If we look at things objectively there appears little to no chance of a white athlete reaching the top (medal at WC or OG) in the 100m.
Is it more realistic to plan on the 400 / 200 (order of priority) as a more realistic chance of success? The suggestion being that till around 17-18 they would stick to 100 / 200 the 2-3 years 200 / 400 then 400 / 200?
I know personalities and event preference play a part but put that aside and imagine you have a white athlete who is naturally quick and says what is my best chance to reach the top?
Yepishin isn’t doing too bad right now and is showing a good amount of progress.
Thoughts like that are probably why we so many white guys doing the 200/400 vs the 100. Also, there are generally more white guys that do well in the indoor 60m than in the 200m outdoor (only elite one since 2000 I can think of is Kenteris with a couple of other guys like Wariner and that German guy closing in on amazing 200m times).
I mean, should white guys just stick to golf and tennis if we are going to think like this? Look at the % of good white guys in the NBA or skill positions in the NFL–near 0 with a few exceptions (Nash, Navitski, quarterbacks, …?). Some of it probably is genetic, but if you don’t give it a good try for years, you will never know and never find out if you really did have the talent. Most people would have given up on a skinny runt like Ben Johnson too if he showed up to join their track club.
Agreed. Yepishin really surprised me with that 10.10. I think I was bashing him a few months ago criticizing his 100m time compared to his 60m time.
That being said the Yepishin run wasn’t super close to a sub-10. I didn’t see many flaws in that run. He obviously doesn’t yet have the top end of someone like Obikwelu but it’s a hell of a lot better than it was. I think it’s a good experience that he ran a PR and was right next to someone who ran sub-10. It gives him a good idea of what level he needs to step to.
Also, I find it hard to believe that no one has broken the “white WR” of 10.00 which is over 20 years old. Where are those new track surfaces at when you need them
One thing I noticed is that Yepishin tends to just bring his head straight up at a certain point instead of just letting himself come completely upright. Maybe this doesn’t do much, but it is interesting that when he does this, he also starts to get caught by the field.
I don’t think it is the same as the NFL example. Only the top handful have any real commercial prospects in track, and when was the last time a white guy made it to the top in the 100? Not that “white men can’t run”, but it is far far less likely for a white guy to reach the top so yes, unless the guy has unreal talent he probably is better served in another event.
o jeez. listen guys im black 100% as far as i know and im offended for the white people. just becuase there hasnt been any top white sprinters that doesnt mean there cant be when we start even starting to t hink like this we limit ourselves not matter the color of our skin. u ever think the reason there arent a bunch of great white 100m runners is because they arent involved in the sport to the same degree that blacks are or they were in years before. give it sometime but i can almst gauruntee that there will be a white sprinter on top again. gentics teaches us that diversity is key with in a population… what does that mean that means that a black man most likly has more in common genetically with a white man on the other side of the world than he does with his own brother. the genetics are there for great white/black/asian/mexican/etc sprinters but maybe not to the same degree as blacks. with proper training white runners will run under 10 seconds and given enough time one will be the best in the world if the opportunity presents itself. dont let perceived genetics limit you in any facit of like if blacks did we would have never become ww2 pilots because according to scientist blacks where an inferior race closer to apes than to the modern white man. DO NOT LIMIT YOURSELF OR THOSE AROUND YOU.
Good point. It’s tough enough to get people to take you seriously if you’re white so you need to take yourself seriously first. My father was told by my track club in 1964 that i should run the 400m. When my dad asked why, they said I’d never beat the black kids. My dad never passed on the message and I won around here for years and eventually ran (then) world class sprint times
another thing you may want to cinsider is that blacks in the western world were selectivly bred and collected like thoroughbred horses for over 400 years. this can inpart account for the large percentage of the sporting community being black simply becasue the gene pool is to an extent predisopsed to physical activity. so while we may see more individuals of color in top level athletics it in no way reflects physical inferiority on any other racial group. the genes needed for high sporting performance, in this case high levels of fast-twtich muscle firbe, effeceint morot control system etc. are present in all populations and racial denominations and it only happens to be concentrated in blacks because of past enviornmental factors, those above mentioned.
Genetics come down to the individual. That said there are fair less white sprinters being produced compaired to black sprinters because of greater degree diversity in the black gene pool.
Will a white athlete ever win 100m olympic gold. No.
200m - Possible
400m - Possible
I would not tell the up and comming white athlete to quit 100m and give up. But really he/she would know already that being white and winning 100m gold is near impossible.
lol not possible for a white athlete to win a 100m gold? Maybe right, but Allan Wells won it in Moscow in the '80s (I know it was a boycotted games, but he beat the Americans afterwards anyway). If some of the more talented white sprinters stuck with it (Combest, Trey Griffin, etc.) then we might see some guys doing well. Yepishin was garbage on the world level not long ago and even at age 19 wouldn’t win a lot of the high school state meets in the US, but is now running 10.10. Not sub 9.8 or even sub 10, but still pretty darn good.
EDIT:
In 2001, when he was going on 20, but 19 when he set his PR that year, he ran 10.72.
Isn’t this what Jimmy The Greek said before he was canned by CBS:
On January 16, 1988, he was fired by the CBS network (where he was a contributor to the NFL Today program) after commenting to a reporter that African Americans were naturally superior athletes because they had been bred to produce stronger offspring during slavery: “During the slave period, the slave owner would breed his big black with his big woman so that he would have a big black kid—that’s where it all started.”
No. 2 I have to say that is what came to mind for me immediately as well when I read it. I recall Saturday Night Live spoofing him pretty well a number times back in the late 80’s over that very incident.
its true. just like any othre organism on this plant humans too can be bred unfortunatly when it occured it accounted for the darkest period in american history therby forever staining whatever america does but nonetheless black people were bred for physicality. i dont really care if it hurts anyones feelings because it is the truth. but that in no way means that black peoples genes are more advanced than whites when it comes to athletic ability. and a white man CAN when a 100m your statement to the otherwise is ignorant and if you are white self defeatingif you are black its racist. your making statmentsbased on observation and not fact. given enough time observations will always fail in predicting the anomoly.
damn man, if you want to sell yourself short, than thats fine, but dont do it to others. its like when people used to say that i was white and wouldnt be able to dunk. i didnt give a shit what they thought, I KNEW I WOULD. and i can jump pretty well actually, better than most white, black, asian, etc people that i know.
I dont think it is selling yourself short to bring up the question and there is a lot to the question.
I mean to say there is nothing to the question is foolish, what as it stands now I dont think a caucasion is in the top 300 times ever now or something like that. So I mean at the highest levels caucasions just cant compete in 100m.
That being said what is the reasoning for it, is it genes, is it selective breeding, or is it white men thinking that the previous 2 reasons are behind it. I mean come on Woronin ran 10.00 over 20 years ago back when the world record I think was 9.93.
So back 20 yrs ago the difference was only .07, and now it has managed to creep up to .23, I really do not think that the makeup of the athlete has as much to do with it as the mentality that has been instilled by the culture towards stereotypes and what can and cannot be accomplished by certain people in different areas of life.
Hell I’m white, I run, and I’ll tell you what I have won and lost to every type of person and its not because of what they look like its because of how I prepared and how I ran, and how they prepared and how they ran, if it had to do with race they would give out medals based on color not times.
