Cycling Diving Equestrian Fencing Football Gymnastics Handball Hockey Judo Modern pentathlon Paralympics Rowing Sailing Shooting Softball Swimming Synch. The fraction of a second is the difference between the gold medal and fourth place. Reams of studies definitively show that genetically linked, highly heritable characteristics such as skeletal structure, the distribution of muscle fibre types, reflex capabilities, metabolic efficiency, lung capacity, and the ability to use energy more efficiently are not evenly distributed among populations and cannot be explained by known environmental factors.
Humans are truly diverse, biologically and culturally.
Although scientists are only just starting to isolate the genetic links to those biologically based differences, it is indisputable that they exist. Each sport demands a slightly different mix of biomechanical, anaerobic and aerobic abilities, and athletes from each region of the world tend to excel in specific events. If any population has had less access to the latest in sports medicine, technology, coaching and opportunity, it's black people, especially indigenous Africans. Yet Africa is showing the most explosive growth in elite athletics. Nigeria and Cameroon are emerging as world powers in soccer, and African athletes are flooding into the elite ranks in European soccer leagues.