In Why the US Sucks at Olympic Lifting: Part 1, I introduced the topic that I wanted to discuss and defined some end points that I was going to use in the discussion. I also introduced the first group/sport I wanted to talk about which was Kenyan distance runners. If you want the details, read Part 1. For now just accept that starting in about 1970, Kenyans rose from total anonymity to what amounts to simple overwhelming and absolute dominance in the men’s distance events.
And a question that has been posited since they started winning is why this is the case. And the answer is not simple. Demonstrating that, to look at this in the detail I want, it’s going to take me today and Friday to cover factors ranging from physiology, sociology, economics, incentives, and who knows what else. This should give you some idea of what I’m going to try to address in this series as a whole to answer the original question.… Keep Reading