Most American athletes are black

Human Races and Sports

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Source: China Sports Science and Technology 2001 Issue 6 Author: Li Liyan

Abstract: Through the study of historical documents, the distribution of human races in the world, racial biological characteristics and society are analyzed Scientific factors were used to explore the impact of human racial differences on sports performance. Keywords: race; sociology, anthropology, history; sports; relationship; influence CLC number: G80-05

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1 Preface Competition rules are like society "Legislation" should fully reflect "fairness". Generally speaking, sports rules are very fair to both sides of the competition, but they cannot be absolutely fair. The reason is that this kind of sports "legislation" only considers the absolute differences between people, not the relative differences. Therefore, human racial characteristics caused by evolution have become, to a certain extent, a direct factor in determining athletic performance. This article discusses this phenomenon.

2 Human race composition Race is a product with profound evolutionary characteristics, and different races have different morphological characteristics. Generally speaking, humans can be divided into three major races and several branches (Table 1). From "Negro race" to "European race" to "Mongoloid race", there are several transitional races (Table 2). Race is the product of "nature", while "nation" is the result of "culture". The distribution of race also has its important characteristics. A country does not have all kinds of races and ethnicities evenly. Different geographical spaces have different races. For example, Africa is dominated by the Negro race; Europe is dominated by the Europa race; Asia, especially East Asia and North Asia, Mainly Mongoloid. Among the more than 5 billion people in the world, the Mongoloid race accounts for about 41% of the total population, the Europa race accounts for about 43%, and the Negro-Australian race accounts for only 16%. Every major race or branch race contains numerous ethnic groups. At the same time, some ethnic groups are formed by the mixture of two or more ethnic groups. The regional distribution of the population is extremely uneven, with 58% in Asia, 17% in Europe, 14% in the Americas, 10.5% in Africa, and only 0.5% in Oceania.

3 Differences in racial morphology Human races have different "heights" due to "geographical differences". Anthropological research concluded: "The geographical difference in the arithmetic mean height of the world's population is 40-41cm. The shortest is the black people in the Congo Basin (African Pygmies), whose average height is 141cm; the tallest is Lake Chad in Africa. The average height of black people in the southeast is 182cm. The shortest groups in the world are the Pygmies of Central Africa, the Pygmies of Southeast Asia, and the Bushmen of South Africa. The tallest group is the Negro people north of the tropical forest boundary. Certain groups, the Scots, and the Polynesians of the Marquesas Islands”

[1] Regarding the distribution of human heights, the famous anthropologist Rokinski and others obtained this based on a large number of anthropometric data. : "The average height of the entire human race is about 165cm for men and 154cm for women. The average height difference between men and women is 8 to 11cm." He also said: "Short stature (less than 160cm) is the most common among people in Europe, Asia and the northernmost parts of America. (Lopar, Mansi, Handi, Ancient Asiatics, Eskimos), many groups in East and Southeast Asia (Japan, India, Indochina, Indonesia), Central and South America also have short stature . Tall people (over 170cm) are also found in northern Europe (Norwegians, Swedes), the Balkans, northwest India and North America. In anthropology, different races have different characteristics, and different races have different heights. The tallest races are the Negro race and the Europa race and their variants, while the Asian race is of medium stature. Human height is formed due to geographical and climatic differences. Since the Neolithic Age, due to the continuous migration and interbreeding of the population, the geographical characteristics of human height have begun to blur.

Migration has led to the homogenization of morphological characteristics of human races, and the result of interbreeding has been the emergence of various variants. For example, the Ethiopian race is the tallest race in Africa. Although the skin color of this race is black, the skin color already contains red components, making it reddish brown. According to research, this is a special race of people on the African continent. Anthropologists pointed out: "In Northeast Africa, Ethiopia and Somalia in the Horn of Africa live the Ethiopian race, which is a mixed type of Europa and Negro people, that is, white and black people."

