Zel Time has come

[CurryFlavoured]

I heard that over the last 20-30 years or something that all the world records for the middle to long distance events have been held by athletes either from East Africa or of East African descent. There's obviously as influence from the environment they live in but genetics definitely plays a part in that as well. It's only natural that they would attribute themselves rather than admit that they were born incredibly talented.

 

[Wouterus]

So he passes like Xavi, dribbles like Iniesta and has Gebrselassie-like stamina? No pressure, Gedion!

 

[Jury]

If Wilshere & Rambo are our 'next gen' to eventually succeed Arteta & Co,
then I wonder if our '2nd Gen' is Zelalem-Ox-Crawley with Gnabry as one of the AM/WF options?

Along with Cesc and Jack, those four are easily the best crop we've ever had at Arsenal in all my years, and are all destined for the very top of the game IMO.

 

[tap-in]

I heard that over the last 20-30 years or something that all the world records for the middle to long distance events have been held by athletes either from East Africa or of East African descent. There's obviously as influence from the environment they live in but genetics definitely plays a part in that as well. It's only natural that they would attribute themselves rather than admit that they were born incredibly talented.

I think you are probably right with the genetics point. I used to think Kenyans and other Africans were great runners due to many running to school each day, often miles at a time. If you take Mo Farah for eg, he came to UK when he was 8 and had a regular UK upbringing, yet he still went on to run against and beat the worlds top Africans. We dont have any other UK runners who have done that, so yes, genetics must play a part and Zelalem will no doubt have the "Stamina Gene"

 

[GDeep™]

Britain has a great history of distance runners, male and female, who competed against and beat the best of Africa. Watched something on Jamaica a while back on the BBC, and again that programme put the islands success on the ultra competitive environment in which guys like Bolt develop in at a young age rather than anything historical on genetic. Though you listen to Victor Conte and he says every top athlete in Jamaica is on something, including Bolt.

Little off topic now.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

There's definitely something genetic. You don't run 9.58 seconds just because you want it the most, Bolt is uniquely gifted unlike any sprint athlete in history.

Having said that, there's a lot more to football than just running in a straight line. Bolt is a pretty terrible footballer despite being having virtually perfect physical attributes for football.

On a sidenote (of a sidenote...) there's a lot of suspicion surrounding sport in Spain at the moment, so I hear. The same **** that Contador was taking is apparently being made undetectable by some clever sausage in a lab - I don't know the ins and outs but that's crazy if true.

 

[CurryFlavoured]

I think they'd prefer to put it down to hard work and training techniques rather than admit genetics gives them the edge, it's understandable at least if that is the case. When you say 'ultra competitive environment' do you mean the competitive standard of athletes at a young age or things like temperature and surroundings in Jamaica? Because Bolt didn't start training properly for athletics until he was about 15 or 16, he was a cricketer until then.

Anyway, I think it's a mixture of both. I definitely think genetics has a say in the correlation of East Africa with middle-long distance and West Africa with short distance sprints.

On Zelalem, if what Dan said about him in the bleep test is true we have not only a technically strong prospect but an athletic freak as well. I find it hard to believe a 16 year old beat everyone at the club in the bleep test though.

 

[MutableEarth]

That's been doing the rounds for a while actually - Zelalem is reportedly one of the fittest players at the club overall. Think it was both Jeorge Bird and Sanderson who said it.

 

[Wouterus]

Physical attributes (Bone structure, BMI, length of legs compared to torso etc) obviously have a significant influence on runners. The same can be said about sprinters, gymnastics, swimmers, and basically every other sport.

One thing that is great about football is that it is incredibly diverse. There aren't many sports in which you see the body types of Messi, Mertesacker, yaya Toure, Walcott, Aguero, Muller and Pirlo all perform at the highest possible level.

 

[tap-in]

Britain has a great history of distance runners, male and female, who competed against and beat the best of Africa. Watched something on Jamaica a while back on the BBC, and again that programme put the islands success on the ultra competitive environment in which guys like Bolt develop in at a young age rather than anything historical on genetic. Though you listen to Victor Conte and he says every top athlete in Jamaica is on something, including Bolt.

Little off topic now.

Ok same topic but off topic;

Distance runners? Ok Dave Bedford and Paula Radcliffe, now I'm struggling! Ethiopians & Kenyans dominate distance running both male & female, have done for a while now. They have always had the genetic capacity but they lacked the diet, in the last 20 years that has gradually changed and many are based in US etc for their training. 2012 Boston Marathon, top 3 males & females all Kenyan!

This below is taken from a study, ok it doesnt prove its genetic as they have not isolated a responsible gene, its more a case of many factors that give them an advantage:

It turns out that Kenyans' success may be innate. Two separate, European-led studies in a small region in western Kenya, which produces most of the race-winners, found that young men there could, with only a few months training, reliably outperform some of the West's best professional runners. In other words, they appeared to have a physical advantage that is common to their community, making it probably genetic.

 

[jones]

Definitely a mixture of both for me. The actual difference based on genetics alone isn't that big I'd guess, but after fully grasping their advantage sports committees/ministries etc. work towards further increasing their lead over the rest of the world. Kenya for example dominates long distance running, but middle distances from 1,000 to 5,000 metres are dominated by Moroccans and to a lesser extent Algerians, both not exactly neighboring countries of Kenya.

 

[Jury]

Altitude plays a huge part.

@Tap-in, I read about that small village (Region?) that many of the top athletes family trees can be traced back to. I cant remember the name of it. Caravel or something.

 

[Jury]

So many variables anyway. You might have the genetic advntage, but the other guy might have a better training programme that gets the best out of him. Mo Farah is a great example of this.

 

[tap-in]

Altitude plays a huge part.

@Tap-in, I read about that small village (Region?) that many of the top athletes family trees can be traced back to. I cant remember the name of it. Caravel or something.

Yes its interesting. Obviously many factors play a part ie diet general physicality but this study did show some people can have a natural head start and a natural ability to reach a high level of performance.

 

[Vibra]

I might be going mental...but I did think he looked more physically...'significant' than he did in preseason...

He looked taller than in the summer

 

[SiMamu]

I might be going mental...but I did think he looked more physically...'significant' than he did in preseason...

He looked taller than in the summer

He's only 16, still a growing boy.

 

[Floating]

How tall would you say he is at the moment? Looks about 5'11 - 6'0, and still growing.

 

[yuvken]

So he passes like Xavi, dribbles like Iniesta and has Gebrselassie-like stamina? No pressure, Gedion!

I might be going mental...but I did think he looked more physically...'significant' than he did in preseason...

He looked taller than in the summer

That may be due to getting more "significant" . Had the same feeling, arsmile, earlier I was always worried if it gets too windy we might lose him…. but he should certainly get even more "significant", and he will. I actually think he'll be quite strong by the time he's 20.

 

[GDeep™]

Jack called him a "Somalian lad" in an interview today, easy mistake.

 

[musicmonkey]

Jack called him a "Somalian lad" in an interview today, easy mistake.

It's an older interview that they dug up i think. I don't think Zel had been around for long at the time so Jack might not really have known him depending on when he was brought into first team training.