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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
ASIAN ATHLETES LIMITED BY GENES OR NURTURE?
o debate on the prospects of Asian athletes in American sports passes without mention of Yao Ming, the Shanghai Sharks's 7-6, 265-pound center who recently led China to an 83-82 upset over the U.S. His prospects as the likely top pick of the 2002 NBA draft have been trumpeted by no lesser authorities than Michael Jordan and Bill Walton.
But the 21-year-old superstar is literally one in a billion (1.25 billion to be exact). Young Yao is the product, genetically and culturally, of a 6-10 father and 6-4 mother, both of whom played basketball for China's national teams. His case is as likely to confuse the nature-vs-nurture debate as to help resolve it. After all, his height may be merely the tip of the genetic iceberg when it comes to his promise as a world-class basketballer.
More familiar to Asian Americans are Michael Chang (5-9) who won the French Open at age 17, and Ichiro Suzuki (5-9), whose batting and base-stealing have lifted the Mariners from the basement to the heavens. Both seem endowed with standard physical equipment but have outperformed more powerful physiques. And on the women's side Kristi Yamaguchi, Michele Kwan, Seri Pak and legions of Chinese divers and gymnasts have shown that champions needn't be amazons.
But these successes haven't silenced those who argue that as a race Asians lack the genetic gifts to challenge black and white athletes in power sports. Asians are genetically smaller and weaker, they claim, and can only excel in sports calling for quickness and agility. They cite Asian underrepresentation in track and field, football, basketball, soccer, tennis, boxing and the like.
Will the future mirror the past? Are we genetically limited to excelling only in a few select sports or will changing social and economic conditions produce a generation of Asian superstars across the sports spectrum?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:57:52 PM)
dan,
you crack me up! but at the same time--good advice.
chinese cdn girl
Sunday, October 07, 2001 at 08:04:15 (PDT)
Don't wear jeans? Sleep more? Cut your hair short? Dan, all your assumptions and suggestions are more than assinine! Thank God people like you don't represent the overall intellect of the Asian community. Without the age reference
I wouldn've assumed you were 10 years old. Think before you speak. And for you, since thinking constructively may not be possible, don't speak!
Blacks in Africa are short and small?
For your information the Dinka tribe in Southern Sudan[the tribe Manute Bol is from] has an average height of 6'10" for males and are considered the tallest people in the world. Well fed Asians will never match the physical prowess of Blacks or even Whites. That is more attributable to hundreds of thousands of years of evolution more than a couple of generations of nutritional effects. The body stuctures and muscle make up of Blacks, Whites, and Asians are inherently different regardless of diet. Asians may get bigger, however,
Asians will never catch up to Blacks or even Whites physically. You can't rectify in a couple of generations what has taken evelolution millions of years to do.
Even if Asians do get bigger do you think they will be comparable to Blacks athletically?! Whites are comparable to blacks in size, however, it is fact that blacks are inherently faster [which is the key in most sports].
I don't deny the fact that there will be more and more Asians in professional sports, but does that prove that Asians are comparble physically to Blacks?
There are tons of White athletes, but yet White people will be the first to admit that Blacks are superior athletes.
It appears that it is only Asians who continually lie to themselves and overinflate their egos. Maybe it has to do with pride and the inability to 'lose face' in Asian cultures? I'm sure one of you dillusional Asians with an overinflated ego can give me some distorted facts and opinions to refute the facts that I've stated. But go ahead if that makes you feel better and keeps your egos inflated. More power to ya!
ChicagoGuy
Saturday, October 06, 2001 at 15:27:35 (PDT)
this is a great topic.
i remember back in the mid 80's, i started spouting some of these logical arguments and hypothesized that asians are not genetically, physically inferior people and that culture, nutrition, interest, etc. were the main factors. well, as expected, i got no support and just about everyone, fellow asians included, dismissed my position and just continued to believe that asians could never be good at sports except for ping pong.
i had a conversation with an AM friend of mine in around 1987 and he was convinced that japanese baseball players were physically unable to even gain a spot in the major leagues...wonder if he's seen any mariner games lately?
well, obviously, things have come along way in the last 15 years. in addition to the high profile sports, asians have broken records in heavyweight powerlifting and weightlifting - also unheard of 15 years ago.
we have a long way to go, but who knows what it will be like in another 20 or so years. BTW, it does seem that asian american culture is not too supportive of sports as most of the advances in sports over the last 10 years or so have been by foreign asians.
ck
Saturday, October 06, 2001 at 14:56:25 (PDT)
chinese government should take sperms from Yao Ming, and inject them into 1 million of chinese women who are above 6 feet. then we will seriously kick ass and rule the nba!!! lol! yeah!
dan
Saturday, October 06, 2001 at 01:53:05 (PDT)
Apparently there are some Asians playing basketball in Europe. Pretty cool.
http://www.nebl.com/index2.phtml?nebl=players&id=10920
Check this out. Too bad there's no picture of the guy. Also 188 cm = 6'2"
Hey, cool
Friday, October 05, 2001 at 23:19:43 (PDT)
I think asians( including myself) do have genes that pulls back our athletic performance. this is my theory:
1st, Asia was civilized so early that they didn't need the use of running and hunting all over the continent ,comparing to our white counterparts, which were still living pretty primitively chasing animals to eat.This environmental factor probably would've had a huge impact for developing long arms and legs to the whites.And likewise to the blacks.But nowadays, asians had shown that they are still capabale of competing in sports with any other race.So,to my asian friends,just be patient and there will be light. ^^
korean mentality
Friday, October 05, 2001 at 18:58:18 (PDT)
Ichiro is 5'11" not 5'9".
correction
Friday, October 05, 2001 at 12:57:18 (PDT)
There will probably be a lot of macho talk from people, but I think that right now it's hard to say. There are several factors that prevented Asians from competing in heavily physical sports.
