Can Genetics Explain The Success of East African Runners?

If you could go back in time to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, you would find that Jamaican athletes won 7 out of 12 medals in men’s, women’s 100m, 200m, 400m, and sprint relays. Fast-forward to the 2012 Boston Marathon, and you will find a similar pattern. The first, second, and third places in the men’s category were all bagged by Kenyan runners. What about women? Well, they, too, had swept all the three positions. The winning streak does not stop here. In fact, 90% of all-time world records in track and field are held by Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes. These are the kind of numbers that will make any sports association in the world green with envy. From this jealousy of “black supremacy” on the tracks blossomed the belief that these successes were nothing but a genetic advantage.

The initial results of this hunt for a genetic cause were interesting ones. Researchers found that 14 of the 23 distant runners selected for the Ethiopian Olympic team came from the Arsi region. Similarly, the Kalenjin tribe of Kenya, which accounts for only 0.1% of the world population, has won 50 Olympic athletes medals altogether. Now, this geographical clustering of elite performers seems to emphasize an underlying genetic advantage.

Hence, the researchers decided to plunge into a study of the distribution and morphological effects of the “performance genes,” angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), and α-actinin-3 (ACTN3). α-actinin, an actin-binding protein and a vital component of the Z-line of skeletal muscles, significantly affects muscle functions. However, the study conducted on Jamaican and US athletes and control groups did not find any conclusive patterns in the ACTN3 genotype frequency.

ACE gene profiling also brought the researchers to a similar dead-end. ACE is a peptidase that regulates blood pressure by catalyzing the conversion of angiotenisin1 to vasoconstrictor angiotensin. An insertion (I) or deletion (D) of a 287bp sequence at intron 16 of the ACE gene can contribute 47% variance in ACE activity in the subjects. ACE II candidates will show higher muscle efficiency, better running economy, and an ability to sustain a submaximal pace with lower oxygen consumption. The results of this gene study once again revealed no significant association between athlete status and ACE I/D.

Interestingly, both these places in Kenya and Ethiopia that gifted the country with its Olympic medallists are high altitude regions. And it’s a long-known fact that altitude training can enhance endurance performance. Studies also reported that Kenyans had longer legs, shorter torsos, and slender limbs, calling their physical nature “bird-like” and best suited for long-distance running.

But, as an article that had appeared in The Atlantic notes, “Talking about the greatness of African athletes can be fraught in the Western world. Generations of American slavery were justified in part by arguments that Africans were "specialized" for physical labor and whites for mental work, ideas that have persisted in American paternalism and racism through today.…to talk about black men and women’s physical attributes can echo some of the worst moments in modern history. And there is something distasteful about reducing Africans to the prowess of their best athletes…”

Some studies showed extensive walking and running (for errands and to school) from an early age. But once again, this is a Westernised perspective of African nations, and 14 out of 20 race-winning Kenyan athletes reported that they went to school just like every other average child–riding the bus or a short walk.

While extensive gene analysis has revealed no significant association between genotype and elite performers, most people continue to believe in a genetic predisposition for East African runners’ success. This tells more about our own inherent bias and cultural stereotypes than giving a conclusive scientific answer.