(These are merely partial lists. The Trelawny list, for example, does not include Olympic 100-meter finalist Michael Green or 4×100-meter world champion Merlene Frazer, both of whom were born in Trelawny.)
163 A thorough history of Jamaica’s Maroons (the “born Heroes” and “elevation of the soul” quotes appears on p. 45):
Campbell, Mavis C. The Maroons of Jamaica 1655–1796. Africa World Press, 1990.
163 A history of Jamaica, written with particular attention to the African-Jamaican perspective:
Sherlock, Philip, and Hazel Bennett. The Story of the Jamaican People. Ian Randle Publishers, 1998.
(The “dangerous inmates” quote and William Beckford’s description of a cane fire appear on p. 134 and the “dare not” quote on p. 139. Descriptions of Maroon battles for independence and of Cudjoe and Nanny can be found in chapter 13: “The African-Jamaican Liberation Wars, 1650–1800.”)
164 A fascinating contemporary history of the Maroons is in the unabridged reprints of early-nineteenth-century letters:
Dallas, Robert C. The History of the Maroons: From Their Origin to the Establishment of Their Chief Tribe at Sierra Leone (vols. I and II). Adamant Media Corporation, 2005. (Originally published in 1803 by T. N. Longman and O. Rees.)
166 A description of the slave/warrior/sprinter story, with Michael Johnson’s quote from the Channel 4 documentary:
Beck, Sally. “Survival of the Fastest: Why Descendants of Slaves Will Take the Medals in the London 2012 Sprint Finals.” Daily Mail, June 30, 2012.
167 Y chromosomes of Jamaican men:
Benn Torres, Jada (2012). “Y Chromosome Lineages in Men of West African Descent.” PLoS ONE, 7(1):e29687.
167 Genetic studies of the demographics of Jamaica, with both Errol Morrison and Yannis Pitsiladis as coauthors:
Deason, Michael L., et al. (2012). “Interdisciplinary Approach to the Demography of Jamaica.” BMC Evolutionary Biology, 12:24.
Deason, M., et al. (2012). “Importance of Mitochondrial Haplotypes and Maternal Lineage in Sprint Performance Among Individuals of West African Ancestry.” Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 22:217–23.
167 DNA shows that Taino Native Americans did not die out in Jamaica. The study also gives data on the degree of genetic “African-ness” of various Caribbean populations:
Benn Torres, J., et al. (2007). “Admixture and Population Stratification in African Caribbean Populations.” Annals of Human Genetics, 72:90–98.
169 A visit to Champs should be on the bucket list of any track-and-field fan. The next best treat:
Lawrence, Hubert. Champs 100: A Century of Jamaican High School Athletics, 1910–2010. Great House, 2010.
174 Pitsiladis’s advice to prospective white sprinters appears here:
“No Proof Sporting Success Is Genetic According to Academic.” Scotsman .com, March 23, 2011.
11
Malaria and Muscle Fibers
175 Background on latitude and pelvic breadth:
Nuger, Rachel Leigh. The Influence of Climate on the Obstetrical Dimensions of the Human Bony Pelvis. UMI Dissertation Publishing, 2011.
175 The Cooper and Morrison paper introducing their hypothesis:
Morrison, E. Y. St. A., and P. D. Cooper (2006). “Some Bio-Medical Mechanisms in Athletic Prowess.” West Indian Medical Journal, 55(3):205–209.
176 Patrick Cooper’s widow Juin—and several obits—provided details of his life. Cooper’s book on black athletes:
Cooper, Patrick Desmond. Black Superman: A Cultural and Biological History of the People That Became the World’s Greatest Athletes. First Sahara, 2003.
177 The famous study of 1968 Mexico City Olympians, again:
de Garay, Alfonso L., Louise Levine, and J. E. Lindsay Carter, eds. Genetic and Anthropological Studies of Olympic Athletes. Academic Press, 1974.
177 Underrepresentation of sickle-cell carriers at race distances of eight hundred meters and above:
Eichner, Randy E. (2006). “Sickle Cell Trait and the Athlete.” Gatorade Sports Science Institute: Sports Science Exchange, 19(4):103.
177 Analysis of the risk of death to college football players with sickle-cell trait:
Harmon, Kimberly G., et al. (2012). “Sickle Cell Trait Associated with a RR of Death of 37 Times in National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Athletes: A Database with 2 Million Athlete-Years as Denominator.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, 46:325–30.
178 The first article Cooper cited showing low hemoglobin levels in African Americans:
Garn, Stanley M., Nathan J. Smith, and Diance C. Clark (1975). “Lifelong Differences in Hemoglobin Levels Between Blacks and Whites.” Journal of the National Medical Association, 67(2):91–96.
178 Data tables from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics are publicly available, and are easily located with a call to the Center. Heaps of hemoglobin data are also available in published reports:
Hollowell J. G., et al. (2005). “Hematological and Iron-Related Analytes—Reference Data for Persons Aged 1 Year and Over: United States, 1988–94.” National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Statistics, 11(247).
