Michael McMahon Posted September 30, 2020 Posted September 30, 2020 https://www.google.ie/amp/s/sports.yahoo.com/amphtml/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/michael-johnson-says-slavery-descendants-run-faster-because-155858303--oly.html I think one slight limitation of this idea is that white people have also been enslaved in history: “The Mongol invasions and conquests in the 13th century added a new force in the slave trade. The Mongols enslaved skilled individuals, women and children and marched them to Karakorum or Sarai, whence they were sold throughout Eurasia.” - Wikipedia Yet this doesn’t seem to have conferred any sizeable athletic advantage in Eurasia. I’m not trying to be flippant but a lot of slave labour doesn’t seem to have been directly related to steady-state cardio exercise. So while the awful work would have been severely demanding and painful, I’m not sure if its interval or agricultural nature could be comparable in form to a race such as a marathon. The slaves would have been malnourished and sadly lived in very poor conditions. Perhaps having an awareness of past historic crimes might give individuals within the black community an extra psychological resilience that may indirectly contribute to athletic perseverance. “Dark-colored materials both absorb and emit energy more readily than light-colored materials.” - exploratorium page Putting on a white or black T-shirt mightn’t make a huge difference in body temperature on a warm day. But skin colour is permanent. So over many years can the heat radiation differences between white and black skin have a gradual effect? So if black skin were marginally better at emitting metabolic heat during an exercise, could this have an incremental beneficial impact on athletic performance over many years? “The nighttime temperatures in the Sahara Desert range from 60 F to 70 F during the height of the summer down to sub-freezing temperatures from December into February. The temperature difference in the Sahara Desert from the high point during the day to the low point at night is as great as 70 F during certain times of the year.” - “reference” website Maybe black skin would be more resistant to the large temperature range between night and day in certain parts of Africa.
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