Usain Bolt was born in the hills of Trelawny, such as double Olympic champion in the 200 meters , Veronica Campbell- Brown, and Ben Johnson, the deposed Olympic champion in the 100 meters in 1988 ( Canadian citizenship) .
The inhabitants of this hostile region like to see a direct link between the heroic slaves and sprinters who are the pride of Jamaica. Local perpetuate themselves the myth of " gene slave " Bolt wants to deconstruct in his autobiography published in January in France ( " Faster than lightning ," Editions Arthaud ) .
The " gene slave" is an enduring legend of athletics. In Jamaica , it takes the following form, tells the American journalist David Epstein in "The Sports Gene " (not published in French ): The West Africans who were taken by force on the boats were beefy , the sturdiest of them resistant to the passage, and the sturdiest of the sturdiest survived and won their freedom.
The thesis of " gene slave " ==>
The idea that black sprinters hold their explosiveness of their enslaved experienced a revival in the Anglo -Saxon press during the London Olympics ancestry, because of a documentary directed by American Michael Johnson, four-time Olympic champion 200 and 400 meters. Johnson explains :
All my life I thought I had become an athlete through my determination, but it is impossible to believe that being a descendant of slaves did not leave an impression on me through the ages . Also difficult to hear whether , slavery has benefited descendants like me : I think there is a superior athletic gene " .
This thesis ruthless natural selection is fairly widespread among black athletes . Marie- Jose Perec , interviewed by journalist Jean- Philippe Leclaire in his book " Why Whites run slowly" ( Grasset , 2012):
" Like our ancestors worked in the fields, they developed their physique. When they started the sport, they were immediately very good. There is a legacy that has been passed from generation to generation. "
The explanation does not stand up to scientific analysis .
The Athletics Coaching : it would be more logical that the descendants of slaves have inherited their strength, endurance and resistance to pain , which destinerait succeed in distance running or throwing .
The specialists of slavery : " How a physiologically traumatic experience of less than one year may have genetic consequences two centuries later ," notes historian Philip D. Curtin in " Darwin's Athlete " ( John Hoberman , 1997). Adding that the capture of slaves was more hazardous than strictly based on physical criteria and the sport was banned in almost all slaves.
Those geneticists : Greek Iannis Pitsiladis , a researcher at the University of Glasgow , analyzed hundreds of samples of DNA Jamaican Maroons and sprinters , and concluded both that class did not cover the other and, on the twenty known genes associated with sprint , Jamaican sprinters did not possess more good versions that people test.
The thesis of the enabling environment
In his autobiography , the Nouvel Observateur website Book extract , Usain Bolt refutes the theory of " gene slave " in these terms:
Jamaicans consider athletics in the same way that Brazilians football. They are crazy . [...] In Jamaica, all children are athletics and the 'Fields' [ university championships , Ed] are the ultimate for any young ambitious. This concerns not only the kids of Kingston. "
Athletes deep rural areas also show , as I did in 2001 , and my coach already claimed at the time that the national coaches were spoiled for choice. The National Stadium in Kingston was the largest showcase of talent. "
"Flash " is right: the environment is a key factor in the emergence of Jamaican sprinters . Everything grows fast young people to athletics , where the majority of fast Americans are pushed more lucrative football, or soccer for young Europeans and Africans. Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, the two best sprinters Jamaican wanted to cricket . But in adolescence, they did not have a choice.
Detection system
Every Jamaican necessarily pass a test sprint in its infancy, many connoisseurs of athletics watch them behind the handrail , scholarships encourage them to continue , coaches American universities are recruiting future talent . The stage is set .
A top athlete can pass between the cracks . However, detecting talent sprinter in childhood is essential : as several studies have shown a slow child does not become an adult fast driving force .
Having extensively studied the sprint in Jamaica , both on the slopes and in the laboratory, the geneticist Iannis Pitsalidis arrived at this conclusion, cited in the investigation of David Epstein, who supports the explanation Usain Bolt :
"You must correctly choose his parents to hold a world record. Jamaica But thousands of the best sprinters and emerge. Here's how to explain this phenomenon. If this system ( detection ) was another country , we would see exactly the same thing. "
The thesis of the genetic mutation
But several researchers have worked on another assumption , again based on the common origin of almost all of the best sprinters in the world: West Africa .
Sickle cell disease is a common genetic mutation in this part of the world, in that it allows the body to fight against malaria. Sickle cell trait is the mild form of sickle cell disease and is characterized by a relative anemia , which affects the transport of oxygen in the blood.
However, since the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, journalist Patrick Cooper notes that a significant proportion of black athletes have sickle cell trait , but only the lower 800-meter distances.
Lactic acid and fast fibers
A study by Professor Olivier Hue , University of the West Indies , established in 2000, three of the 16 Caribbean sprinters team France had sickle cell trait , a proportion of 19% , double the prevalence in entire Caribbean population. Boys and two porters were the best of the group.
The French physiologist Daniel Le Gallais has made the same observation in 1998 during a study of sprinters and throwers Ivorian : 30% of the 122 best athletes were affected, more than double the Ivorian population , and this was the best case athlete from each sex .
What benefits sprint athletes do they get this genetic mutation ? According to Professor Hue, quoted in " Why Whites run slowly" , their red blood cells more easily eliminate lactic acid during the sprint .
Patrick Cooper and fellow researcher Errol Morrison, sickle cell trait alters the metabolism of the carrier : to produce energy, it spends less of oxygen ( it 's less ) and compensates by fast muscle fibers , thus developing these fibers make good sprinters.
Too sensitive for studies
This thesis caused by resistance to malaria rapid fibers could not be confirmed by large-scale studies in humans. In general , it is difficult for scientists to obtain financing on such a sensitive issue : the relationship between genetics and sports performance .
As if writing a particular ethnic origin procured a benefit for some type of physical effort was to provide an avenue to racist theories that combine physical superiority and intellectual inferiority .
The multitude of scientific studies on the subject and investigations Jean- Philippe Leclaire and David Epstein show in any case it is absurd to oppose the innate and the acquired . Foolish to imagine that sports champions climbed onto the podium at the sole force driving or , conversely , they owe everything to their genetic heritage.
One is not born champion, of course, but as the doctor said with humor Pitsalidis , it is imperative to " choose your parents ." Not to mention the roles of luck and doping.
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