Cybereagles

soothsayer wrote:3 of British gold multiple medalists have the same birthday.
23rd of March.
Hmmmmmm....coincidence or does astrology have some merit?

It's been proven in some sports in the US that date of birth affects athletic odds, because of the selection process of talent in early ages. Cut off dates for school grades affect the odds of an American child becoming a professional baseball or hockey player. I don't know if that's what's at play with the British athletes, but I won't be surprised if something along those lines did play a role.

Damn by birthday is on the 24th March, I knew I could have made it, injuries just no let me be...

Taken out of context this can sound really bad, glad someone has posted the Michael Johnson documentary. I believe it applied to the West Indians and to a degree Black Americans, not blacks as a whole. Taken in context it says The fittest slaves were taken from the shores of Africa, the conditions on the slave ships were so bad, many died. Those that survived were the fittest of all. After years of multiplying, the genes of the fittest slaves were passed down subsequent generations.

This is why they believe West Indians and Black Americans are good. The Gene pool came from West Africa to a very large degree.

In terms of why West Africans today aren't as good as their West Indian and American peers, this is all environmental. They are exposed to better harnessing both infrastructural and (physical) conditioning. Remember, at the highest level, these differences are marginal and at the same time huge but consistent.