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I post this after the topic was raised in the "N Generation" thread. Some posters seem to believe that the Williams sisters dominate partly (but not all) because of their being black--and their skin color gives them a natural advantage.
I myself, think this is insulting and offensive, but some posters seemed to be taken off guard that their beliefs would be considered racist.
I open the this for discussion:
1. Do you feel that race is a factor in an athlete's success?
2. Do you feel that believing this is racist or not?
3. Should we expect an up and comer like James Blake to start to dominate?
I'll start with posting an article from the BBC on a book recently published on this topic:
Genetics 'the key to black success'
'Diet, skill and training make little difference if you're the wrong colour'
Race issues in the UK: special report
Denis Campbell, Sports News Correspondent
Sunday January 23, 2000
The Observer
David Beckham, Tim Henman and Michael Owen may be the last of a dying breed. Sporting heroes with white skin are an endangered species, and black competitors' already-huge domination of many major sports is set to become absolute, according to a new book.
Its author has reignited sport's biggest controversy - are black athletes naturally better than whites? - by claiming that white sportsmen, who feature less and less among the medal-winners and record-breakers, will soon not even make it as far as the starting-blocks.
Taboo: Why black athletes dominate sport and why we're afraid to talk about it has seen writer Jon Entine condemned as a racist who views blacks as beasts, and praised for daring to throw off the blanket of political correctness covering sport's racial divide.
His conclusion that whites are increasingly the also-rans of world sport has focused attention on the declining number of Caucasians in sports which, until a genera tion ago, contained only a few black faces. 'In almost every sport blacks have a decided advantage and we ignore scientific truth at our own risk,' says Entine. 'They are better at sprinting, endurance running and jumping - the sort of skills required for success in most major sports these days.'
He says that the supremacy of black sportsmen at the Olympics, football World Cup and world athletics championships is now so great that 'whites and Asians are in danger of becoming mere asterisks when compared to darker-skinned competitors'.
The combination of genetics, biology and ancestry favouring blacks is so powerful that whites can do nothing to reverse the trend, according to the Emmy award-win ning television journalist, who deploys some startling statistics to support his argument. Blacks form just one-eighth of the world population yet make up 70 per cent of players in the US National Football League and 85 per cent of basketball professionals. In England, blacks are just 2 per cent of the population but form 20 per cent of league footballers.
Entine argues that different population groups, rather than entire races, have different physical and physiological attributes which can help make them brilliant, or hopeless, at particular sports. It is a matter of genetics, rather than blacks being denied the chance to make their mark in other areas.
'The complete domination of the 100 metres by people of West African origin means no white man will ever again win the event. It simply won't happen', claims Entine. In other words, champions are born, not made. Diet, skill and training make little difference if you're the wrong colour.
Thus Eurasian whites are over-represented in some sports, such as weightlifting, wrestling, hammer-throwing and the shot-put because they naturally have the strongest upper bodies in the world, while the Chinese and Japanese dominate gymnastics because they are the most innately flexible population group.
Likewise athletes with West African ancestry have a near-monopoly on sprinting because of their inherent speed, while the aerobic prowess of those with East and North African forebearers explains why Kenyans, Ethiopians and Moroccans hold almost every record for everything from the 1,000 metres to the marathon.
Entine has hit the same raw nerve as Sir Roger Bannister, who sparked off a furious backlash in 1995 by saying black athletes had 'certain natural anatomical advantages' over whites. Five years on, blacks are even more successful. One critic claims Taboo is really saying 'that blacks are closer to beasts and animals in terms of their genetic, physical and anatomical make-up than they are to the rest of humanity. That's where the indignity comes in'.
Entine responds by citing scientific studies proving that the popular notion that 'white men can't jump' is actually true. He quotes black tennis legend Arthur Ashe's belief that 'sociology can't explain it. I have to believe we blacks have something that gives us an edge' and Olympic champion Carl Lewis's statement that 'backs, physically in many cases, are made better'.
But Tessa Sanderson, who won Olympic gold for Britain in the javelin, disputes that blacks like her have any natural advantages. 'Hard work, determination and the will to win are what makes a good athlete. People say that black people are dominating sport these days but if you look at the javelin, there's hardly any. And in swimming, whites are still dominant. In sport the best man wins, whether you're black, white or whatever.'
Nigel Walsh, editor of Athletics Weekly, is also sceptical. 'I don't believe people of a particular racial group are genetically predisposed to doing a certain sport well. Just because all the recent 100-metre record-holders have been black doesn't mean the next one won't be white.'
The multi-cultural nature of British athletics seems to disprove Entine's theory. Daley Thompson became one of Britain's first black sporting icons when he took gold at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, but the newest decathlon star, former lifeguard Dean Macey, is white. While Britain's most high-profile sportswoman, black heptathlete Denice Lewis, is tipped to win gold at September's Olympics in Sydney, so too is 10,000-metre runner Paula Radcliffe, who is white. Both are ranked second in the world at their event.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
I myself, think this is insulting and offensive, but some posters seemed to be taken off guard that their beliefs would be considered racist.
