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Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance
Current
August 2013
On Sale: August 1, 2013
352 pages
ISBN: 1591845114
EAN: 9781591845119
Kindle: B00AEDDQKE
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
In high school, I wondered whether the Jamaican
Americans who made our track team so successful might carry
some special speed gene from their tiny island. In college,
I ran against Kenyans, and wondered whether endurance genes
might have traveled with them from East Africa. At the same
time, I began to notice that a training group on my team
could consist of five men who run next to one another,
stride for stride, day after day, and nonetheless turn out
five entirely different runners. How could this
be?
We all knew a star athlete in high
school. The one who made it look so easy. He was the
starting quarterback and shortstop; she was the all-state
point guard and high-jumper. Naturals. Or were
they?
The debate is as old as physical
competition. Are stars like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and
Serena Williams genetic freaks put on Earth to dominate
their respective sports? Or are they simply normal people
who overcame their biological limits through sheer force of
will and obsessive training?
The truth is far messier
than a simple dichotomy between nature and nurture. In the
decade since the sequencing of the human genome, researchers
have slowly begun to uncover how the relationship between
biological endowments and a competitor’s training
environment affects athleticism. Sports scientists have
gradually entered the era of modern genetic research.
In this controversial and engaging exploration of
athletic success, Sports Illustrated senior writer
David Epstein tackles the great nature vs. nurture debate
and traces how far science has come in solving this great
riddle. He investigates the so-called 10,000-hour rule to
uncover whether rigorous and consistent practice from a
young age is the only route to athletic excellence.
Along the way, Epstein dispels many of our perceptions
about why top athletes excel. He shows why some skills that
we assume are innate, like the bullet-fast reactions of a
baseball or cricket batter, are not, and why other
characteristics that we assume are entirely voluntary, like
an athlete’s will to train, might in fact have important
genetic components.
This subject necessarily
involves digging deep into sensitive topics like race and
gender. Epstein explores controversial questions such as:
Are black athletes genetically predetermined to
dominate both sprinting and distance running, and are their
abilities influenced by Africa’s geography? Are there
genetic reasons to separate male and female athletes in
competition? Should we test the genes of young
children to determine if they are destined for stardom?
Can genetic testing determine who is at risk of injury,
brain damage, or even death on the field? Through
on-the-ground reporting from below the equator and above the
Arctic Circle, revealing conversations with leading
scientists and Olympic champions, and interviews with
athletes who have rare genetic mutations or physical traits,
Epstein forces us to rethink the very nature of athleticism.
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