Why are black people so fast?

[TCO]

Originally posted by Tingkai
The "height is caused by environment" is an outdated and flawed theory. It's full of holes.

That's why the "height is caused by diet" theory is now accepted as being more valid.

We have statistical proof for different races and countries that average heights have increased as diets have improved. The Japanese are much taller now, on average, compared to 50 years ago, because their diet has improved. So are North Americans.

The food theory explains why Northern Chinese are generally taller than Southern Chinese. Their diets are different (grain-based in the north, rice-based in the south).

Pull your head out of your butt.

F = f(x,y). Showing a strong dependance of F on x does not mean that there is no effect of y on F. (Unless you vary y and do the statistical null proofs.) Do you seriously beleive that there are no racial dependancies of stature? Surely, you will agree that stature varies by family and that it has a genetic component. A race is an extended family grouping. It is a population that practices limited outmarriage and mostly inmarriage and thus develops different traits from other groups. If the color can vary by race and the facial features and the hair, why can't the stature/physique?

Do you really believe that Masai tribesmen raised on fish would be the same height as Japanese raised on fish? Or vise versa with respect to being raised on milk and cattle-blood.

[Odin]

Kenyans are adapted for running long distances while hunting in the savanna. Their physique is very similar to the first modern humans 150,000 years ago (although the first moderns have the slightly lighter skin of bushmen it is thought) the reason that the bushmen are shorter then other blacks that live in treeless areas is that they lived in forested areas until isolated in the Kalahari by the Bantu expansion 2,500 years ago.

[The Vagabond]

Re: Why are black people so fast?

Genetically conditioned features come in a package. That is why. It's the same reason that the Arabs and the Persians got the largest penes in the world, while the Chinese and the Japanese got the smallest ones (read this somewhere a few days ago ).

[Carver]

Originally posted by Tingkai


A guy like Carl Lewis is not a great athlete because he is black. He is a great athlete because of training, physical and mental, and atttiude.

Many people often forget that. They think athletes don't have to work hard and think hard. It is so anoying when people say college athletes don't deserve all the attention etc. they get. In reality NCAA Div-I athletes deserve a lot more for their work, considering all the millions they make for their schools and other interested parties.

[Berzerker]

It's the same reason that the Arabs and the Persians got the largest penes in the world

Ahem...quite a few black folk would take exception to that claim.

[Kramerman]

That is why. It's the same reason that the Arabs and the Persians got the largest penes in the world

I thought that Blacks again dominated here too?

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Pekka
Yeah, black people outside US dominate white folks too like Frankie Frederiks as reds4ever mentioned (I stood next to him in line at airport Yoohoo!) that Canadian dude who was champ some years ago and that guy from Trinidad and Tobago who runs with those glasses on.. etc etc etc.. That UK guy, lindford or something..

Linford Christie. Probably had the best physique ever. I saw Carl Lewis at the airport too and I was AMAZED that dude looks like the fastest man in the world.

[The Vagabond]

I don't know, guys. I read that Arabs and Persians were the largest. Perhaps you got such an impression of Blacks from porno, where they are sometimes really huge. OTOH, Arabs and Persians don't often appear in porno (cultural/religious restraints, I guess) .

[Ted Striker]

"read" huh?

[Ming]

Let's NOT change the topic folks... especially to THAT topic.

[The Mad Monk]

All I know, is that Dutch people are tall.

[The Vagabond]

Sorry, Ming. Mea culpa

[TheStinger]

In the 20's the world record was around 10.25 seconds it is obviously alot quicker now, it was held by a white bloke. there are now not many white men who can run that fast.Despite the advantages in diet,training and track conditions. This would seem to indicate that the poetential white stars just aren't tacking up sprinting.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by GP
Pull your head out of your butt.

F = f(x,y). Showing a strong dependance of F on x does not mean that there is no effect of y on F. (Unless you vary y and do the statistical null proofs.)

GP: You need to take your own advice.

If you are saying x=environment and y=diet then I never said that a strong dependence on y proves x is not a factor.

What I said was the Berzerker's hot cause tall/cold cause shortness hypothesis is incorrect in and of itself.

There is ample emphirical evidence showing the hypothesis is not valid. The average height of people in cold regions can be tall, and average height of people in hot regions can be short.

Berzerker argues that this is the result of migration and that "These changes (caused by environment) take a long time."

However, the Han Chinese of the colder northern China are taller than the Han Chinese of hot southern China. Both groups share the same genes so they should have equal heights according to Berzerker's theories, but they do not. Not only that, the height difference is opposite to what Berzerker's theory would predict.

As well, we have evidence that changes in average height can occur over relatively short periods of time.

Originally posted by GP
Do you really believe that Masai tribesmen raised on fish would be the same height as Japanese raised on fish? Or vise versa with respect to being raised on milk and cattle-blood.

Yes, a change of diet will affect height. We have evidence that suggests this is true.

During the previous century, the average height of 17-year-old Japanese males increased by six inches. Most of that increase occurred during the post-WWII period.

The most accepted reason for this rapid increase in average height is the change in Japanese eating habits. They began to eat more western foods, and I'm not talking about McDonalds. I'm taking about eating/drinking more milk, cheese and wheat-based foods all of which were not traditionally part of the Japanese diet.

So as Japanese people began eating more western-style food, they began to grow taller.

However, the increase in average height might be a result of increase quantity of food consumed rather than just type of food eaten.

Still, it is clear that diet has a significant impact on height and it can overshadow genetic influences. Just because a Japanese father is short doesn't mean his son will be of similar height. The statistics show that Japanese sons are taller on average than their fathers.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Gangerolf
here's some interesting reading

http://run-down.com/guests/je_black_athletes_p1.php

http://run-down.com/guests/je_black_athletes_p2.php

Interesting links.

I thought the following was significant:

One tiny district, the Nandi [in Kenya], with only 500,000 people, sweeps an unfathomable 20 percent of major international distance events.

The Kalenjins of the Great Rift Valley adjacent to Lake Victoria, a tribe of half a million people, win 40 percent of top international distance running honors - and three times as many distance medals [at the 88 Olympics] as athletes from any other nation in the world.

If this is true then we could hypothesise that:
1) It is not all blacks who are fast sprinters;
2) It is not all East Africans who are fast sprinters;
3) It is people from specific tribes/communities.

This would make sense genetically. For some reason, these two tribes have genes that make them great runners. Those genes are confined within a small geographical area among people who happen to have black skin.

Now probably those "runner" genes have dispersed throughout East Africa to a lesser extent but are concentrated in one community.

This indicates a potential problem with the studies being done. The scientist goes to Africa and does a study of Kalenjin people and then jumps to the conclusion that results are valid for all black people. That might be true, but it is also possible that the people tested are actually from a select group that the scientist doesn't recognise.

So the question we should be asking is not why are blacks so fast, but whay are Kalenjin people so fast.