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51 Comments
- inactive, on 03/29/2009, -4/+32These comments suck.
- MrChocolate, on 03/29/2009, -4/+25KENYANS
- vsujohn2, on 03/29/2009, -1/+14I somehow have a strange desire to drink some powerthirst.
- kurttrail, on 03/29/2009, -1/+8So I guess you are saying that Kenyans have evolved into better athletes over a long period of time due to their environment?
- kurttrail, on 03/29/2009, -2/+8And what has Obama done to our economy, other than try to mitigate the problems he inherited?
- inactive, on 03/29/2009, -1/+7Here is a picture of Nairobi, Kenya:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/whereshegoes ...
Considering you said "I thought the Kenyans were known for running in their bare feet?" I think you'll appreciate the last picture in that set ;)
I know It's all in vain to convert a racist. A racist will say "This is the exception to the rule", but will accept all other pictures, videos, experiences, anecdotes, "proofs", etc. that seem to validate their own point of view. I'm just putting this out there as a counter-point and for those who are open-minded. - 1hrSleep, on 03/29/2009, -2/+7Due to their environment? What do you mean? Like their clean air?
So, you're saying that he's saying that... Kenyans, genetically, evolved into better athletes over a long period of time, due to their clean air and high altitude, which are known to be beneficial to exercise and performance?
You don't say. - LoudMusic, on 03/29/2009, -0/+3Sure would be nice if athletes in the US had to work for their keep too.
- wilf_brim, on 03/29/2009, -1/+4I'm confident that they will get through this downturn one way or another. Note that most of them aren't just sitting around complaining that their appearance and endorsement fees have declined, they are doing other things to make up the lost income (farming, shops).
As an aside, I've met a few of the African runners at marathons. Unlike most elite athletes, they are very approachable and gracious. Maybe because events like this are pretty much the only time that n00bs and elites compete in the same event, they are always encouraging, even to somebody (like me) who runs at half their pace. - joand315, on 04/13/2009, -0/+3FTA:
"The influence of Kenya's athletes on their neighbourhood is apparent everywhere you look in Iten.
Many of the schools, clinics, petrol stations and hotels here are funded by athletes' money.
So Asbel Kirprop, Kenyan silver medallist in the 1,500 metres at the Beijing Olympics, says any fall-off in sports investment will be far-reaching.
He is putting seven promising youngsters through school and says Kenyan athletes have to meet the high expectations of their community."
It's too bad there aren't more comments related to the great work these athletes are doing back in their homeland of Kenya. - BJLStorm, on 03/29/2009, -2/+4They'll get deported back to KENYA!!!!
- Archer007, on 03/30/2009, -0/+2I only give 100%
- kurttrail, on 03/29/2009, -0/+2I asked a question of inactive based on his stated beliefs.
So I don't say, I questioned. - poidh, on 03/29/2009, -0/+2@1hrsleep
So I suppose that every population in the world who lives at high altitude and who has clean air too will have evolved into a population of great athletes. This would explain all the Tibetans and Peruvians who win all those 15km runs at the olympics.
What might be more likely is that over thousands of years, those who could run for long distances in search of food and water and escaping enemies tended to succeed in producing offspring over those who couldn't. - warriorscot, on 03/29/2009, -0/+2Even those East Africans living in London grew up in East Africa. High altitude training is common in high ranking athletes and is well documented that it improves performance. Growing up in a high altitude environment does give certain benefits physically. The same thing can be seen in Tibetans for example who will often demonstrate physical feats that low land western visitors are amazed at as they easily climb mountains with very little equipment and massive loads.
And for East Africans the benefit of high altitude conditioning along with a natural tendency for leanness and height make them excellent long distance runners. While athletes from other areas benefit from high altitude people from different areas of the world are adapted to the environments which can hinder them. For example Europeans tend to carry much more upper body weight and are generally not given towards being lean and very tall to the same degree as its not an advantageous body type in a cold climate. It isn't a hard and fast rule and its not un-PC to state it there is just a higher likelihood of someone from that background being physically better adapted towards becoming a good long distance runner. - jfsimard79, on 03/29/2009, -1/+2Why the ***** are you dugg down?
- poidh, on 03/29/2009, -6/+7Lol dude, it'll be a rare day of honesty on Digg if you get dugg up for that.
- luket13, on 03/29/2009, -2/+3you're stupid
- inactive, on 03/29/2009, -1/+2Oh no you dih uhnt!!!
- borez, on 03/29/2009, -0/+1Oh well, a guess they haven't, my bad.
- AngelaQ, on 03/29/2009, -1/+2The reason why Kenya has excelled in long distance running is because the Kenyan government supports promising runners and their development. The reason Americans no longer do well is because the entire cost of training runners at all levels except the very top falls entirely on the runners themselves, who are not able to pay the costs of training and take the time to do it while working full-time jobs.
