Elite Afr-Am sprinters more admixed than Afr-Am non-athletes?

Though hardly definitive, this study certainly lends no support to the notion that black dominance of short sprints in the US can be explained purely as a consequence of West African DNA.

The purpose of this study was to compare the mtDNA haplogroup data of elite groups of Jamaican and African-American sprinters against respective controls to assess any differences in maternal lineage. The first hypervariable region of mtDNA was haplogrouped in elite Jamaican athletes (N=107) and Jamaican controls (N=293), and elite African-American athletes (N=119) and African-American controls (N=1148). Exact tests of total population differentiation were performed on total haplogroup frequencies. The frequency of non-sub-Saharan haplogroups in Jamaican athletes and Jamaican controls was similar (1.87% and 1.71%, respectively) and lower than that of African-American athletes and African-American controls (21.01% and 8.19%, respectively). There was no significant difference in total haplogroup frequencies between Jamaican athletes and Jamaican controls (P=0.551 ± 0.005); however, there was a highly significant difference between African-American athletes and African-American controls (P<0.001). The finding of statistically similar mtDNA haplogroup distributions in Jamaican athletes and Jamaican controls suggests that elite Jamaican sprinters are derived from the same source population and there is neither population stratification nor isolation for sprint performance. The significant difference between African-American sprinters and African-American controls suggests that the maternal admixture may play a role in sprint performance.
[. . .]
Among African Americans, no individual haplogroup produced significant findings for Bonferroni-adjusted critical a of 0.003, presented in Table 3. Interestingly, the nonsub- Saharan paragroup was highly significant in overrepresentation within athletes. This may indicate an advantage possessed by more admixed individuals. While maternal admixture contributing any environmental and social advantages with regard to athletic training and development cannot be ruled out, further investigation into the amount of admixture in the autosomal genome is required to assess the overall non-African genomic component. In addition to assessing differences between athletes and controls in either group, the haplogroup distributions of Jamaican controls and African-American controls were also compared. These two populations were found to have significantly different haplogroup distributions (Po0.001), providing further mitochondrial evidence of different population histories. The matrilineal distribution of both athlete populations differs significantly, suggesting no discernable distribution of lineages indicative of elite sprinting in these genetically distinct groups of West African descent.

Reference: Deason et al. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2011 Mar 16. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2010.01289.x. [Epub ahead of print]

Performance enhancing effects of HGH and Test

A modest dose (two milligrams per day) of growth hormone is associated with a 3.9% boost in sprint capacity, which researchers estimate translates to shaving 0.4 seconds off a 100m time. Sprint capacity in men receiving both growth hormone and 250 milligrams per week of testosterone increased by an average of 8.3%. Thankfully our American negro athletes (and Jamaicans) don't need to resort to this sort of cheating. (Link via Randall Parker.)

Entertaining example of folk evolutionary thinking

Joe Rogan advises delusional boxer James Toney:

Brock Lesnar, that's a freak of a man. That's like the high end of the genetic spectrum. [. . .] Brock Lesnar is some weird instance where vikings fucked vikings for generation after generation and their warrior bloodlines were passed on. And this motherfucker living in the woods in Minnesota, you know, he got the best of the best. [. . .] for sure has good wrestling, [. . .] but at the end of the day that motherfucker is a barbarian. The reason why he's so fucking good he is a direct descendant from ancient giant warriors from thousands of years ago.

Why have white sprinters stagnated?

Even if genetic differences contribute to black dominance in short sprints, the question of why white sprinters have stopped getting better remains:

Today’s few elite White sprinters can run no faster than their predecessors from the 1970s, despite improved equipment, support, and facilities (George, 1994). Proposed racial physiological differences would not adequately explain White sprinting stagnation over a quarter of a century. Proponents of biological determinism might stress that whilst racial athletic differences are small, split seconds can separate champions and also-rans (Entine, 2000). However, the influence of stereotypes could also account for performance differentials, with Whites effectively defeated at the starting-line, by inflated impressions of Black rivals. For White sprinters fear of failure, and over arousal could be triggered by negative stereotypes, whilst Black sprinters may be more relaxed, and confident, due to positive stereotypes. It certainly seems that contemporary sprinting is more important in Black subculture (George, 1994), and few Whites choose to participate, perhaps because of perceptions of inferiority. Coaches may be significant agents in shaping attitudes and channelling Black or White athletes into or away from sprinting due to stereotypical assumptions.
[David Turner and Ian Jones. False Start? UK Sprint Coaches and Black/White Stereotypes.]

Here is the abstract of the paper cited above:

Over the past 30 years almost all world-class US sprinters have been black. There were also many fast black sprinters in the USA before the 1960s, but in addition there were a considerable number of world-class white sprinters. In fact, during the 1940s and 1950s the fastest men were white. This was not the case during the 1930s, when the best male sprinters were black. This essay discusses the phenomenon and attempts to give reasons for it. Sociological explanations seem considerably more plausible than physical characteristics based on perceived racial differences.
[George, J. (1994) The virtual disappearance of the white male sprinter in the United States: A speculative essay. Sociology of Sport Journal, 11, 1, 70-78.]

Black dominance in sprinting coincides with the advent of widespread anabolic steroid use. Perhaps this is entirely coincidental. Regardless, when boosters of black athleticism note that no white has run 100 meters in less than 10 seconds, one can note that neither did any black in the pre-steroid era or without Western coaching.

