WHY BLACK PEOPLE CAN RUN FAST

Ocacia · (#1 (**permalink**))

The physical characteristics of the West African type today manifest very markedly in sport activities that predominantly rely on anaerobic metabolism. During the era of the slave trade, it was mostly blacks from West Africa that were brought to North America and today utterly dominate highly anaerobic athletic disciplines like sprints (100-400 m) and jumps.

These physiological traits are clearly evident as early as during childhood (Malina 1988, Milne et al. 1976, Ponthieux, Baker 1965). It was documented that this is due to the higher activity of key anaerobic enzymes and predominance of fast-twitch muscle fibers in thigh muscle (see muscle fiber), whose percentage is about 15% higher than in Europeans (Ama et al. 1986) and slightly less in African-Americans, who have approximately 20% white admixture (Duey et al. 1997). The combination of massive thigh muscle with slender calves ensures minimal intertia during fast movement (Rahmani et al. 2004), and the narrow hips minimize pelvis rotation and loses of energy. On the other hand, West Africans generally perform very poorly in aerobic activities, which results from their low VO2 max. values, lower concentration of hemoglobine, smaller lung capacity and too high percentage of fast-twitch fibers (Ama et al. 1990, Andreacci et al. 2004, Skinner et al. 2001 and others). Hence the athletic prominence of West Africans falls very markedly in the 800 m, where aerobic metabolism slightly predominates, and virtually disappears in the 1500 m. The athletic history knows no (full-blooded) athlete of West African origin, who would perform well in races 1500 m and longer, where aerobic metabolism prevails. Thus, the West African type is the exact physiological opposite of the Nilotic type that excels in long distances.

colo-mentality · (#2 (**permalink**))

Interesting Stuff

Vubundada_Kandaba · (#3 (**permalink**))

Quote:

The article posted by Ocacia came from Wikipediaand is part of a much longer article; Ocacia simply cut and posted a paragraph out of the entire article. The article is currently on hold to be deleted unless the Author can present more facts according to the powers to be at Wiki, Wikipedia due to fact that it supports Racial Science (Statementsfrom some people on Wikipedia)and mentions that the black race is superior physically/athletically. This are not my words but iswhat I understand from the debate that is going on over at Wikipedia generated by thisarticle. It seems like after World War II and the defeat of the Nazi doctrine, many people are extremely cautious to such articles.

Quote:

But here is what I found to be interesting according to the author and he made these claims in his writings. Some of the claims made by the author are mind boggling particularly when he claimed that the Nilotics in his opinion should be considered a separate race, that means we will have two black (African) races.confused3That did it for me, this claim here, and the hot climate stuff. The climate and temperatures in Africa are similar but the author made it seems like Africa is divided into climatic zones with West Africa being relative cold and East Africa hot, so to speak.confused3Make of it what you think of it.

Quote:

BUT HERE ARE SOME OF THE CLAIMS OF THE AUTHOR.

Quote:

(1) Nilotes are one of the most archaic human groups that can be well separated as a single race. They posess a special subclade of Y-haplogroup A (A3b2), a sub-branch of the subclades found in Khoisan. They must have separated from the Khoisan people a long time ago and since they have lived in their enviroment for thousands of years, their adaptation to hot climate is the most extreme of all human groups.

Quote:

(2) The most characteristic signs of the Nilotic physique are: a small head limiting the surface exposed to sun, very long limbs (trunk index ca. 48%) with extremely long distal segments (calves, forearms) that dissipate heat more efficiently due to their high surface/volume ratio, and generally very slim, linear stature with very black skin. The skull of Nilotes is very long, the face is narrow, with a relatively narrow, high nose, lips are not especially thick; hence the appearance of the Nilotes is less "negroid" than in West Africans, especially in tribes that are partly mixed with the Ethiopids.

Quote:

(3) The height of Nilotes differs from tribe to tribe and may largely depend on the living style: while pastoral Sudanese Nilotes like e.g. Shilluk are very tall (182,6 cm/6 feet; according to Roberts and Bainbridge 1963), mostly agricultural tribes like the Kalenjin or some Turkana from Kenya barely get over 170 cm (5'7). This is very probably due to high milk consumption in pastoral tribes (Nilotes are - besides Europeans - the only human population that shows signs of high lactose tolerance!).

Quote:

(4)The Nilotic type is the exact opposite of the West african type, which is markedly manifested in modern athletic competitions, where West Africans dominate sprints and explosive events (jumps), while small Nilotes from Kenya (especially the Kalenjin tribe) and Ethiopians (theirselves partly descendants of an old Nilotic population) excel in long distances. The primary reason of their excellence in these disciplines probably lies in their slender body build that makes them very economical as distance runners (Larsen et al. 2004). In fact, the muscular development of an average Nilotic man is on the level of an average European woman (Little 1989). The difference is especially marked in the volume and slenderness of calves that are the most important part of the body saving energy during running. The Kenyan runners clearly don't differ from Europeans in muscle fiber composition or VO2 max. (Saltin et al. 1995) and possible differences in the activity of oxidative enzymes also seem unlikely (Larsen et al. 2000), at least in relatively untrained subjects.