It's rather like the comment I read not long ago from an Indian who was upset that Americans were talking about buying American, rather than buying imports or outsourcing to India, after India had made such a huge commitment to taking jobs from this country by low-balling our own workers. That's globalism. Wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, and suffering is spread around to everybody else. - 1hrSleep, on 03/30/2009, -0/+1Clean air and high altitude certainly doesn't hurt.
And I think I remember (maybe it was a dream) scientists looking at one group of high altitude nomads trying to figure out how to mimic their efficient oxygen absorption. There's a reason why top level athletes tend to do some high altitude training.
If Tibetans and Peruvians were more inclined to participate in 15km runs, they probably could do very well.
My point is that inactive's turning this into an issue about PC (and borderline racism/prejudice) when it's not. The article mentions clean air and a high altitude for aiding in their performance. Inactive disagrees and cites genetic differences. What he doesn't realize is that the environment is a factor in genetics, as kurttrail and I have pointed out. - inactive, on 07/20/2009, -0/+0you mean powerade
- Julian88888888, on 03/29/2009, -1/+1It is truly unfortunate.
- jmugambi, on 03/30/2009, -0/+0Actually most of them stay IN KENYA.
- mrteleprompter, on 03/29/2009, -2/+2Not long before we see the "I am Prince Mojumbo of Kenyan. Your Great-Great-Uncle has unfornuately passed away..."
- ronaldinho, on 03/29/2009, -1/+1bad time to quote Tom Friedman, and it would be better if you include the whole quote, seriously. You forgot the "gazelle" part son
- Stevanoski, on 03/29/2009, -1/+1I bet global warming has more to do with this than any stinkin' economics.
- jmugambi, on 03/30/2009, -1/+1No...
Obama's birth place is on the western side of the rift valley ... not far from Lake Victoria... - jmugambi, on 03/30/2009, -0/+0High altitude is a factor - there's less oxygen available in the air so one has to work harder to achieve a certain speed when running ... ever tried mountain climbing? So over time, they develop the ability to 'run on less oxygen' and thus have greater endurance over longer distances.
I also think it's partly genetic as well though..since, as pointed out in the BBC article - most of these athletes are from an area in the Rift Valley and not all over Kenya.
Incidentally - Addis Ababa is also a high altitude location and one of the reasons why Ethiopia also has such world class long distance athletes as Bekele.
Generally speaking: genetics + high altitude + the hardships involved in getting water/food.
--
NB: I'm Kenyan but don't live in the RV - inactive, on 03/30/2009, -1/+0yup. All 15 of them.
- inactive, on 03/29/2009, -5/+4Obama was supposed to deliver hope: Instead he has delivered despair.
- inactive, on 03/30/2009, -1/+0...I'll buy myself an extra cup of coffee.
- Kronos6948, on 03/29/2009, -3/+2Hump Catting!
- Archer007, on 03/30/2009, -2/+1400 BABIES
- digg1520, on 03/29/2009, -3/+2Only in Kenya!
- inactive, on 03/30/2009, -1/+0That first one was pretty good.
- inactive, on 03/29/2009, -4/+2are any of obama's brothers on the team?
- inactive, on 03/29/2009, -4/+2does the rift valley go through obama's birthplace?
- JDLamb88, on 03/29/2009, -4/+2For just a dollar a day...
- inactive, on 03/30/2009, -2/+0They'll just spend the money on running shoes.
- ericdano, on 03/29/2009, -6/+3Ask Obama for a bailout...........everyone is getting one. Newspapers, AIG, Auto industry, Banks, States..........everyone except tax payers.......
- blacklilyninja, on 03/29/2009, -8/+5the answer
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs - inactive, on 03/29/2009, -4/+1The Kenyans need to run a "feed the children" scam.
- cheez124, on 03/29/2009, -8/+5They just need to run faster, or the economic lion will tackle and eat them.
- cunningcoder, on 03/29/2009, -4/+0Wow, running is taking a down turn... Who would have imagined considering how well everything else is going.
/s
buried for no ***** sherlock - borez, on 03/29/2009, -9/+3Those bankers have ***** up so many peoples lives, it's actually unbelievable.
BURN THEM - inactive, on 03/29/2009, -18/+12Oh brother, now they want a bailout too.
I like the way the author used the PC excuse that it's due to the air and not genetics. That is, after all against their left-wing orthodoxy because then it would show that there is some genetic reason why East Africans excel in distance running and suck at mathematics or intellectual pursuits.
It's the air and the altitude. Yep.
Even when those excellent East Africans live in London and win marathon after marathon. You see, it's the East side of London (Brixton). -
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