From The TimesJune 13, 2007
Race is irrelevant to Pickering — all that matters is winning
David Powell, Athletics Correspondent
Craig Pickering will bridge a 24-year gap in British sprinting next week when he becomes the first white man in that time to represent his country in the European Cup 100 metres. It bucks a long trend but it means little or nothing to him.
Pickering, 20, from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, was named yesterday in the team and should he win the European Cup title in Munich on Saturday week – he earned his place with victory in the Glasgow Grand Prix last week and will start as favourite – he would be the first white British winner since Allan Wells in 1981.
He is keen, though, not to be drawn into a debate that made Sir Roger Bannister a figure of controversy. Pickering chooses his words carefully on the black/white sprinter debate.
During the indoor season, Pickering said that he was “scared of saying something that might offend black people – or even white people”. Now the outdoor season is here, he is seen as having the potential to become the first white man to break 10sec and, asked the question in Glasgow, clearly he had rehearsed his answer.
“My aim is not to be the first white man to go under 10sec [in order] to become the first white man – my aim is to run under 10sec because that is what I need to win major medals,” Pickering said. “I do not want to get caught up in the white man thing.”
Dave Collins, the UK Athletics performance director, announcing the team yesterday, said: “He is an athlete on form and he seems to be getting better with each race.” Pickering ran a personal best 10.22sec in Glasgow, but in wet conditions, which may have cost him a tenth of a second.
Since Wells last raced, white sprinters have not hit the heights achieved by their black counterparts. Linford Christie has achieved a record eight successive European Cup 100 metres wins, Mark Lewis-Francis and Dwain Chambers have won the title twice each and Darren Campbell once.
Not since Wells in 1980 has a white Olympic men’s 100 metres champion been crowned and every world champion, since World Championships began in 1983, has been black. Not one white man makes it into the top 50 fastest 100 metres runners in history.
It was in 1995 that Bannister, the first sub four-minute miler in 1954, while speaking to the British Association for the Advancement of Science as a sports scientist and neurologist, made national headlines.
Admitting to “political incorrectness”, he said that black athletes seemed to have natural anatomical or physiological advantages, adding: “But we don’t know quite what [they are]. It may be their heel bone is a bit longer, or it may be that because of their adaptation to warm climates they have a lower subcutaneous fat, so their power-to-weight ratio is better. Maybe they have an elasticity or capacity innately of the muscle fibres which contract quickly, which is some adaptation of the warmer environment.”
Speaking to The Times yesterday, Steve Ingham, an English Institute of Sport physiologist, said: “The genetic differences between west African-origin sprinters that we see dominate the performance headlines and their Caucasian counterparts still exists. You have a higher concentration of explosive fast-twitch muscle fibres, coupled with better tendon compliance, which gives less, so transference of power is more effective.”
While there has been little scientific study, many theories were presented after Bannister’s remarks. One, while hardly new, received a particularly broad airing: that nearly all the best sprinters can be traced historically and genetically to the west coastal regions of Africa.
Some 20 million people were shipped across the Atlantic by slave traders. They were bought and sold with a premium on size and strength, producing a unique legacy. Ron Roddan, Christie’s coach, said that physiological differences were hard to prove, but numbers were telling. “There are just more black athletes around and perhaps white athletes are now a bit frightened of them,” Roddan said.
It was a theory supported by Sports Illustrated after a six-month study. The magazine said: “While the scientific jury, faced with intriguing preliminary evidence, still debates whether black athletes possess innate physical advantages, the white athlete works in a world that seems already convinced of the answer.”
While Pickering may win the 100 metres title at the European Cup, Collins holds little hope of a first trophy since 2002. He said that, for the men, the target was to stay up and, for the women, to gain promotion back to the Super League. The latter may prove tricky without Jessica Ennis, who is preparing for a heptathlon, especially if Jo Pavey and Nicola Sanders fail to overcome ailments.
Britain squad
Men: 100m: C Pickering. 200m: M Devonish. 400m: T Benjamin. 800m: M Rimmer. 1,500m: A Baddeley. 3,000m: N McCormick. 5,000m: C Thompson. 3,000m steeplechase: A Lemoncello. 110m hurdles: A Turner. 400m hurdles: D Greene. High jump: G Mason. Pole vault: S Lewis. Long jump: C Tomlinson. Triple jump: P Idowu. Shot: C Myerscough. Discus: E Udechuku. Hammer: A Frost. Javelin: N Nieland. 4 x 100m squad: Devonish, T Edgar, J Gardener, M Lewis-Francis, C Malcolm and Pickering. 4 x 400m squad: Benjamin, D Caines, G Hedman, M Rooney, R Strachan and A Steele.
Women: 100m: J Maduaka. 200m: Maduaka. 400m: N Sanders. 800m: M Okoro. 1,500m: A Westley. 3,000m: L Dobriskey. 5,000m: J Pavey. 3,000m steeplechase: H Dean. 100m hurdles: S Claxton. 400m: N Danvers-Smith. High jump: S Pywell. Pole vault: K Dennison. Long jump: J Johnson. Triple jump: N Williams. Shot: E Massey. Discus: K Nwidobie-Sharpe. Hammer: Z Derham. Javelin: G Sayers. 4 x 100m squad: M Douglas, E Freeman, Maduaka, A Onuora, Kadi, A Thomas, L Turner, additional place to be confirmed. 4 x 400m squad: L McConnell, J Meadows, Okoro, Sanders.