[2] According to the determination of human fossils in North Africa, "the most important fossil material was found in Algeria-Afalu. The absolute age of the Taforalt skeleton is 8850 BC. The Taforalt and Alfalu The Fallou are generally similar to the Cro-Magnons, both of whom are tall, with the average height of the Afalou being 177.7cm and the average height of the Taforalte being 173.3cm," Anthropologist in Ashelia, Southern Sahara. The human skeleton found near the Niger Fortress (north of the bend of the Niger River) sheds important light on the height characteristics of the early Negro race: "The skull is very long, high and narrow (cranial index 70.9), the forehead is straight, The eyebrow arch is moderately developed, the body length is about 170cm, and the limbs are slender." In Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa, human skeleton fossils from the Paleolithic Age were found. According to measurements, the height was 175-180cm and 180cm respectively. The skeletal characteristics are "a tall and narrow face, a slightly protruding jaw, a narrow nose, a long head, and a very tall stature." In short, these skeletal fossils that are nearly 10,000 to 100,000 years old all have "Ethiopian characteristics." Some of the characteristics of the species are thick and thick. ”

[1] There are many different morphological characteristics between different races, such as faces, nose height, eye sockets, etc. The morphological characteristics of a race are the result of long-term adaptation to the natural environment. Different natural environments produce different forms of human races, and different forms determine the ability of a race to adapt to the environment. For example, white people and their high nose bridges come from the alpine regions of Northern Europe, which are beneficial to their acceptance of sunlight and resistance to cold air; while the wide noses and thick lips of black people come from the high temperature environment of the equator, which is beneficial to their ability to absorb sunlight and resist cold air. Exchange air and dissipate heat; another example is that the "shovel-shaped teeth" feature of the Mongoloid race comes from the temperate zone, which is conducive to living on plants (fruits, leaves and stems, etc.). The above reminds us that we cannot ignore racial differences, nor can we ignore racial differences in form and behavior. Every individual has its own ethnographic basis, and each person's form and behavior must obey its ethnographic regulations, especially in sports. The ultimate limit of ability is always the limit of the ability of the race to which he belongs.

4 The influence of climate on height The origins of different races are probably due to differences in "environment", and "temperature" is the most prominent "environmental" factor. Both in Europe and East Asia, there is a trend that the average height increases with increasing latitude from south to north. For example, the height trends of the European race are Northern European gt; Eastern and Western European gt; Southern European gt; Arabian region. The physical characteristics of South American Indians and Africans are opposite. The further south from the equator, the higher the average height. Correlation analysis conducted by Stinson (1990) showed that temperature, humidity and rainfall are negatively correlated with body size (height, weight), while sunshine and annual maximum temperature changes are positively correlated with body size. In other words, the more people live in warm and humid areas, the lower their physical fitness; while the more people live in cold, annual temperature difference and sufficient sunshine areas, the higher their physical fitness. Zoology also has the same proof. For example, research on tigers shows: "Different geographical populations need to deal with different climatic conditions and other conditions, and they often show some adaptive differences." "Tigers in our country were continuously distributed in the past. , has now been divided into two subspecies: the northern tiger and the southern tiger. The northern tiger is mainly distributed in the Northeast, and occasionally found in Abria. It is large and has distinctive markings; the southern tiger is mainly distributed in southern China and is small in size. The markings are lighter. At least part of the variation shown by different populations in different areas has adaptive significance. For warm-blooded animals, individuals distributed at high latitudes are often larger, and individuals distributed at low latitudes are often smaller. There is a sense of adaptation. The surface area of ??an individual increases with the square, while the volume increases with the cube.

That is, the ratio of area to volume decreases as the size of the animal increases. In this way, warm-blooded animals distributed in cold areas can relatively reduce the loss of body heat with larger bodies, which is beneficial to survival. ”

[3] This is true for animals, and it is also true for humans. It is not difficult to confirm it from the data in Table 3 and Table 4. Why the northern race is taller than the southern race can be found here Reasonable explanation. Because only if you are tall can you keep warm and survive. This is why the Europa people are tall and have fair skin, eye color and hair color. Only by increasing their size can they preserve body temperature, and only white people. Only those with light-colored skin can absorb sunlight. The data in Tables 3 and 4 are noteworthy. That is, Chinese people, regardless of gender, lag behind Americans in many indicators such as height and weight, but they are higher than Americans in terms of sitting height and maximum head width. People, this situation determines the ability of Chinese people in sports: it will affect the competitive ability of Chinese and other Mongolian races in terms of speed (track and field) and resistance (swimming), and of course it will also provide convenience in terms of balance ability. It is precisely because of the major differences in geography and climate that humans have racial characteristics and morphological differences (Table 5 and Table 6)

5 Sports are the only test of the most primitive and basic human beings' athletic abilities. The cultural form of biological ability. Sports are the most typical race "talent" competitions. Take the Olympics as an example. The Olympics is the largest sports event in the world, and it is also the ultimate competition of racial abilities. , the results are naturally different.

