Will G Hopkins Department of Physiology and School of Physical Education, University of Otago, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand. Australia Genes are responsible for about half the variation in physical performance between individuals in the population.
Genes also account for half the variation in the response to physical training.
Genes are probably even more important than training in explaining differences in performance between athletes. Talent identification and selecting an appropriate partner are therefore logical approaches to creating elite athletes. Adaptation to training is so important, he pointed out, that maybe it swamps any contribution from genes. He also suggested that there was little apparent difference between athletes and non-athletes in basic visual and motor skills, so expert performance might be nothing more than a specific skill or physiological adaptation acquired through specific training. He conceded that height and presumably other features of body build contribute to success in certain sports.