Is there a genetically determined limit to athletic performance?
Former Member
In his autobiographical book The Naturalist, E. O. Wilson suggests that there is a genetically determined limit to an individual's athletic performance which cannot be overcome regardless of the amount of training. Using himself as an example, he describes how he became a serious runner several years after graduating college. The gap between his times and those of the top runners in his age group (expressed as a percentage) remained what it was in college.
I looked at my current times (three years after joining USMS) and found that I am 12% behind in the 1000 and 15% behind in the 500. These percentages are exactly the same as they were in 1978, the last year I swam in college. I know there are exceptions within the ranks of USMS, but I wonder how valid this "rule" really is.
I think what rtodd said is valid if we're talking about who wins the Olympic gold medal versus who is third at Olympic Trials, but it's only valid when were talk about the elite of the elite. My feeling is most of us could never get to that level and this supports Wilson's view. I know I worked as hard or harder than the "top dogs" in college, but there was no way I could ever swim as fast. The only reason I can scrape into the USMS top ten now once in a while is because the competition is very diluted compared to those "non-Masters" days.
I think what rtodd said is valid if we're talking about who wins the Olympic gold medal versus who is third at Olympic Trials, but it's only valid when were talk about the elite of the elite. My feeling is most of us could never get to that level and this supports Wilson's view. I know I worked as hard or harder than the "top dogs" in college, but there was no way I could ever swim as fast. The only reason I can scrape into the USMS top ten now once in a while is because the competition is very diluted compared to those "non-Masters" days.