5.1 European race and sports performance Only analyzing the results of the 25th Olympic Games can clearly see the racial differences in Asian sports represented by mainland China. The level is far lower than that of Europe and the Americas (Table 7). The proportion of Asian athletes winning medals is only 16.93, far lower than Europe's 54.48 and the Americas' 20.49. Asia's performance is only higher than that of Africa and Oceania. Asia has a vast territory and a large population. , accounting for about 50% of the world's total population, while Europe and the United States have a combined population of only about 1 billion. That is to say, among the 815 medals, nearly 3 billion Asians can only win 16.93 medals, while Europe and the United States only account for 20% of the total population. However, people in Europe took away 74.97 medals. Europe has a small population, but outstanding sports performance. According to statistics, in 1975, the population of Europe was about 700 million, among which the European race was the main one, and there were fewer other races (Table 8). This characteristic of the European race helps to explain the reason for its excellent performance in sports. The European race, which ranks high at 95.21, has great body characteristics in track and field, ball games, swimming and strength (such as throwing). ), and the mixed population of the Asian branch of Mongolian race and the Europa race (this population exists in Eastern Europe), takes advantage of its "absolute strength" sports (such as weightlifting, wrestling, etc.). ) provides a guarantee. The negligible black race (Negro race) shines in sports, such as British sprinters and French black football players.

5.2 Mongolian race and sports performance are among the best in the world. The majority of the population is in Asia. The vast majority of people in Asia belong to the Mongoloid race. Compared with the European race, the Asian race has outstanding problems: short stature, light weight, absolute strength and speed are not dominant, and its talents are mainly concentrated. Aspects of projects related to dexterity, skill, mind, etc. In order to clarify the relationship between sports performance and race, we can analyze and discuss the development status of competitive sports in China. From 1984 to 1996, mainland China has been the Asian country that has won the most Olympic gold medals. China's dominant competitive sports are table tennis, gymnastics, diving, women's volleyball, etc., which are unique in ethnography, that is, they are mainly skill-based sports, with occasional lightweight physical fitness projects. The sports in which China has achieved success in the world sports world cannot but mention weightlifting. European athletes are generally very strong and strong. Therefore, Chinese athletes can only give full play to their advantages in lightweight weightlifting events; table tennis and shooting are all projects that do not require high physical fitness. Projects that require high intelligence and skills. The performance of Chinese athletes in the Olympic Games has demonstrated their racial characteristics to the greatest extent (Table 9).

At the 23rd Olympic Games, China won medals in 10 events, including 15 gold medals in the first 6 events; at the 24th Olympic Games, China won medals in 9 events, including 15 gold medals in the first 3 events. Won 5 gold medals in the 25th Olympic Games; in the 25th Olympic Games, won medals in 15 events, including 16 gold medals in the first 7 events. The characteristics revealed in Table 9 are: Most of China’s advantageous sports are lightweight, single-person and low-physical sports. They are concentrated in non-confrontational sports, and also include some less confrontational sports with more indirect forms of confrontation. projects and some lightweight physical fitness projects, which is very different from the situation in Europe and the United States. Like China, South Korea and Japan have difficulty catching up with Europe and the United States in absolute strength and absolute speed due to racial restrictions. It can be seen that although there is a certain correlation between the level of sports performance and whether a country is technologically advanced and economically wealthy, there is no inevitable connection. It is more related to race.

6 Black people in the arena When discussing the relationship between race and competitive sports, we cannot fail to talk about black people. Black people are a special phenomenon in ethnography and sports. The talents shown by black people in sports are amazing. From track and field to ball games, from speed to endurance, from jumping to boxing, batches of bright stars have emerged, which are beyond the reach of other races. In addition to long-distance running, the athletic talents of black people are increasingly concentrated in black Americans, among whom black Americans are particularly prominent. Whether it is Lewis in track and field, Michael Jordan in basketball, or Tyson in boxing, they all represent the highest level of contemporary human sports.

