Something to Watch in the Olympics

Last night Dan Rather Reports had a fascinating show about how Kenyan runners became the most dominant in the entire world. They are so dominant, nobody else should even bother entering the Olympics in those contests because they are going to lose. The top Kenyan runners are routinely called by their times in the marathons rather than by their names.

Genetics, according to last night's report, has little to do with it but instead the environment born of poverty has everything to do with their superiority in this sport. Kids run all the time to and from school, since there are few or no buses. Their legs are more slender than typical runners, and they run barefoot much of the time, which makes their strides more efficient. The top athletes undergo a tight training regiment where their focus is entirely on running to the exclusion of almost everything else. The higher altitude in which they train also helps.

This piece in the Atlantic does say genetics does play a role and downplays the poverty role, especially regarding school buses:

It turns out that Kenyans' success may be innate. Two separate, European-led studies in a small region in western Kenya, which produces most of the race-winners, found that young men there could, with only a few months training, reliably outperform some of the West's best professional runners. In other words, they appeared to have a physical advantage that is common to their community, making it probably genetic. The studies found significant differences in body mass index and bone structure between the Western pros and the Kenyan amateurs who had bested them. The studied Kenyans had less mass for their height, longer legs, shorter torsos, and more slender limbs. One of the researchers described the Kenyan physical differences as "bird-like," noting that these traits would make them more efficient runners, especially over long distances.

Surprisingly, Western popular writing about Kenyans' running success seems to focus less on these genetic distinctions and more on cultural differences. For years, the cultural argument has been that Kenyans become great runners because they often run several miles to and from school every day. But, about a decade ago, someone started asking actual Kenyans if this was true, and it turned out to be a merely a product of Western imaginations: 14 of 20 surveyed Kenyan race-winners said they'd walked or ridden the bus to school, like normal children do. Another cultural argument says they run barefoot, which develops good habits, but if this were true then surely the far more populated countries of South Asia, where living without shoes is also common, would dominate over Kenyans. Another ascribes it to the "simple food" of Kenya, but this again is true of many parts of the world, and Kenya's not-so-great health record suggests the country has not discovered the secret to great nutrition. And there is a cringe-inducing theory, still prevalent, that Kenyans' history as herders means they get practice running as they chase their sheep across the countryside.

The training, with the promise of rising out of poverty with winnings and endorsements, though, may be the critical factor. As noted in the comments, many top runners from all over the world are training at Iten, Kenya, because they want to be able to compete with the best, so it really isn't a genetic thing after all.