Maximus said:
A genetic quirk in blacks simply make them faster than others. A genetic quirk in Jews make them more prone to Tay-Sachs disease than others. A genetic quirk in blacks make them more prone to sickle cell anemia than others. Redheaded Irishmen and women are more prone to having freckles than others. Asians are more prone to having straight black hair than others.
It is what it is. But so what? I don't see the big deal.
You seem like a smart guy, so I don't know why you insist on nitpicking our arguments. You said it yourself that there are genetic quirks, so why is it so hard to understand that we may also have valid points about genetic quirks?
It is certainly possible that whites mature a "slightly" slower, (there was a valid genetics article posted about this on our site not long ago) which could be the reason for the fairly significant disparity between white and black 100 meter runners in high school, when steroids are used far less. In addition whites are often pushed by high school coaches into the middle distance events because of stereotyping. It is certainly possible for these two reasons that some of the top white talent at 100 meters is lost and never goes on to be recruited by Division I.
But I see that you completely failed to address SteveB's main argument. Both me and SteveB believe that steroids work better on people of west African decent than people of European decent; for bulking up a higher rate of fast twitch muscles to slow twitch muscles than whites. That could certainly also be a genetic quirk, just as alcohol affects Native Americans differently.
Up until 1988 when Ben Johnson shocked the track world with a startling 9.83, the 10 second mark had only been breached 8 times and 6 of them were by one man Carl Lewis. Certainly with how dominant Ben Johnson looked in that run, it could have pushed many new runners into juicing for 100 meters because of the money it can bring.
Ben Johnson said it himself, that he doesn't think it humanly possible to go sub 9.9 clean.
In addition Carl Lewis could have been a cheater as well. Giovanni posted a link to an article about the U.S Olympic committee covering up a failed test by Lewis for a banned stimulant in a cold medication. The U.S Olympic committee was notorious for this kind of stuff and that is part of the reason that the independent U.S anti-doping agency took over regulation because of the tarnished reputation.
Also as of 1988 the 10.10 mark had only been breached 81 times electronicly and 24 of them were by the same man aforementioned Carl Lewis. Take away Carl Lewis's big time dominance and whites made up roughly 15% of all-time sub 10.10s. Surely there is a difference, but not to the extent of today, where we "never" have seen a white man in the Olympic finals at 100 meters since if I recall 1984
The thing that strikes me the most about the fact that steroids don't work on whites the same way they do on blacks is that white sprinters are running the same times now as they did in the 1960s when steroids were unheard of in track. Lets look at the top performers from each decade:
1960: Armin Hary: 10 flat (hand-timed): Yes you may be right that the hand-time could have been off a little. However, it couldn't have been off so much that it was not at least sub 10.10.
1972: Valeri Borzov 10.07: I will include Borzov in my review, despite not being the fastest of his decade, because he was the most dominant sprinter of the early 1970s and an Olympic gold medalist. There is certainly a chance that even as early as 1972 Borzov could have been one of the first to cheat. As we have admitted the Soviet Bloc nations were known to be the mavericks of steroid cheating. However, their labs were not as advanced as the ones today and Borzov was not jacked the same way sprinters from the American continent are today. And Borzov ran no faster than Hary who was definitely clean.
1979: Pietro Mennea 10.01 (at altitude, likely would have been a 10.10 or so at non-altitude): Mennea was almost without a doubt clean. Meenea had a very slender build for a sprinter. Mennea's build "drastically" contrasts with the sprinters of today. I don't believe Italy was into cheating in the 1970s like the Soviet Bloc nations either who made sports dominance part of the Cold War Politics against the United States.
1984: Marion Woronin 10 flat: It is certainly possible that Woronin cheated, but Poland is not a former Soviet Bloc nation and the world hadn't seen what steroids could do until Ben Johnson ran a ridiculous 9.83 in 1988.
