Fast 800 guy wrote:Africans were running in good numbers by the '68 Games. It's just that all the brainwashing in the West has really taken hold, and it's almost funny (but pitiful) to see Western kids so scared and psyched out. There are a few with talent, but without the mentality to do well, they won't.
Oh, please. There were a handful of African athletes who managed to gain international experience in the late 60s and 70s, but absolutely nothing like the numbers and opportunities today. To say otherwise is just incorrect. It may have something to do with there actually being money in the sport now...
Of the top ten places in the 5K, 10K, and marathon at Beijing (30 places), all but 4 were of north or east African origin. The top 12 of the 10K were of African origin. EVERY western nation has lost whatever traditional distance success they used to have (and it would be worse without naturalized citizens from Africa), even though their individual athletes are running much faster and staying in the sport longer than they did a generation ago. And this is because Western athletes are simply intimidated? Mentally weak? And you make the enormous assumption that there is no physical component because...?