Kimbo hype: a case study in negrophilia

An addendum to the previous post. Indra writes: In personal experience, I have also noticed that these negrophiles have no athletic history. White athletes, especially from combat-related sports like wrestling or football, quickly realize that you cannot judge a book by its cover, and that blacks with visually impressive muscularity are often NOT that powerful or effective in competition.

The Kimbo Slice story offers a particularly glaring example of this phenomenon.

In terms of external appearance, Kimbo Slice is undoubtedly in the 99th percentile of scary-looking negritude. Using Guy White logic it's obvious he's the greatest fighter of all time. With no hint of irony, (middle-aged, Jewish nerd) Mencius Moldbug describes Kimbo as "built to win".

Unfortunately for the logic of Guy White and Mencius Moldbug, the Kimbo hype train had already been repeatedly derailed by the time Mencius hopped aboard (continue reading).

Reply to an inconsequential post by Guy White

Featuring an extended rant on negrophilia as inter-ethnic and intra-white status competition. Read on, if you care (continue reading).

Racial differences in steroid use

Not a comprehensive review, just a summary of the first few studies I found.

A study of adolescents in Minnesota finds finds 2.1% of white males and 7.6% black males report having "used anabolic steroids to gain muscle in the past 12 months" [1]. Other numbers from this study: Hispanic 6.1%; Hmong 14.8%; other Asian 7.9%.

A study of high school football players in Indiana finds "minorities are twice as likely to use AAS" compared to whites [2].

An NCAA survey finds black college athletes are less likely to report using steroids than white athletes (unfortunately, results by sex and sport further broken down by race are not shown) [3]. Blacks also report less use of every other drug in this study. Considering that other evidence indicates blacks tend to underreport and whites tend to overreport drug use in surveys [4], I don't find these results terribly convincing.

[1] Irving et al. Steroid Use Among Adolescents: Findings From Project EAT. Journal of Adolescent Health 2002;30:243–252

[2] Stilger, GS and CE Yesalis. Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Use Among High School Football Players. Journal of Community Health, Vol. 24, No. 2, April 1999

[3] NCAA Research Staff. NCAA Study of Substance Use and Abuse Habits of College Student-Athletes. September 1997.

[4] Bauman KE, Ennett SE. Tobacco use by black and white adolescents: the validity of self-reports. Am J Public Health. 1994 Mar;84(3):394-8.

Studies consistently show that Black adolescents are less likely than White adolescents to use drugs. [. . .] Only one study has empirically addressed the possibility that Black adolescents might underreport their drug use more than White adolescents. Mensch and Kandel11 found that among youths who had reported in 1980 that they had used drugs, more Blacks than Whites reported in 1984 that they had never used drugs. The one study of young adults that compared Blacks and Whites concluded that Blacks underreported smoking more than Whites. [. . .] Future studies of Black-White differences in drug use that rely on self-reports should account for invalid measurement before proceeding to examine variables of more theoretical and practical interest, or they should give more credence to the possibility that the differences they attempt to explain may be due in large part to differential validity.

QFT

jody on Sailer-Entine faggotry:

white jumpers go 1 and 3 at high jump, black americans do not even final at long jump or high jump, yet here we are, immediately back to talking about 100 meters. actually, we never stopped, because fawning over black 100 meter runners is the main interest of "track" fans like steve. most other interesting questions about track and field are rarely explored.

it's like some kind of jon entine-esque gay fantasy. and let's not pretend that's not what going on here.

the immediate and unrelenting comparison of west african sprinters to white men, and only white men, as if white men were the only other humans on earth, and they alone needed to be singled out for being inferior, when in fact they're pretty good athletes, and a lot better than the other races on average, well, it's just gay. and i don't mean gay in the "this is retarded" way. it borders on homosexual.

8/19/2008


not an olympics wrap-up, just a track and field wrap-up. and not even a track & field wrap-up. just a track wrap-up, and pretty much just a track sprinting wrap-up.

totally ignoring field is very important for the silly entine-esque analysis going on here. white men can't jump, except when they can. black americans easily dominate jumping, except when they don't.

throwing objects is completely natural, as natural as running. it's why there is a huge difference between men and women when it comes to throwing. men are literally designed to throw. it's genetic. africans are throwing rocks and spears every single day. yet it's white men who are better at throwing things on average. and not just a shotput or a discus or a javelin, but footballs and baseballs and basketballs too. they're just plain better at hurling and shooting stuff for accuracy and distance. but positive stereotypes about white athletes are never allowed.

should we even get into how ridiculous some of steve's statements are in his vdare column? boxing is not important now he says. that can only be because white boxers have taken many of the belts.

[. . .]

8/25/2008

On a related note, from Caste Football:

In the same way that wide-ranging, exorbitantly expensive attempts to find and develop White world beaters in the 100 meters, 10,000 meters, or table tennis would be mocked, America’s attempts to have world-beating Black weightlifters, Black swimmers, Black shot putters, Black wrestlers, Black cyclists, Black high jumpers, Black javelin throwers, and even Black or semi-Black decathletes are ridiculous. Indeed it is nothing more than a severe abuse of the available potential.

[Rudolf Dempsey, "Why China Won the 2008 Olympics", 8/24/08]