Robins, Edwin B., and Steve Blum (2007). “Hematologic Reference Values for African American Children and Adolescents.” American Journal of Hematology, 82:611–14.
178 Study of 715,000 blood donors:
Mast, Alan E., et al. (2010). “Demographic Correlates of Low Hemoglobin Deferral Among Prospective Whole Blood Donors.” Transfusion, 50(8): 1794–1802.
179 The quote in which doctors refer to “some compensatory mechanism” appears here:
Kraemer, Michael J., et al. (1977). “Race-Related Differences in Peripheral Blood and in Bone Marrow Cell Populations of American Black and American White Infants.” Journal of the National Medical Association, 69(5):327–31.
179 The fiber type study coauthored by Bouchard:
Ama, P. F., et al. (1986). “Skeletal Muscle Characteristics in Sedentary Black and Caucasian Males.” Journal of Applied Physiology, 61(5):1758–61.
180 Sickle-cell trait causes reduced capacity to produce energy through pathways that rely primarily on oxygen:
Bitanga, E., and J. D. Rouillon (1998). “Influence of the Sickle Cell Trait Heterozygote on Energy Abilities.” Pathologie Biologie, 46(1):46–52.
Le Gallais, D., et al. (1994). “Sickle Cell Trait as a Limiting Factor for High-Level Performance in a Semi-Marathon.” International Journal of Sports Medicine, 15(7):399–402.
180 For quick background on the malaria protection conferred by sickle-cell trait:
Pierce, E. C. “How Sickle Cell Trait Protects Against Malaria.” Medical Journal of Therapeutics Africa, 1(1):61–62.
180 Anthony C. Allison first documented the connection between sickle-cell trait and malaria resistance:
Allison, A. C. (1954). “Protection Afforded by Sickle-Cell Trait Against Subtertian Malarial Infection.” British Medical Journal, 1(4857):290–94.
Allison, Anthony C. (2002). “The Discovery of Resistance to Malaria of Sickle-Cell Heterozygotes.” Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 30(5):279–87.
181 The gradual disappearance of the sickle-cell gene in African Americans is
discussed on p. 99 of:
Nesse, Randolph M., and George C. Williams. Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine. Vintage, 1996.
181 Risk of malaria with iron supplementation has long been documented by
Stephen J. Oppenheimer and others:
English, M., and R. W. Snow (2006). “Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation and Malaria Risk.” Lancet, 367(9505):90–91.
Oppenheimer, S. J., et al. (1986). “Iron Supplementation Increases Prevalence and Effects of Malaria: Report on Clinical Studies in Papua New Guinea.” Transactions of the Royal
Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 80(4)603–12.
Oppenheimer, Stephen (2007). “Comments on Background Papers Related to Iron, Folic Acid, Malaria and Other Infections.” Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 28(4):S550–59.
182 In 2006, the WHO revised iron supplementation recommendations for
malaria zones: http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/documents/iron_statement/en/.
182 The global pattern of the sickle-cell gene and its relation to malaria (with color-coded maps available online):
Piel, Frédéric B., et al. (2010). “Global Distribution of the Sickle Cell Gene and Geographical Confirmation of the Malaria Hypothesis.” Nature Communications, 1:104.
182 Danish scientists proposed that fast-twitch fibers might explain physical traits documented in African Americans:
Nielsen, J., and D. L. Christensen (2011). “Glucose Intolerance in the West
African Diaspora: A Skeletal Muscle Fibre Type Distribution Hypothesis.” Acta Physiologica, 202(4):605–16.
183 Daniel Le Gallais’s coauthored studies on athletic performance and
sickle-cell trait:
Bilé A., et al. (1998). “Sickle Cell Trait in Ivory Coast Athletic Throw and Jump Champions, 1956–1995.” International Journal of Sports Medicine, 19(3):215–19.
Hue, O., et al. (2002). “Alactic Anaerobic Performance in Subjects with Sickle Cell Trait and Hemoglobin AA.” International Journal of Sports Medicine, 23(3):
174–77.
Le Gallais, D., et al. (1994). “Sickle Cell Trait as a Limiting Factor for High-Level Performance in a Semi-Marathon.” International Journal of Sports Medicine, 15(7):399–402.
Marlin, L., et al. (2005). “Sickle Cell Trait in French West Indian Elite Sprint Athletes.” International Journal of Sports Medicine, 26(8):622–25.
184 The two studies showing a muscle fiber type proportion shift in low hemoglobin mice:
Esteva, Santiago, et al. (2008). “Morphofunctional Responses to Anaemia in Rat Skeletal Muscle.” Journal of Anatomy, 212:836–44.
Ohira, Yoshinobu, and Sandra L. Gill (1983). “Effects of Dietary Iron Deficiency on Muscle Fiber Characteristics and Whole-Body Distribution of Hemoglobin in Mice.” Journal of Nutrition, 113:1811–18.
