black swimmers

At least in the United States, there is a long and appallingly recent history of segregation against people of color in swimming pools, and so for decades they did not have the same opportunities as white people. This statement is true and for a great history lesson on this subject I would suggest reading the book "Contested Waters" by Jeff Wiltse if you really want to learn the history of this subject. You can order it here and read the reviews. Amazon.com: Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America (9780807871270): Jeff Wiltse: Books My question: has someone understood why there are no black swimmers at the top of the world rankings? is there a physiologic reason? I am not sure if I totally agree with this statement. It is true as a % compared to other sports that would be accurate, but to say there are no black swimmers at the top of the World Rankings would be false. I think of swimmers like Cullen Jones, Maritza Correia, Anthony Ervin, Sabir Muhammad, Bryon Davis, Jeff Commings, Michael Norment, Chris Silva, and Nate Clark. All of these swimmers I have mentioned have either been World and American Record holders, NCAA Champions or finalists, Olympic Trial finalists and Olympians, and USA National Team members. I have left off a lot of other Black swimmers but the point I am making is there has been progress since the late 1960's. As stated besides the social reasons, there are theories that there are not enough black swimmers as role models for younger black children and they tend to relate to the successful black athletes in other sports such as football, basketball, and track. Swimming is starting to get roles models but needs a lot more to be able to get black children interested in swimming compared to those other sports. These are just some observations but I am sure there are others out there also.

In Illinios, there a few that are sprinters

I think the main reason why there are not many elite black swimmers is because the top athletes choose other sports like basketball, football, and baseball. And very few American born blacks play baseball these days, so that one is quickly falling off the list... But, yeah, this is it in a nutshell. There is absolutely no physiological reason. It's purely historical and cultural.

Thank you. So in your opinion there are only social reasons. It looks strange to me because there are so many great athletes of color in US, and the American society is so different from the times of segregation, I guess. My question is due to the fact that in some sports - marathon for instance - the superiority of the athletes of color is evident - so maybe the opposite is possible in swimming. In any case, aren't there scientific attempts to investigate this subject? ----------------------------------------- Edited just to add that I'm discovering only now that this issue is debated, and my question is somewhat frequent - there are some first-rate swimmers of color too. www.bbc.co.uk/.../world-us-canada-11172054

It might be social mindset that's still prevalent from lack of opportunity in the recent past. However, the pools I use seem to represent a collective match to the surrounding population, but this is regarding general pool usage, not swimming specifically. As far as physiological features, I think the benefits one carries for swimming depends on parents. Short legs, tall, long arms, and a center of buoyancy as far back from the front as possible. Few swimmers have perfect builds for it. For me, my legs are very long proportionally -must be the genes I inherited from northern Italy. Anyways, I have to work around this by kicking better and faster.

There are a couple of reasons. Many people don’t have the opportunity to learn how to swim especially in the inner city. It’s not that black people are bad at swimming, it’s just that not many of them pursue competitive swimming. Cullen Jones is a great swimmer and he went from nearly drowning as child to being on a world record setting relay team. If every athlete in the world started swimming as a child and put all of their effort into swimming and not any other sport, I’d be willing to bet that there would be a mix of races at the top of the list. I think the main reason why there are not many elite black swimmers is because the top athletes choose other sports like basketball, football, and baseball. The top athletes are obviously going to purse the popular sports for the most part. It’s the same reason why America is not good at soccer. I remember watching the USA England game in the last World Cup and thinking to myself, what a joke. England’s best player was an old balding white guy and we couldn’t even beat them. If soccer was America’s number 1 sport and guys like Michael Vick, Lebron James, and Chris Johnson played soccer their entire life and were playing in the World Cup, the US could dominate soccer.

At least in the United States, there is a long and appallingly recent history of segregation against people of color in swimming pools, and so for decades they did not have the same opportunities as white people.

One of the most beautiful swimming related things I have observed with my kids club is the increase in swimmers of Indian or Middle Eastern back ground-an ethnic group rarely if ever represented at advanced levels.However,our school district has(or had-it is now being cut)aquatic instruction in school for 1st,4th and 9th graders-so many are introduced to swimming and then want to pursue it at the club level.Some of these kids are coming in at 4-6 yrs old and are picking up skills quickly-and if their parents continue to support their participation there should be no reason why they won't be able to swim for their HS or even in college.

If you look at population base & income there are actually an impressive number of Afro-Caribbean swimmers who reach the elite level- the Netherlands Antiles produced Enith Brigitha (best black swimmer of the 1970s, probably would have won Olympic gold if the East Germans ahead of her hadn't doped) Barbados has Leah Martindale, Jamaica has assorted unrelated women with the last name Atkinson (Alia, Janelle, etc.) Bahamas has Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, the Cayman Islands has the Fraser brothers, Malia Matella is from Martinique or St. Martin's but represents France internationally (and I think her brother raced French Olympic Trials this year), Bradley Alley has one of those little island passports set a US high scool 200 IM record. Even Martiza Correia could have been a sure Olympic thing for Puerto Rico instead of gambling to make the United States Team.

If you want to expand the Caribbean to include the northern coast of South America, Anthony Nesty of Suriname deserves a mention for sure. His victory in the 100 fly at the Seoul Olympics was one of the greatest races ever!