Why are black people so good at running/marathon and white good at swimming?

Question

there must be a reason right?

Answer 1

DO"H   everything I can think of will be counted as racist

Answer 2

I agree with "Mr. Brown".

I also researched and found this...

African runners exhibit greater fatigue resistance, lower lactate accumulation, and higher oxidative enzyme activity

Answer 3

its something to do with the muscle and ligament structure in the legs

i think its that black people have longer leg ligaments, and are therefore better at the sprinting

and white people have shorter leg ligaments and muscles, so they are better at the motions needed for swimming

its something like that anyway

Answer 4

Because blacks are built with a bigger leg and pelvis structure and white are built with bigger chest and arm structure.

Answer 5

There are some generalisations that can be made - made on ethno-cultural as well as general structure.

No particular groups - Asian or African or Europe has a "running" or "swimming" gene.

Countries like Ethiopia and Kenya are great middle distance (1500m - 10,000m) and long distance (marathon).  Generally they are reasonably quite thin.  Culturally, these two countries don't have a lot of cars or money and mid - long distance distances is done a lot in those countries to get from place to place and it's cheap.  The Japanese are also good at the marathon and you will find caucasions that do well at the marathon are generally lean.

Australia tends to do really at swimming because it's a warm country and there are pools all over the place.  It's rare for a child not to swim.  (Also why we do well at softball and netball as it's a really common sport).  Places like America also have lots have pools.  Africa doesn't have a lot of pools and not a great place to go swimming down a river with all the crocs and hippos and stuff to knock you off.

Gymnasts tend to be fairly small - 5 foot or under (5'4" is considered huge for a female gymnast) simply to do the manouvres.  Divers also tend to be small.  Chinese and Japanese girls have done really well at the sport because of height, a history of acrobatic and the money to do the programs, the old Eastern European countries have also had the programs for the last umpteen years so hence the gymnastic teams who do well.

Answer 6

Running is a very cheap sport that's why you see such poor countries compete and win like jamica.. All you have to do is run.

As for swimming first I don't think many african or poor carribean nations can afford indoor swimming pools. And it cost money. To learn how to breast stroke back stroke etc.

If it was a cheap sport black ppl would be able to compete too same with gymnastics.

Answer 7

Black people dominate sprinting because of their body structure, they generally have less fat and more muscle layers in their quadriceps etc

Answer 8

I saw a TV program about this a while back and black people have more "fast twitch" muscle fibres (fibers) which allows them to run more quickly when sprinting.

With regard to long distance running, a lot of African countries such as Kenya and Ethiopa have areas that are high above sea level where the air is thin.  Living in such areas means that you adapt to be able to live with less oxygen than those nearer to sea-level and so you will be better at sports such as long distance running where it is important to have a good supply of oxygen to keep your muscles working well.

This is why athletes sometimes go for altitude training.  Of course being born at altitude and living there all your life is better than just a short training course and partly explains why Kenya (and more recently Ethiopa) has a great record at the long distance events.

With regards to swimming, I suspect that it comes down to money and social factors.  Countries that are rich tend to have more swimming pools than those that are poor and rich countries tend to have higher ratios of white to black people.

Answer 9

Evolution.

Answer 10

can I ask you this? who cares?