|
|
|
|
|
GOLDSEA |
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?
This interactive article is closed to new input.
Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
CONTACT US
|
ADVERTISING INFO
© 1996-2013 Asian Media Group Inc
No part of the contents of this site may be reproduced without prior written permission.
|
|
|
|
WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:57:46 PM)
Speaking of medieval times - it's entirely true that White Europeans, lacking modern nutrition back in those days, also grew up small and short by today's standards. Fresh Off the Plane is quite correct in his assertion.
Quite a few historians have pointed to the many small armors preserved from that period to make this point. Some Whites, who want to preserve their sense of superiority at all costs, counter by saying that these suits of armor were intentionally made small to show off craftsmanship. Such armors, they claim, were for exhibits only and the real knights were huge, powerful men whose armors were too battle-torn to survive the ages.
This sounds plausible at first, until you dig a little deeper and discover that not only were these knights' armors small, but so were their beds and the doors of their buildings. The conclusion is inescapable: despite the same genes these Europeans possessed as today's Whites, they were nowhere near as big or tall.
(On the positive side, they were probably much less likely to be morbidly obese as modern White Americans...)
We can learn a few things from all this:
1) Economic advances have a heck of a lot to do with the development of physique.
2) Many Whites just love to think of themselves as *intrinsically* bigger and taller than Asians. In fact they've become so *used* to thinking this way they are incapable of believing anything to the contrary.
3) As Asians become more and more powerful in every way, physical and otherwise, these little Whiteys just can't take it. Some are scared shitless and therefore react strongly. Frankly, that's the only way to explain their vociferous presence in a site for Asian Americans.
Time to smack more pink behinds
Tuesday, February 05, 2002 at 10:09:36 (PST)
Wei Chi Master,
If Asians lack power and speed, then it's hopeless for them to excel in a sport like speedskating, which requires both...
Wait! What's this? For both men's and women's speedskating, Asians actually dominate the world? How can this be? Aren't Asians slower and weaker than Blacks and Whites?
You are so full of shit it's unbelievable. Why don't you visit China again - this time with your eyes open.
Imbecile.
Go bugger Jim - you will both enjoy it
Tuesday, February 05, 2002 at 09:35:49 (PST)
Want to see height of average everyday people? go to www.beautyofthebeast.com
U rate them and check their profile.Caucasians arent all tall.They have many 5ft women and 5'5ft men.
the people like who say caucasians are taller are fooled by american media.
pupu
Tuesday, February 05, 2002 at 04:21:14 (PST)
This is in relation to the current dialog about the olympics and Chinese vs. western athletics.
When I was in Hong Kong, people commented on how strong (and lean) I was. I am caucasian, and body-build. One Chinese guy in a gym said he thought there were major genetic differences between that caused the differences in build/strength between caucasians and Chinese.
I disagreed with him (and still do). What I noticed in Hong Kong was that people didn't pay as much attention to nutrition for the purpose of getting strong. The food on the street was high-carbohydrate, frequently fried, low protein, low calcium, and high sodium (despite the freshness of individual ingredients). The food in homes was much more nutritious, but most people eat in restaurants in Hong Kong quite frequently. Furthermore, there is not as much of a fitness craze in Hong Kong as there is in the west. Even among fitness buffs in Hong Kong, the emphasis is not on being strong, but fast, agile, and lean. Muscular bulk is not respected as much.
The difference in athletics and build seems to me to have some cultural causes.
Beno
Monday, February 04, 2002 at 14:50:21 (PST)
Wei Chi Master,
It is obvious you never trained to be an olympian. Each country have their own training programs to produce olympic athletes. It really has nothing to do with genes. If a country chooses not to spend money in program to produce olympians in that sport, you will not see an olympic medalist in that sport for that country.
In the USA Olympic competition is almost 100% privatized. Athlete spend their own money to get training. That's why you rarely see the USA in long distance steple chase running, marathon running, table tennis, or batmington.
It is because they are not marketable sports in the USA. So corporate sponsors shy away here in the USA, hence no one pursues the sport any further than the local level.
AC dropout
Monday, February 04, 2002 at 10:48:07 (PST)
NEWEST COMMENTS |
EARLIER COMMENTS
|