1) Poverty. Even the now developed East Asian nations such as South Korea and Taiwan were only beginning to come out of their economic infacny in teh the 1980s. Sports wasnt a big national or cultural concern then, and right now, most people born the in early 80s and late 70s are now coming into their prime. Most of us were taught to focus on our intellect, and we obliged. Hence our physical condition on the whole isn't comparable to say, that of a black American kid from the bronx who dremt, slept, and breathed basketball or baseball. Only now, with serious backing from the government and national physical education reforms, are Asians in Asia starting to show signs of physical maturity as a race. 6 footer, once a rare sight even as recently as the 1980s, are seldom considered uncommon in China, Japan and Korea. We are now starting to build a solid base with better nutrition and emphasis on excercise. It will take another generation for these bigger and taller kids to produce children, who will then be physically fit to build upon their parents' genetic 'donations' and take on the rigors of a life in the highest level of atheltic competition. Even so, most of those kids will be average to above average atheltes in the global scene, since national athletic talent takes 2 to 3 generations to mature. Perhaps I will see Asians start to become competitive with blacks and whites when I am an old man and I have grand chidren.
On a related note, remember that blacks in Africa aren't known for their athletic prowess either. Rather, they are known for endurance sports just like Asians are. This is because they as a region are also developing. The only blacks that excel in physical sports are the American blacks, who enjoy better conditions for athletic achievement (despite their poverty in America, it is 1000 time better than what a poor kid in Asia or Africa have to overcome to become a world-class athelete. Also, note that black American culture focuses a lot on the physicality of the men, and their prominance in contact sports are a side result of the hyper-masculinzed culture.). Also, whites in Europe have better sports science, medicine and above all, EXPERIENCE over the now developing Asian and African nations. Just give Asian nations about 20 more years, then we'll see if race really is an indicator of athletic prowess. However pointless, I welcome such comparisions, at least for fun. But in order to make a fair assessment, atheletes from Asia, Africa and Europe and the Americas need to start from the same point. I mean, otherwise, its like making a 13 year old boy race Micheal Johnson in the 200 meters, and then calling the little boy an inferior athlete. People should give the boy time to develop, then make comparisons.
We will see our day.....
Friday, October 05, 2001 at 03:18:55 (PDT)
Didn't we already cover this topic in the previous Asian American Sports forum?
Anyways, I believe the 2nd,3rd,4th, etc.. generation Asians in the U.S could and should rival whites and blacks in athletics. It's just that we don't! Why? Go ask our parents that. Hahah! Seriously, there are many reasons why we don't. Our parents happen to be the main factor. Our genetics aren't much of a hinderance anymore. Why? The U.S diet has much improved our growth and the fact that many asians are now in inter-racial relationships. Think about it: good diet + genes from non-Asian American = big, powerful Asian babies! When I was much younger, I was considered a big Asian (5'11 and weight more than 10 lbs at birth). Now as I get older and look around, I'm starting to see all these big Asians who are like in the 6'0+ ranges and their younger than me too! For example, I see this one big Asian kid in the gym. He's about 6'5-6'6 and weights 250+ lbs(and thats after losing a ton of weight)! I stand up to his mouth for Heaven sakes! I refer to him as the "natural line-backer".I don't think its our genetics that is holding us back. Like I said before, we have the size, skills, and intelligence to compete but we just don't do it or are force not to.
I give alot of respect to the Asians who are playing in professional sports right now. They are opening the way and broadening the views for aspiring Asian American atheletes and their parents and coaches.
Nam
Thursday, October 04, 2001 at 22:24:58 (PDT)
and.. Yao Ming should become a player too! and have alot of kids!!!
u know those nba players? they play women like playing video games, and leave them alot of children... so they produced a lot of tall people
walt chamberlin for example.... had had sex with more than 10,000 women in his life, according to his autobiography!
dennia rodman? something like that too
and countless of other afro athletes do the same!
dan
Thursday, October 04, 2001 at 22:12:46 (PDT)
asians actually do have great potential of body growth, but a lot of us just choose to ignore it and put more time into books or video games...
seriously, i'm only 5"9 165lbs with a 7 incher, but i see some of my younger bro's asian friends standing at 6"2, 6"3 or even 6"4 at age 14 or 15. and guess what? their moms are like, "Oh NO! i don't want my son to be that tall!", and i was like" shut the fxxk up already!" we asian men have always been viewed as small nerdy dickless creatures, and u bxxches still want your sons to be short? so them white men can come and take the asian girls? fuck that!
my recommendation to u all:
-DON"T EVER WEAR ANY UNDERWEARS AGAIN!!!
-WEAR SHORT STRECHY PANTS AND NOT JEANS!!!
-EAT LIKE PIGS!!
-PLAY SPORTS LIKE U LIVE WITH IT!!! (blacks do!)
-KEEP YOUR HAIR AS SHORT AS POSSIBLE!
follow or make your sons follow all these and more... our stature will catch up with the whites and blacks in no more than 2 generations
hell! blacks in africa are freaking short and small! their stature increased over their generations in U.S.!!
also, whites and blacks usually have better sleeps than we do.... so sleep more
dan
Thursday, October 04, 2001 at 22:09:33 (PDT)
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