Scientific research on the success of Kenyan runners has yet to discover a Cool Runnings
gene that makes Kenyans biologically predisposed to reaching for the
stars, or any scientific basis for Gladwell's argument that they just
care more. Most of Kenya's Olympic medal winners come from a single
tribe, the Kalenjin, of whom there are only 4.4 million. Sub-Saharan
Africans have identified themselves by tribes such as this one for far
longer than they've identified by nationality -- a system mostly imposed
by the Western colonialism -- so the Kalenjin distinction is not just
academic, and the tribe is probably genetically insular enough that
common physical traits could inform their athletic success.
In 1990, the Copenhagen Muscle Research Center compared post-pubescent schoolboys
there to Sweden's famed national track team (before Kenya and a few
other African countries began dominating international racing events in
the late 1980s, Scandinavians were the most reliable winners). The study
found that boys on the high school track team in Iten, Kenya,
consistently outperformed the professional Swedish runners. The
researchers estimated that the average Kalenjin could outrun 90% of the
global population, and that at least 500 amateur high school students in Iten alone could defeat Sweden's
greatest professional runner at the 2,000-meter.
A 2000 Danish Sports Science Institute investigation reproduced
the earlier study, giving a large group of Kalenjin boys three months
of training and then comparing them to Thomas Nolan, a Danish track
superstar. When the Kalenjin boys trounced him, the researchers -- who
had also conducted a number of physical tests and compared them against
established human averages -- concluded that Kalenjins must have an
inborn, physical, genetic advantage. They observed a higher number of
red blood cells (which lent new credence to the theory that elevation makes
their bodies more effective oxygen-users) but, in their conclusions,
emphasized the "bird-like legs" that make running less energy-intensive
and give their stride exceptional efficiency.
Unlike the 1990
research, which came only a few short years into the Kenyan phenomenon,
the 2000 study landed in the middle of an international debate about why
these young men and women from East Africa were dominating a sport that
had long been a point of Western pride. It was controversial. "There's
nothing in this world unless you work hard to reach where you are, and
so I think running is mental," said Kenyan Olympic gold medal-winner Kip
Keino, who condemned the research as racist. Westerners wrote about the "black speed genes," and some wondered if Kenyans had an unfair advantage.
Running,
like any sport, is inherently physical, and physical traits inform
athletic success. Just because Larry Bird and Michael Jordan are tall
doesn't mean they aren't first and foremost great athletes. Part of
Olympian Michael Phelps' record-breaking swimming is his unusual body shape,
which is genetically inborn; you can't train for longer arms. All
athletes owe some of their success to their own physical traits, but
because Kalenjin runners share those traits across an ethnic group, and
because that ethnic group is part of the story of colonialism and white
exploitation of blacks for their physical labor, it's harder to talk
about. But that doesn't make their athleticism any less amazing.