Geographic enrolment of the top 100 in athletics running events from 1996 to 2012

Abstract

+33141744124Purpose It is widely accepted in the literature that athletes of West African origins achieve the best sprint performances; while, athletes originating from East Africa are the most efficient at long distances. No epidemiological studies have measured the evolution of the contributing of each of these athlete origin groups from 100m to the marathon.Method Speed, morphology and geographic origin of the Top 100 male and female athletes (from 100m to the marathon) were collected and analyzed over the 1996-2012 period. ResultsThe amount of male sprinters (100m, 200m and 400m) originating from West Africa increased from 57.7% in 1996 to 72.3% in 2012, while female sprinters from West Africa increased from 55% to 65% over the same period. This contribution has gradually increased from 400m to 100m for both sexes. For long distance events (3000m, 10000m and marathon), male athletes from East Africa represented 32% in 1996, which increased to 65.7% in 2012 and increased over the same period from 9% to 39% for women. In addition, male and female sprinters originating from West Africa have a significantly higher (p<0.05) BMI than athletes of other geographic origin. Conversely, long distances runners' BMI are significantly lower for runners with an East African origin (p<0.05). ConclusionsThe best performances are dominated by a few groups including the West African ancestry for the sprint distances and East African runners for the long distances. This dominance is strengthened from 1996 to 2012 for both sexes to the detriment of Caucasian and Asian athletes.

Physical Characteristics and Body Image of Japanese Female University Long-Distance Runners

“…The observed results are in line with previous studies that compared female long-distance runners and non-athletes [9,33]. In addition, while the present study assessed university athletes, their body sizes and calculated BMIs were comparable to those of elite long-distance runners of different ethnic backgrounds [6,9,10]. While a relatively small sample size contributed to the results, consistent results with previous studies indicate the possibility of increasing body size among…”

“…While the associations between body mass or BMI and performance have not been confirmed in long-distance running to date, female runners in particular are reported to have a lower BMI [6,7] than male runners [3,5,6,8] and often have BMIs that are considered "underweight" (i.e., below 18.5 kg/m 2 ) [9,10] according to the classification of the World Health Organization (WHO) [11]. Excessive concern about weight and preoccupation with weight loss among female long-distance runners may be associated with distorted body image.…”

A Machine Learning Approach to Finding the Fastest Race Course for Professional Athletes Competing in Ironman® 70.3 Races between 2004 and 2020

“…Regarding the country of origin of long-distance triathletes, it has been reported that most finishers, as well as the fastest athletes competing in ‘Ironman ® Hawaii’, originated from the United States of America [ 7 ]. Although the previous literature has showed the dominance of certain nations in specific sports disciplines [ 4 , 6 , 8 , 9 ], little evidence is available regarding the place of competition or if these characteristics are performance-related. As the most popular long-distance triathlon in the world, athletes travel hundreds of miles to compete in Ironman ® 70.3 events, with many travelling thousands of miles to compete at remote locations and achieve personal goals or to earn a spot in the World Championship.…”