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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?
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Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:57:43 PM)
Does genetic inheiritence have substantial bearing on a person(s) ability to excel at any particular sport? And does ethnicity perpetuate that dumb-founded theory? Both are questions of relevance and both are, in a "nut-shell", what the author is trying to convey. I'm from Vancouver, Canada. Home of the second largest asian settlement in Canada and one of the largest settlements of asians in North America. And if you haven't guessed it by now, I am asian. Born and raised in Vancouver, I've never encountered any racial profiling of athletes just because the area I grew up in, was just that diverse. I played basketball, football, rugby, volleyball, tennis, and soccer. And on anyone of those teams I played on, I'd always play along side East Indians, Hispanics, African-Canadians, other asians and Caucasians. I've never played on a team dominated by any one ethnicity. I've played against such teams, but that is a whole other story. Despite my introduction to such a broad spectrum of sports, my one and only true love was football. My father stands 5'5", my mother, a hairline past 4'11". Your typical asian immigrants. And I, as a result of genetic inheiritence, stand 5'8" tall. But don't let my height decieve you. I weigh 210lbs. I started weightlifting before I was ever introduced to sports at the age of 13. Statistically, the only position I could only play on the gridiron, was tailback. Maybe a DB (i was fast enough, 4.6-40), but I didn't like the idea of defending the pass against recievers who often stood a good 6 inches over me. The coach asked me what I wanted to play. Almost instinctively, the words "Linebacker," came out of my mouth. After a successful jamboree, there I was...a linebacker. I tell you, when you play against fullbacks and sometimes tailbacks, who weigh 230-250 pounds, 5'8" and 210lbs, seems a bit laughable when the opposing team scouts your team and finds that the Mac linebacker is an asian kid the size of one of their DB's. But you know what? There was never ever a stat on a piece of paper that measured the size of a person's heart. It may seem cliche-ish, to suggest a person's heart to be the root of one's ability, but the only way to epitomize a person's will and desire into a single word is heart. My heart gave me the strength I needed to compete against those who were bigger, stronger, and faster. My heart allowed me to survive in a sense. Grade 10, was when the it all came together. Playing on a junior squad for a high school that supports three football teams (grade 8, junior, senior varsity), I was "called up" to play for the Senior Varsity team. Excitment overwhelmed me, sonn after reality kicked in and fear took over. Already playing against bigger boys, I had to step up to the plate, and play against men. Ouch. If there was any doubt about my decision to accept the invite, it was all but descimated, as the ball snapped. Ball was handed off to the "2" back, going up the "3" hole...WHACK...it was all black. As I got off of the beheamoth of a 17-year old full back, I realized he did not have the ball. It was ours and they turned it over. As I ran back to the sideline, I was besieged with a flurry of helmet slaps and jock slaps. That was the interview, and soon after I got a permanent job. All this, because the measure of my heart did not faulter. An asian kid in a "white man's sport." A university coach had inquired about me. Too bad my grades did not meet your stigma of chinese kid's. Irony is, it fit the jock's. I didn't acquire athletic ability, I earned it. It was what I wanted, and it was what I sought after. The lack of asian athlete's isn't caused by genetic deficiency. It is caused by the lack of awareness/promotion, cultural/parental support, and cultural/parental priorities. If our culture and our parents, shifted their priorities around, I'm sure the next MVP in any sport, could potentially be someone of asian decent.
Dru C
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 at 16:08:56 (PST)
Hey Jimbo,
This discussion is about athletics, so why haven't you answered my question about the Olympic medal count of the Chinese in the last couple of decades?
I will give you a hint: at the rate their medal count is climbing, when the 2008 Olympics come around in Beijing, the Chinese will most likely equal or surpass the U.S. The events they dominate will not be limited to "agility sports" like gymnastics and diving. They will also dominate some power sports, such as weight lifting.
If you go by race, Asians will capture the lion's share of the medals. This is because in addition to the all-Asian delegates from China, there will be many other Asian competitors from countries other than China. Not only Asian countries like Japan and Korea, but Western nations as well. The U.S. Olympic team itself is expected to have a good representation of athletes of Asian descent, as has always been the case in the past.
Interestingly enough, this actually means Asians are likely to outstrip both Whites or Blacks in terms of Olympic performance. Not too shabby for a race that you thought was short, weak, and slow eh?
Do you hear that splash? That's the sound of your stupid little theories getting tanked.
As for height, Lang's article says it all. How does it feel to be proven so completely wrong in front of a global readership?
Enjoying Jimbo's defeat
Wednesday, February 13, 2002 at 09:02:01 (PST)
K Lang:
I read that article...its very interesting and informative. The article points out that perception has alot to do with what people anectdotally think about average heights.
It appears that in the USA, it has been, and still is, common practice to notice tall whites and blacks and overlook the small ones while its common practice to notice small asians and overlook the tall ones...thus the perception that asians are many inches shorter than whites or blacks.
The recent studies and statisitics tend to show that this perception is not correct...at least for most young Chinese, Korean or Japenese.
Another American perception is that blacks are taller than whites. The statisitics that i have seen, i.e. NHANES II study, show that this too is not true.
Interesting article
Tuesday, February 12, 2002 at 10:44:00 (PST)
"And Mongols were defeated in Egypt, then Egyptians were even bigger?"
Dude, the Mongols were defeated just outside Venice by the Venetians, who were VERY rich and powerful, and thus were able to hire the best of the Germanic and Swiss soldiers to fight their battles for them. The Mongols never even GOT to Egypt. Duh.
You uneducated ignoramus
Monday, February 11, 2002 at 12:27:56 (PST)
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