6.1 Ethnographic characteristics of black people A study of the "metabolic" status of black people found that black people have more sweat glands than white people. Black people's "skin cools faster and their perspiration mechanism is more complete than that of white people." ""In a room with a room temperature of 37.8°C, after performing a series of specified actions, black people sweat less than white people, and their rectal temperature is also lower." "After staying in high temperature (76.5℃) for 15 minutes, white people sweat 107cm3, while black people sweat 170cm3." Some data show that under overheating conditions, black people's thermal regulation function is more complete than that of white people. That is to say, black people return to normal body temperature faster than white people, and black Africans have larger sweat glands than Europeans. It has been shown that blacks have a higher percentage of copper in their blood than Europeans. This is because copper catalyzes dihydroxyphenylalanine during the formation of melanin. The difference in the ability to withstand the sharp increase in temperature caused by drought has been revealed in infancy. For example, "the hot and dry wind blowing from the Sahara Desert to Senegal and Sudan caused a large number of deaths to white babies, while it caused a large number of deaths to black babies." There is no special impact on babies. "[1] People's body temperature will inevitably increase when they exercise. If a person cannot regulate his body temperature well, the internal environment will not be normal, and the destruction of electrolyte balance will affect the normal function of the nervous system. In contrast, Mongoloid and Europa races are much worse at tolerating high temperatures than Negro Negroes. Measurements show: “The width of the oral cleft in black people is large (compared to the size of the face and head), and the extension area of ??the lip mucosa is large, which can accelerate the evaporation of water and cool the inhaled air, which is beneficial to life in the tropics. The narrow and tall head shape unique to tropical races is more suitable for environments with strong sunlight than the low, flat and wide head shape. "[1] On the contrary, neither the European race nor the Mongol race has this advantage. In football, long-distance running and boxing, the reason why black athletes have so many talents is not entirely due to economic and sociological phenomena, but more to ethnographic characteristics.

6.2 The immigration and colonization movement of black people in America Before the colonial movement, there were no black people in the American continent. Black people are mainly distributed in Africa and Australia and the Arabian Peninsula in Asia. The people living on the American plate are Indians, who belong to the Mongoloid race or a variant thereof. Black Americans were African slaves trafficked by Europeans (Table 10). Most of the black people who migrated from Africa were tall Negroes. European colonialists migrated black people to the Americas not for the sake of immigration, but to transport labor. After the Negro race arrived in the Americas, it laid the foundation for future racial mixing, physical types and sports. This is also the reason why black Americans are tall. This rule is followed from North America to South America.

North American blacks shine in basketball, track and field, and boxing, while South American blacks are unparalleled in football and jumping. The highly developed economic conditions in the Americas are catalyzing the height growth of black people. Speed ??is inseparable from strength, but it is also inseparable from the height of the human body. With the same cadence, tall athletes will definitely run faster. In addition to weightlifting, this is also true for strength sports.

6.3 The performance of black people in speed events The results of the 100m race represent the limit of human speed. In 1988, Johnson, a black Canadian athlete, set a world record of 9.83 seconds. In 1989, the 20-year-old African American athlete L. Borrelly set a time of 9.94 seconds in the 100m. In 1989, the black American athlete Kingdom broke the world record in the 110m hurdles twice. Not only did black athletes have an advantage in speed, they also jumped higher. On July 30, 1989, Sotomayor, a black Cuban athlete, jumped over a 2.44m crossbar and set a world record in high jump. Black people's athletic talent is closely related to their physical characteristics. Muscle biopsies show that black athletes have a higher percentage of their muscle fibers performing anaerobic respiration, so they don't use as much oxygen during sprints. The strength of the plantar flexors of black people is about 150 to 200kg, while that of white people is only about 50kg. If the same leg pushing force is applied to the ground, the elasticity of black people is 3 to 4 times higher than that of white people. Therefore, black sprinters are invincible and invincible.

