American 'fatty' joins the African club of runners

[Al B. Sure!]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/03/sports/03solinsky.html?_r=2

A few years ago, two things could be counted on at the University of Wisconsin. Chris Solinsky could be found barreling around a track, and onlookers could be found wondering who he was.

Was Solinsky — who stands a solid 6 feet 1 inch and 165 pounds — the cross-country team’s manager? Or perhaps a member of the wrestling team trying to stay in shape in the off-season?

“The jokes just went on and on,” recalled his coach, Jerry Schumacher.

Solinsky, 25, has never looked the part of a distance runner, let alone someone who would become the first non-African-born runner to finish a 10,000-meter race in under 27 minutes. Most of the world’s best runners at the distance are slightly built, like the world record holder, Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, who was listed at 5-3 and 119 pounds when he ran 26 minutes 17.53 seconds in 2005.

USA!

If it sounds weird that a 6'1" 165lb guy is considered a fat giant by the standards of long-distance running, check out this chart which compares the weights of the other members of the sub-27 minute 10K club. Solinsky is the outlier in red who has 20lbs on the next heaviest of this group:

[ZEE]

can you please dictate what you typed into vocaroo?

[DRoseDARs]

For people who spend a lot of time running, they sure are a pasty-white group.

[Heraclitus]

This is interesting. I wonder about the guy's genome. He's obviously a outlier:



Africans naturally dominate the sport. I've always found the West vs. East African division in running interesting. West Africans dominate shorter distances but can't do long distances, while the opposite is true of East Africans.

[OzzyKP]

USA! USA!

[Al B. Sure!]

Heraclitus,

While your charts are likely factual and are interesting and dramatic (especially the W. African one), note that your source, as usual, is a White Supremacist site, VDare.

And anyway it's less about his genome and more about his size that makes him unique. Yeah, a white guy amid this group is very surprising but the bigger thing is that at his size, he shouldn't physically be capable of a 27-minute 10K. He has 20lbs on the next biggest member of this elite group! 20lbs! More interesting is what enables this guy to do what he does when everything we know about long distance running is that shorter slighter frames dominate. Granted 165lbs is not very heavy but it is huge in his sport, hence why his teammates refer to him as 'fatty'.

Compare (he also has 9 inches and 45lbs on this guy the record-holder at the distance):

[Heraclitus]

Heraclitus,

While your charts are likely factual and are interesting and dramatic (especially the W. African one), note that your source, as usual, is a White Supremacist site, VDare.

I'm well aware of this, they where the first source of info once googled up. And since they where as you pointed out, factually correct ( I checked them), I saw little point in making my own.

Also I need to correct you, my usual source is not VDare. I don't visit the site. I do however occasionally read some entries on Steve Sailer's blog, many people like Razib Khan, ect. link to him.


Speaking of Salier, he commented on a White guy running 100m faster than 10s subject:

That "first non-African" bit is actually not true. Patrick Johnson of Australia, who is half Irish - half Aboriginal, ran 9.93 in 2003, with a 1.8 meter per second tailwind (the legal maximum is 2.0 mps). Also Marian Woronin of Poland is said to have run very slightly under 10.00, but had it rounded up to an official 10.00. (Woronin's tailwind was a 2.0, just at the maximum.) Koji Ito of Japan ran 10.00 with a 1.9 tailwind. (There have been quite a number of fine Japanese 100m men since the 1930s.)

Patrick Johnson is rather unique, if I recall right there are sets of tracks preserved in Australia showing ancient aboriginals outperforming modern athletes, perhaps a few genes stuck around? Or perhaps if the Australian native population was a few times larger they would be the dominant group not Africans.

[Heraclitus]

Heraclitus,
And anyway it's less about his genome and more about his size that makes him unique. Yeah, a white guy amid this group is very surprising but the bigger thing is that at his size, he shouldn't physically be capable of a 27-minute 10K. He has 20lbs on the next biggest member of this elite group! 20lbs! More interesting is what enables this guy to do what he does when everything we know about long distance running is that shorter slighter frames dominate. Granted 165lbs is not very heavy but it is huge in his sport, hence why his teammates refer to him as 'fatty'.

I perhaps should have put more emphasis on the fact that I'm interested in his genome precisely because of his size. Like you mention, him belonging to any group other than East African and making it is less extraordinary than his body build. When talking about genome, I was thinking of what are his personal (not group) genetic peculiarities (mutations?) that allow him to achieve this.

[Al B. Sure!]

Heraclitus:



What I posted is about 10K not 100m like you posted! Although it's interesting that in the past two months, non-Africans have joined both the elite 10,000 meter and 100 meter groups. Looks like whites are doing the damn thing at both sprinting and distance!

Goes to show you that perhaps African dominance has less to do with genetics and more to do with the fact that certain cultures stress certain athletic activities far more... your typical Kenyan child runs ALL the time, which can not be said of your typical American or European.

Looks like with enough hard work, Whites can compete both at distance and sprinting.

[Heraclitus]

Heraclitus:



What I posted is about 10K not 100m like you posted! Although it's interesting that in the past two months, non-Africans have joined both the elite 10,000 meter and 100 meter groups. Looks like whites are doing the damn thing at both sprinting and distance!

Goes to show you that perhaps African dominance has less to do with genetics and more to do with the fact that certain cultures stress certain athletic activities far more... your typical Kenyan child runs ALL the time, which can not be said of your typical American or European.

Looks like with enough hard work, Whites can compete both at distance and sprinting.

Yeah, I I didn't really read what Sailer wrote. The irony is that I edited East African to West African after reading Salier's comment thinking I mixed up what your OP was about. Its rather late here...

I've edited the previous post so it makes sense.

Yeah, perhaps its about incentives?
Something similar happened when Eastern Euro boxers became a force nearly a century after Americans gave up on finding the great white hope to beat Jack Johnson, all because there where some dirt poor countries there where boxing actually made sense as a desirable career. There are some differences in body type compared to NW and Mediterranean Euros but they can't really be behind it (behavioral differences could be tho, but these are heavily influenced by culture).

However I doubt Whites will be making any records, these precedences might encourage more of them to compete but I doubt they'll make up more than 3 or perhaps 4% of the top times.

The case for marathons may be strong, but sprinters are really unique in sport in how little they train. Its far more natural giftedness there than preparation, so culture really isn't a satisfying explanation for all the dominance of West Africans. You do have a point about Kenynans however, perhaps no group is naturally *that* better at long distance running and training and dedication play a larger role relatively speaking (looking at the graphs posted tis might explain why East Asians seem to be nearly toe to toe with Whites on the longest distance while being completley absent in the middle ranges).

[Al B. Sure!]

Heraclitus:

Anyway the fact that white guys have joined elite groups of both sprinters and distance runners seems to indicate to me that African domination is less about genetics and more about culture. Kids grow up there running all the time, far more than any European or American child. I've heard anecdotally that the average Kenyan school child runs 15 miles A DAY to school! Often barefoot even. A lifetime of doing that will make you one hell of a runner!

[Elok]

I would like to note that a thread with "fatty" in the title is much funnier when adjacent to a thread about pot smoking.

[Caligastia]

I would like to note that a thread with "fatty" in the title is much funnier when adjacent to a thread about pot smoking.