hi all, I'm writing from Italy. Hope not to be politically incorrect, you know, sometimes one uses wrong expressions which may be offensive without knowing it - English is not my language.
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My question: has someone understood why there are no black swimmers at the top of the world rankings? is there a physiologic reason? Thank you Antonio
Parents
Former Member
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.
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.