I open the this for discussion:
1. Do you feel that race is a factor in an athlete's success?
2. Do you feel that believing this is racist or not?
3. Should we expect an up and comer like James Blake to start to dominate?
I'll start with posting an article from the BBC on a book recently published on this topic:
Genetics 'the key to black success'
'Diet, skill and training make little difference if you're the wrong colour'
Race issues in the UK: special report
Denis Campbell, Sports News Correspondent
Sunday January 23, 2000
The Observer
David Beckham, Tim Henman and Michael Owen may be the last of a dying breed. Sporting heroes with white skin are an endangered species, and black competitors' already-huge domination of many major sports is set to become absolute, according to a new book.
Its author has reignited sport's biggest controversy - are black athletes naturally better than whites? - by claiming that white sportsmen, who feature less and less among the medal-winners and record-breakers, will soon not even make it as far as the starting-blocks.
Taboo: Why black athletes dominate sport and why we're afraid to talk about it has seen writer Jon Entine condemned as a racist who views blacks as beasts, and praised for daring to throw off the blanket of political correctness covering sport's racial divide.
His conclusion that whites are increasingly the also-rans of world sport has focused attention on the declining number of Caucasians in sports which, until a genera tion ago, contained only a few black faces. 'In almost every sport blacks have a decided advantage and we ignore scientific truth at our own risk,' says Entine. 'They are better at sprinting, endurance running and jumping - the sort of skills required for success in most major sports these days.'
He says that the supremacy of black sportsmen at the Olympics, football World Cup and world athletics championships is now so great that 'whites and Asians are in danger of becoming mere asterisks when compared to darker-skinned competitors'.
The combination of genetics, biology and ancestry favouring blacks is so powerful that whites can do nothing to reverse the trend, according to the Emmy award-win ning television journalist, who deploys some startling statistics to support his argument. Blacks form just one-eighth of the world population yet make up 70 per cent of players in the US National Football League and 85 per cent of basketball professionals. In England, blacks are just 2 per cent of the population but form 20 per cent of league footballers.
Entine argues that different population groups, rather than entire races, have different physical and physiological attributes which can help make them brilliant, or hopeless, at particular sports. It is a matter of genetics, rather than blacks being denied the chance to make their mark in other areas.
'The complete domination of the 100 metres by people of West African origin means no white man will ever again win the event. It simply won't happen', claims Entine. In other words, champions are born, not made. Diet, skill and training make little difference if you're the wrong colour.
Thus Eurasian whites are over-represented in some sports, such as weightlifting, wrestling, hammer-throwing and the shot-put because they naturally have the strongest upper bodies in the world, while the Chinese and Japanese dominate gymnastics because they are the most innately flexible population group.
Likewise athletes with West African ancestry have a near-monopoly on sprinting because of their inherent speed, while the aerobic prowess of those with East and North African forebearers explains why Kenyans, Ethiopians and Moroccans hold almost every record for everything from the 1,000 metres to the marathon.
Entine has hit the same raw nerve as Sir Roger Bannister, who sparked off a furious backlash in 1995 by saying black athletes had 'certain natural anatomical advantages' over whites. Five years on, blacks are even more successful. One critic claims Taboo is really saying 'that blacks are closer to beasts and animals in terms of their genetic, physical and anatomical make-up than they are to the rest of humanity. That's where the indignity comes in'.
Entine responds by citing scientific studies proving that the popular notion that 'white men can't jump' is actually true. He quotes black tennis legend Arthur Ashe's belief that 'sociology can't explain it. I have to believe we blacks have something that gives us an edge' and Olympic champion Carl Lewis's statement that 'backs, physically in many cases, are made better'.
But Tessa Sanderson, who won Olympic gold for Britain in the javelin, disputes that blacks like her have any natural advantages. 'Hard work, determination and the will to win are what makes a good athlete. People say that black people are dominating sport these days but if you look at the javelin, there's hardly any. And in swimming, whites are still dominant. In sport the best man wins, whether you're black, white or whatever.'
Nigel Walsh, editor of Athletics Weekly, is also sceptical. 'I don't believe people of a particular racial group are genetically predisposed to doing a certain sport well. Just because all the recent 100-metre record-holders have been black doesn't mean the next one won't be white.'
The multi-cultural nature of British athletics seems to disprove Entine's theory. Daley Thompson became one of Britain's first black sporting icons when he took gold at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, but the newest decathlon star, former lifeguard Dean Macey, is white. While Britain's most high-profile sportswoman, black heptathlete Denice Lewis, is tipped to win gold at September's Olympics in Sydney, so too is 10,000-metre runner Paula Radcliffe, who is white. Both are ranked second in the world at their event.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
