about slavery .

Anyway the reason why africans do not make up the 100 metres finals is because the mojoirty of african countries do not take part in the olympics and the few that do only bring a hand full of people. Its more to do with them not having the opportunity and equipments to compete

the education system failed you both.

I'm black and my mother has traced our ancestry, my great great grand parents were both white americans. Lumping black people under one umbrella is completely stupid. Labeling us all as descendants of slaves is very lazy. Barack Obama for example had no slaves in his ancestry and neither did I. You two are just so ignorant, but keep it up it makes a funny read.

the education system failed you both.

I'm black and my mother has traced our ancestry, my great great grand parents were both white americans. Lumping black people under one umbrella is completely stupid. Labeling us all as descendants of slaves is very lazy. Barack Obama for example had no slaves in his ancestry and neither did I. You two are just so ignorant, but keep it up it makes a funny read.

Have any of you traced your ancestry back to the African slavey era, all the way back to 16th century? thought not.

the education system failed you both.

I'm black and my mother has traced our ancestry, my great great grand parents were both white americans. Lumping black people under one umbrella is completely stupid. Labeling us all as descendants of slaves is very lazy. Barack Obama for example had no slaves in his ancestry and neither did I. You two are just so ignorant, but keep it up it makes a funny read.

Have any of you traced your ancestry back to the African slavey era, all the way back to 16th century? thought not.

Also the point about black people being bad at swimming is mere folklore.

There must be factors other than race. If race was the only factor there would be more black africans in the final, but they are always black caribbeans or american. I think environment is more important

Firstly athletic ability is not based on skin colour because skin colour is not an ethnicity. In africa alone there are over 7000 ethnicities, grouping black people or white people together is as obtuse as grouping all people with size 10 shoes.

There is some debate on whether some ethnicities are better than others at certain sports, for example east africans dominate long distance running. Kenyans and East Africans who have done well in long distance running all have come from high-altitude areas, whereas East Africans from low-altitude areas do not perform particularly well. Arguably Koreans and Ecuadorians from high-altitude areas compete well with Kenyans in long-distance races. This suggests that it is the fact of having trained in a high altitude, combined with possible local level physiological adaptations to high-altitude environments that is behind the success in long distance running, not ethnicity
It is also true that people of west african decent have dominated the 100m, however again while it is superficially true that most of the world recordholders in 100-metre dash are of West African heritage, they also all have partial genetic heritage from Europe and Native America, they have also all trained outside of West Africa, and West African nations have not trained any top-level runners. It is impossible to say to which degree the success is best attributed to genetic or to environmental factors.

Also the point about black people being bad at swimming is mere folklore.