1998: Matt Shirvington 10.03: There is a pretty good chance that Shirvington was a cheater as he is post 1988. I know little about his character and personal life. If I read more about him, I might find out that he is a man of deep conviction.
2003: Nic Macrozonaris 10.03: A very good chance Nic is a roider. Just like Ben Johnson Nic is from Canada and cheating on this side of the Ocean is huge IMO. There are few dominant black 100 meters runners from Europe despite the fact that there are a significant number of blacks in countries like England, France and the Netherlands now.
As you can see steroids have done nothing for white sprinters. As far as time improvement.
Now lets look at the progression of sub 10 electronic times for blacks. Since 1976 all professional track times from 400 meters and under have to be electronic timed to be valid:
9.95: Jim Hines of the United States: Mexico City, Mexico October 14, 1968 (the only sub 10 electronic time before 1976, but it was at altitude. It likely would have been mid 10.0x at non-altitude. It bested Armin Hary's 10 flat hand-timed world record)
9.93: Calvin Smith of the United States: Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA July 3, 1983
9.93: Carl Lewis of the United States: Rome, ItalyAugust 30, 1987
9.92: Carl Lewis of the United States: Seoul, South KoreaSeptember 24, 1988
So after checking my facts I found that there was a mere 3 men to go sub 10 from 1976-1987. Of course Ben Johnson doesn't count. That is 2 men in that 12 year span and there was only 8 times under 10 seconds total and 6 were by Carl Lewis. Blacks clearly weren't dominating track to the same extent prior to 1988.
Up until the 2004 Olympics there were 39 men that went sub 10 electronic timed according to an online article I read. Cancel out the 3 prior to 1988 and a whopping 36 men went sub 10 from 1988-2004. Clearly there is something going on with the dramatic drop in top times.
I don't believe that this huge jump in men going sub 10 is legitimate. The training and nutrition techniques that 100 meter runners use is the same from 1988 onward as from 1976-1988. Add to that the fact that most of the 36 men from 1988-2004 going sub 10 have done it more than once. From 1976-1988 there was but one man, Carl Lewis, to go sub 10 electronic timed multiple times.
So Texas Tech=Maximus why do you insist on coming on here and debating us and nitpicking our posts constantly! I think you really hate this site. Not all the posters on this site are racist like you and the PC crowd would like to believe. After reading my post I think you can see that it is a very logical argument that the elite black is only faster than the elite white by about 0.1 seconds over 100 meters=1 meter.
Where did I get my number of 0.1 seconds disparity? I got it from the fact that Carl Lewis ran a world record 9.92 in 1988! I think there is a very good chance that Carl Lewis' record was a clean one. From everything I know about Carl Lewis he seems to be a humble guy and a strong Christian. He could have just been that freak on the end of the bell curve that could do what he did clean. And even if Lewis was not clean; there is Calvin Smith's 9.93 in 1983. The top 100 meter time for a white that was likely clean is Marion Woronin's 10 flat in 1984. That would equate to a .08 second difference over 100 meters between elite blacks and whites (roughly 0.1 seconds or one meter).
Of course I considered the entire 60s up until the 1976 electronic timed 100 meter requirement started as well. Blacks had plenty of chances to compete in this time span, but did not dominate nearly the way they do today. If you consider the 1960s and 1970s average times of elite sprinters. The top blacks were faster than the top whites on average by roughly 0.1 seconds.
So most of us on this site are admitting that blacks are "slightly" faster than whites. So I ask you Maximus what is "the big deal" with hating our site?
Hey, at least you bring some legit arguments unlike that fool McBride that clearly believes that athleticism is determined 100% by straight lined track speed. If you read that defuses post, that is clearly what he is implying! I give you credit Maximus=Texas Tech for trying.
Just curious Texas Tech, are you African American? Is that why you hate this site so much? Because I admit there are a few extreme anti-black posters here. However, the majority of us are not anti-black, we are pro-white and against all unfair stereotyping in sports! And that would include against east Asians.
Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins