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Professional-Can1385 t1_iu7mm7g wrote

>Races have differences in terms of averages.
>
>If people are going to sit here and try to tell me it's just coincidence that the Summer Olympics running events are dominated by Jamaicans and Africans, I am going to have to laugh.

It is world of difference to compare running speeds of different groups of people on the same course than comparing intelligence or IQ of different groups of people. It's not as straight forward as running from point A to point B as quickly as you can.

But even Olympic competitions are not a great way to compare groups of people in the same sport. In the 1970s and 1980s the Eastern Bloc countries dominated many Olympic events. They had set up state-sponsored athletic schools that they funneled sporty kids into. They could train kids in a specialty from a very young age, controlling their entire lives to make them the best athletes they could be. Compared to the US system where if a kid has an interest, talent, willing parents, and money they may turn into elite athletes. Saying Eastern Bloc countries during this time had better athletes because they won more Olympic medals would not be accurate. They set up athlete factories most other countries would not or could not replicate.

tl/dr: race/ethnicity is never the only factor

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PaterPoempel t1_iu7uvcc wrote

The Eastern Block countries, especially the Soviet Union and East-Germany had absolutely massive state-sponsored doping programs which are probably the main reason for their athlete's dominance in the Olympic games.

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Groveshield t1_iu7rzvj wrote

Never the only factor.

But it is a factor.

I do agree though that "intelligence" is a far tricker metric than "who tends to run fastest."

Regardless, its a really touchy subject that is typically more trouble than its worth to research or write about imho.

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