6.4 The performance of black people in endurance events From origin to evolution, black people have lived on the African plateau for a long time, which has created the maximum oxygen absorption capacity of this race. Black people are also excellent in endurance events. Black Kenyan athletes have long dominated the middle and long-distance running events. The 22-year-old Kenyan athlete P. Ereng won the men's 800m running crown at the 24th Olympic Games; in the same year, he also won the world indoor track and field championship with The time of 1min44.85s broke the indoor 800m world record of 1min44.91s held by British athlete S. Coe for many years; at the Zurich International Athletics Grand Prix, he set a best time of 1min43.16s. Kenyan athletes J.Kariuki and P.Koech won the gold and silver medals in the 3000m obstacle course respectively at the 24th Olympic Games; at the Track and Field Grand Prix held in Stockholm, Kariuki clocked 8min5.35s The result refreshed the world record of 8min5.40s held by Kenyan athlete Henry Rono for 11 years. Black athletes from other countries have also performed exceptionally well. S.Aouita, a black Moroccan athlete, is known as the "Moroccan Express". He has set 5 world records in middle and long distance running. He not only ran the best time of 1500m in 3min30.63s, but also ran 7min29. The time of 45 seconds set a world record for the 3000m run. Endurance exercise is related to people’s cardiopulmonary function, and is also related to neuroendocrine regulation of body temperature. Black people have lived in the high-temperature tropics between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Cancer for a long time and have the biological advantages of heat resistance and temperature regulation.

6.5 Disadvantages of Black People Swimming can be described as "track and field" in the water. It is both a speed competition and an endurance competition. However, in this event, black people do not have any advantage. There are very few black athletes in high-level international competitions. Even if there are, they are mostly mixed-race blacks and their level is not high. Why is this? This has to do with the muscle structure characteristics of black people. In water, the muscle weight of white people is only 1.5g/cm3, while that of black people is 11.3g/cm3, and the yellow people are somewhere in between. Therefore, the floating problem of black people is not easy to solve. Black people are also not "genius" in weightlifting. The reason is very simple. Black people are a race of people with slender limbs. They hold heavy objects above their heads. Their slender limbs increase resistance and suffer a lot. This is much inferior to the Mongolian race and the Mongol-European mixed race in Eastern European countries - "short stature", cylindrical body shape, strong and easy to lift weights.

The same goes for wrestling. Black people have slender bodies and a high center of gravity, making them unstable and prone to falling.

6.6 Sociological Analysis of the Black Phenomenon The performance of black people in sports is indeed like a mystery, deeply confusing people. Because the factors that lead to this phenomenon of black people with a small population but excellent sports performance are really complex. Faced with this problem, let’s try to discuss it here. Sports competitions basically obey the natural laws of "survival of the fittest" and "natural selection." The most direct evidence is that the rules of sports are completely open and public, and the "fairness" of the rules is consistent with the laws of nature to the greatest extent. Only when human laws are close to natural laws can their rationality be fully reflected. The design of rules in sports competitions generally considers "absolute competition" and does not consider "relative competition". The problems raised by thinking about relative matches seem to be more serious than those raised by "absolute matches". Therefore, people in the world never complain because of this "absolute" phenomenon of rules. And various projects always have both advantages and disadvantages for different races. For example, in basketball, volleyball, and most track and field events, taller is more beneficial; while in gymnastics, weightlifting and other events, shorter height is more beneficial. Because of this, the advantages and disadvantages cancel each other out, and the competition law of "absolute competition" is generally accepted by people all over the world. Only by acknowledging this premise can we find the "intrinsic" relationship between the black phenomenon and the yellow people issue, and understand its content close to its essence. The talent structure of sports is the result of "selection". For example, in basketball, it is not just whoever wants to play that can become famous, but whoever is most suitable for playing basketball can be selected by this game. As a result of many layers of selection, it turned out that those who play basketball are all big men. Correspondingly, gymnastics and weightlifting are both small. American social values ??are very close to the "survival of the fittest" in animal society, and the concept of absolute achievement in sports (such as "first", "success" and "victory", etc.) strengthens people's "survival of the fittest" . In this way, all talents suitable for engaging in a certain sport will be best "selected" through its racial regulations. It is mainly through this method that black people get the "merit-based campaign" and thus shine in sports that require height, strength and flexibility, such as track and field, boxing, basketball, rugby, etc. However, white people who are not bad at all in height and weight cannot do the same. Shake it. This can also explain why it was "people of color" like Owens who won honor for the United States, humanity, and people of color in front of Hitler. Other people of color probably also wanted to win honors from under Hitler's nose. However, because they were not talented enough, even white people could not defeat them, so their dreams could not be realized. Of course, just because black people naturally have such advantages, they are also destined to have corresponding disadvantages. Because of their tall stature, high center of gravity, and long limbs, black people have no advantages in wrestling, weightlifting, gymnastics and other events. Naturally, such a disadvantage cannot lead to the "merit selection" of this type of project, and the "merit selection" can only tend to the opposite Mongoloid or Eastern European race.