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.
In most "ball" sports, specific skills require hand and eye coordination that is almost purely inherited.
You need only look at the slobs (looks like the average joe from next door) in the majors that can 1) throw a 95 mph fastball and 2) put it on the outside corner of the plate, or the guy that picks up a football and can throw a tight spiral and lead the receiver intuitavely. This type of talent emerges with little or no practice. It shows up early in pre-teens and young adolcent kids.....kids that DONT practice.
Of course many of these kids go nowhere unless discovered and nurtured in the game.
I think in the "strength" sports, i.e sports that, in addition to good coaching, require a commitment to intense training like swimming and running, my above comments are true.
I've seen too many athletes, whether they are short, tall, thin, muscular, big hands, small hands, good starter, good finisher, athsmatic, diabetic, bald, blonde, this ethnicity, that ethnicity, share the same stage, IN THE SAME SPORT, at the elite level.
Just my opinion.
Originally posted by GoRedFoxes
I remember attending Phillips 66 Outdoor National Championship, and what really caught my eye, were the shape of the wet footprints around the deck. The mass majority were made from flat feet, these wide oblongs all over the place. I always remind my parents on how they limited my swimming potential by fitting me with corrective shoes when I was young, to fix my flat feet. They told me they did it, to keep me eligible for the military draft. LOL.
Hyper-extending elbows (backstrokers) and knees (breaststrokers) also add greatly to physiological advantages.
We had a guy on my college team, probably one of the hardest worker on the team. The guy did everything right, but he never got better, actually, he stunk. LOL. never went sub 1:12 100 YARD ***, couldn't break a minute 100 free. We all respected him for his work ethic, but the kid just could not swim.
Geez, I have flat feet, hyper-extended elbows and knees, and will never be anywhere near top 10!
Think about it this way. By reading a lot of books or taking a lot of college physics classes could most of us become the intellectual equal of Albert Einstein? I seriously doubt it and I don't see why athletic achievement should be any different than intellectual achievement.
If Albert Einstein had the same passion for running as he did for physics, could he have been an olympic runner?...........Probably.
Don't compare apples and oranges.
Originally posted by rtodd
If Albert Einstein had the same passion for running as he did for physics, could he have been an olympic runner?...........Probably.
See, I would say absolutely and unequivocally, no, he would not have been.
I believe he was born to be a greatest physicist just as others are born to be great athletes.
Originally posted by GoRedFoxes
Doro, you are probably better than you would be if you hadn't those features.
Flexibility/hyperextension test:
Can you turn you feet (both of them) all the way around to make it look like your feet were put on backwards?
Can you reach over your head, and touch the ear on the same side of the arm your reaching with?
My doctor tells me I enjoy these tricks now, and greatly influence my swimming ability, but I am going to pay dearly for them in the future:)
The feet thing is very wierd. I can point them flat like a ballerina and can stand with them straight out to the side. Arm flexbility is not an issue and I can still do splits at my old age. :D
Interesting that backstrokers have the elbow thing going on, because both my kids have arms like mine, and my son was a darn good back stroker, and my daughter would to if she put some effort into it. Alas, she is like me and dislikes the stroke.
Maybe you are right knelson. For instance, Eric Heiden was born to be a brilliant orthopedic surgeon....right?
Or maybe he is mentally driven to succeed and quite simply trained harder and smarter than the next guy.
I'm not ready to buy into the genetic limitation thing and won't let my kids buy into it either.
Originally posted by rtodd
Maybe you are right knelson. For instance, Eric Heiden was born to be a brilliant orthopedic surgeon....right?
Or maybe he is mentally driven to succeed and quite simply trained harder and smarter than the next guy.
I'm not ready to buy into the genetic limitation thing and won't let my kids buy into it either.
Make up your mind, would you. In your previous post you stated, "In most "ball" sports, specific skills require hand and eye coordination that is almost purely inherited."
So, which is it?
I think there are some genetic limits to athletic performance, but the vast majority of us will never come close to those limits. Genes may determine your potential, but if you practice regularly, work hard, and improve your technique, you will probably be able to improve a lot from where you are right now. For top national/international athletes, their potential may be the factor limiting their improvements, but for the average swimmer, it's our level of commitment.
