Studies indicate East Asians have the quickest reaction times, a key skill in table tennis, another East Asian specialty. THE world's top weightlifters and wrestlers live in, or trace their ancestry to, a swathe of Eurasia, running from Bulgaria in the south to upper Mongolia in the north. Evolutionary forces in this northern clime have shaped a population with a mesomorphic body type - large and muscular, particularly in the upper body, with relatively short arms and legs and thick torsos. These proportions tend to be an advantage particularly in sports in which strength rather than speed is at a premium. But all the hard work in the world will not turn an Eskimo into a top marathoner or an African Watusi into a powerlifter evolution and nature have determined otherwise.
Genes do limit possibility.
The fact that monolithic racial categories do not show up consistently in the genotype does not mean there are no group differences between pockets of populations, notes Arizona State University evolutionary biologist Joseph Graves, Jr., who is African American. Populations with roots in equatorial Africa are more likely to have lower natural fat levels. That is likely a key factor in running. It's an adaptive mutation based on climate. It varies by characteristic.