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submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by sjmarf@sh.itjust.works to c/damnthatsinteresting@lemmy.ml
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[-] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 83 points 7 months ago

The topography explains it all. https://geology.com/articles/east-africa-rift.shtml

tl;dr The people of that area in East Africa naturally live close to sea level, however there are easily accessible elevations changes that distance runners have trained on for probably centuries. It turns out that training at high altitudes and recovering at low altitudes provides a tangible and demonstrable advantage compared to just single elevation training.

[-] Skua@kbin.social 47 points 7 months ago

This can't be the whole story, otherwise we'd see places like Chile, Peru, and India competing too

[-] pop@lemmy.ml 11 points 7 months ago

India? the sea and the himalayas are too far apart to compare.

[-] Skua@kbin.social 8 points 7 months ago

India's Deccan Plateau is about as elevated as most of Kenya's highlands and takes up basically the entire land area of India that sticks out into the ocean

[-] SuckMyWang@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

The air sucks in India too

[-] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 2 points 7 months ago

No idea about the other two, but India's sports administration is corrupt to the core. Funds are stolen by those on top, and athletes who complain - even about obviously criminal things like sexual assault - are pushed out. Some sports bodies (chess, for example) are better, but the big ones (cricket, wrestling, football) are mostly bad.

[-] illah@lemmy.world 37 points 7 months ago

Yeah like the other commenter said this isn’t it, nobody is commuting up and down 10,000’ on a regular basis, especially in antiquity. Just because different elevations “look close” on a map means nothing.

Far more likely is this is a concentrated population of folks with highly desirable traits for distance running.

[-] NewNewAccount@lemmy.world 28 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

The school of thought has generally changed.

Live high, train low is now the prevailing methodology.

[-] SuckMyWang@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

That’s good. I thought the map was being racist

[-] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 7 months ago

The map is being racist by labelling Canada, Morocco and USA but not the super-relevant African countries. I'm baffled by that...

Like, I don't think it's intentional but how does that happen?

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[-] tetris11@lemmy.ml 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Maps aren't racist. Map owners are racist. Map creators are just filling demand.

(replace "maps" with "dogs" and "racist" with "at fault for dog eugenics")

[-] niktemadur@lemmy.world 44 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Those Ethiopian and Kenyan runners live and train at high altitude, when they compete at lower elevations where there's more oxygen, they have a dramatic edge over other runners.

I'd wager we would see the same effect if athletes from Bhutan, Nepal and/or Tibet decided to compete in long-distance running.

[-] el_abuelo@lemmy.ml 11 points 7 months ago

Genetically I imagine the Africans have a more advantageous stride than the Asians?

[-] Nurgle@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Not to say the biomechanics are equal, but Cheptegei the current 10K record holder is 5’6” / 1.67m. So it’s not like an Usain Bolt situation. And for the marathon, Mo Farah is 5’9”.

[-] FraidyBear@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

I remember hearing during the Olympics them actually talk about how much of a freak Bolt is to be so tall and so fast. Most runners are on the shorter side. For those that watch the NFL you'll know that being tall and fast is what makes people DK Metcalf such a freak of nature when sprinters are actually usually smaller, like Tyreek Hill. It's less about stride length and more about power put into the ground which is easier for shorter legs.

If you watch Bolt run you'll notice he doesn't actually hit his peak until way after the other runners during the 100m. He has said before iirc that he's actually a more natural 200m runner rather than a 100m runner. On the 100 he barely gets to his top speed before the finish. That's what makes his 100m records truly so phenomenal, he's not really built for that race but was still so much faster than everyone else on the track.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that a runner from Nepal being Asian and therefore statistically likely to be shorter than someone born in Africa, could be a record breaking runner. Of course this is all about sprinting but over longer distances the longer lankier bodies prevail, better momentum.

tldr: short legs go zoom, long legs go long.

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[-] JoBo@feddit.uk 7 points 7 months ago

Africa is more diverse than the rest of the world put together.

Which particular Africans are you referring to?

[-] niktemadur@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

As OP and not the poster you are asking, I'll answer this one:
Ethiopians and particularly Sudanese (then zooming in even more specifically - the Nuba tribe) are known for being among the tallest people in the continent today.

It was right around this area where the Kush people of the Nile Valley Civilization flourished in antiquity. The Kush are described by accounts of the era as being taller than any other Mediterranean groups.
Relative genetic isolation since then results in that they were tall then, and they are tall now. Some of this genetic heritage must have also spread down to Kenya in the interim.

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

This is why the US Olympic Training Center is in Colorado.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 7 months ago

Thanks for adding context.

[-] toastal@lemmy.ml 40 points 7 months ago

Also a region with good coffee. There must be a correlation…

[-] tetris11@lemmy.ml 7 points 7 months ago

I wonder how much caffeine doping goes on before races. It sure as hell gives me tons of energy

[-] toastal@lemmy.ml 13 points 7 months ago

More likely the altitude helps with training & coffee growing, but a little caffeine never hurt

[-] EvacuateSoul@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

Explains the shit streaks

[-] SamsonSeinfelder@feddit.de 39 points 7 months ago

Crazy that most of them come from the same place as our earliest ancestors from 200.000 years ago. Must be a magical place.

[-] frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml 14 points 7 months ago

Hasn't there been an older skeleton found in Morocco now?

[-] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 14 points 7 months ago

Would explain the three dots there.

[-] frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml 10 points 7 months ago
[-] pigup@lemmy.world 48 points 7 months ago
[-] steal_your_face@lemmy.ml 19 points 7 months ago
[-] someguy3@lemmy.ca 30 points 7 months ago

They'll run as fast as Kenyans!

[-] frickineh@lemmy.world 23 points 7 months ago
[-] jrwperformance@lemmy.world 17 points 7 months ago

ENERGY LEGS!!!!!!!

[-] jenny_ball@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago

the ones in America are ethnically the same ones in Africa

[-] frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)
[-] EvacuateSoul@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

In a way, we are all from Africa, so he still has a point.

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[-] BassaForte@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago
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[-] butsbutts@lemmy.ml 11 points 7 months ago

somebody forgot to label something

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[-] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 10 points 7 months ago
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[-] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 7 points 7 months ago

Persistence predator go brr. Epidemiology implies genetics are likely involved.

[-] BravoVictor@programming.dev 2 points 7 months ago

As the Oregonian in the thread: Steve Prefontaine!!

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this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2024
422 points (98.8% liked)

Damn, that's interesting!

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