Economic downturn a boon to distance fortunes?
With the mortgage crisis continuing to ripple out into the general American economy, the possibility exists that two of the only positive impacts may come in the area of childhood obesity and the fortunes of future American distance running. What with the price of oil soaring near $150 per barrel, Montgomery County, Maryland announced that more children may have to walk to school next year to save money on bus fuel.
One reason the Kenyans and Ethiopians are so superior in the distance races is their lifestyle of walking everywhere since early childhood as a primary mode of conveyance. In fact, during one of my trips to Kenya, two-time Boston Marathon champion Moses Tanui spoke of walking 70 kilometers once to attend a track meet when he was a ten year-old boy. At the same time he realized that because of his own success, his children, who now live in a large house and take a bus to school in Eldoret rather than walk as he had in the countryside, may see a significant lessening in the natural advantages the Kenyan runners have as modernity continues its march into Kenyan society.
Back in the 1980s two-time Olympian John Gregorek told me that he would never catch up with the Kenyans in terms of oxygen carrying capability, and not simply because they were born at high altitude, while he was reared on Long Island, New York. John said he didn’t begin running until sophomore year at St. Anthony’s High School.
“No matter how long I run I’ll never be able to develop the same web of capillaries as the Kenyan kids who walked everywhere growing up”, he said.
So here we find ourselves having to finally pay the piper for the president’s marching orders to “shop to combat terrorism” following 9-11, and the concurrent dot-com and housing boom-and-busts which have left us with no place left to delude ourselves into thinking their isn’t a price for over-spending and under-saving.
It isn’t much of a consolation that the kids coming up now may have to use nature’s own means for getting from point A to point B instead of having mom and dad hump them around in the family SUV that now costs $100 to fill up. But who knows what the consequences may be in the distance events the next time we reconvene in Eugene for the Olympic Trials 2012 and beyond?
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July 13th, 2008 at 7:59 pm |
Great topic.
Lifestyle has not only present but future consequences.
This forum is about performance and it can’t be debated that American runners are at a physical disadvantage because of our relative inactivity vs. other cultures. It is easy to focus on the issue of walking/running vs. driving because it is easily understandable.
It is a far more complex issue. All things being the same, it would seem that children of disadvantage would be better runners because their parents didn’t drive them around. And if altitude was such an advantage, runners from sea level couldn’t compete with runners from altitude.
But arguably the best female distance runner from the US may be Shalene Flanagan - who’s only advantage seems to be good genes, parental support and the resources to concentrate on her craft.
And despite some blips in his career, Alan Webb may be the most talented “home-grown” male. Again, neither disadvantaged nor altitude born. So what are the other factors at work?
Once blessed with genetic potential there are so many other factors involved that it is impossible to cover them in this short reply. Nutrition, coaching, inner drive, financial resources, competitive opportunities, physical durability, luck etal all factor in.
I’d like to mention just one more - Belief.
We have been so inundated with talk about the superiority of Kenyans etc. due to lifestyle that our failure to compete has become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Thankfully, we are developing a new breed of athlete (Flanagan, Webb, Tegenkamp, Solinshy, Castor etc) who are starting to believe that they CAN compete with anyone.
Of course, it wouldn’t hurt if a few more kids walked to school.