fisky wrote:
Can posters here not read??!?
First, no one has said environment and motivation don't matter
Ethnicity has been said to be highly important, and others have used equally bad slippery slopes to prove their point. This was a response to that. You haven't been following the whole conversation.
fisky wrote:
What we have said is that a group of athletes can have the best possible environment and motivation and still not be world class without superior genetics (talent).
What has also been said by some is that a white people can't compete with the best East Africans, even the outliers. It's been stated in this thread that a white person can't run 2:02. If a white woman can run 2:15 why can't a white man run 2:02.
fisky wrote:
Paula Radcliffe is what's called an outlier... a data point that is well outside the norm. Where are the other great UK women marathoners?
Straw man, but Mara Yamauchi, Véronique Marot
fisky wrote:
A closer look at the top 25 women marathon times in history supports genetics as a primary factor in marathon performance.
Some women appear multiple times in the 25 best marathon times in history, so we have 18 women with the top 25 times. The nationality of those women are:
6 Kenyan
3 Ethiopian
3 Japanese
2 Chinese
1 Great Britain
1 USA
1 German
1 Russian
So, 9 of the top 18 women marathoners in the world have been East African.
Quoting the nationalities of the top 25 list says NOTHING about nature vs. nurture.
The list of World Cup champions would suggest white people are better at soccer but you'd be an idiot to conclude that is because of genetics.