185 In populations at altitude in East Africa the sickle-cell mutation is rare or nonexistent:
Ayodo, George, et al. (2007). “Combining Evidence of Natural Selection with Association Analysis Increases Power to Detect Malaria-Resistance Variants.” American Journal of Human Genetics, 81:234–42.
Foy, Henry, et al. (1954). “The Variability of Sickle-Cell Rates in the Tribes of Kenya and the Southern Sudan.” British Medical Journal, 1(4857):294.
Williams, Dianne. Race, Ethnicity and Crime: Alternate Perspectives. Algora Publishing, 2012, p. 20.
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Can Every Kalenjin Run?
186 A breakdown on who the elite runners in Kenya are and what tribes they come from:
Onywera, Vincent O., et al. (2006). “Demographic Characteristics of Elite Kenyan Endurance Runners.” Journal of Sports Sciences, 24(4):415–22.
190 Cattle raiding was not regarded as theft so long as not from the same tribe:
Bale, John, and Joe Sang. Kenyan Running: Movement Culture, Geography and Global Change. Frank Cass, 1996, p. 53.
190 The best compilation of scholarly writing examining the success of East African runners:
Pitsiladis, Yannis, et al., eds. East African Running: Towards a Cross-Disciplinary Perspective. Routledge, 2007.
190 Ethiopian population data comes from the “Summary and Statistical Report of the 2007 Population and Housing Census,” issued by Ethiopia’s Public Census Commission.
190 John Manners’s writing about the “cattle complex” and a number of his accounts of Kalenjin phenoms and his written quotes on Rotich:
Manners, John (1997). “Kenya’s Running Tribe.” The Sports Historian, 17(2):14–27.
Manners, John. “Chapter 3: Raiders from the Rift Valley: Cattle Raiding and Distance Running in East Africa.” In: Yannis Pitsiladis, et al., eds. East African Running: Towards a Cross-Disciplinary Perspective. Routledge, 2007.
193 From the IAAF list of top marathon times of 2011; John Manners assisted in identifying the Kalenjin athletes.
194 Scott Bickard’s comparison of Peter Kosgei to an NBA player appeared in the Utica Observer-Dispatch on April 21, 2011.
195 A succinct summary of the Copenhagen research team’s work—including Saltin’s “seems to confirm” quote:
Saltin, Bengt (2003). “The Kenya Project—Final Report.” New Studies in Athletics, 18(2):15–24.
195 A more technical description is here:
Larsen, Henrik B. (2003). “Kenyan Dominance in Distance Running.” Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, 136(1):161–70.
197 Another study finding that African distance runners have better economy at a given pace than white runners:
Weston, A. R., Z. Mbambo, and K. H. Myburgh (2000). “Running Economy of African and Caucasian Distance Runners.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 32(6):1130–34.
197 Distal weight and running energetics (what happens when weight is added to the ankle):
Jones, B. H. et al. (1986). “The Energy Cost of Women Walking and Running in Shoes and Boots.” Ergonomics, 29:439–43.
Myers, M. J., and K. Steudel (1985). “Effect of Limb Mass and Its Distribution on the Energetics Cost of Running.” Journal of Experimental Biology, 116:363–73.
197 Harvard’s Dan Lieberman also confirmed the increased energetic cost of distal weight, and the finding by Adidas engineers was conveyed to me by Andrew Barr, global product line manager for Adidas running products.
197 Longer legs and thinner lower legs contribute separately to running
economy:
Steudel-Numbers, Karen L., Timothy D. Weaver, and Cara M. Wall-Scheffler (2007). “The Evolution of Human Running: Effects of Changes in Lower-Limb Length on Locomotor Economy.” Journal of Human Evolution, 53(2):191–96.
197 Kenyan runners and their long Achilles tendons:
Sano, K., et al. (2012). “Muscle-Tendon Interaction and EMG Profiles of World Class Endurance Runners During Hopping.” European Journal of Applied Physiology, December 11 (ePub ahead of print).
198 Larsen’s contention that the main point of Kenyan running dominance has been solved appears here:
Holden, Constance (2004). “Peering Under the Hood of Africa’s Runners.” Science, 305(5684):637–39.
198 Zersenay Tadese’s running economy:
Lucia, Alejandro, et al. (2007). “The Key to Top-Level Endurance Running Performance: A Unique Example.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, 42:172–174.
201 Vincent Sarich’s calculation starts on p. 174 of:
Sarich, Vincent, and Frank Miele. Race: The Reality of Human Differences. Westview Press, 2004.
202 The Runner’s World calculation appears in:
Burfoot, Amby (1992). “White Men Can’t Run.” Runner’s World, 27(8):89–95.
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The World’s Greatest Accidental
(Altitudinous) Talent Sieve
207 Most Kenyan runners are Kalenjin and traveled to school on foot:
Onywera, Vincent O., et al. (2006). “Demographic Characteristics of Elite
Kenyan Endurance Runners.” Journal of Sports Science, 24(4):415–22.
208 Most Ethiopian runners are Oromo and traveled to school on foot:
Scott, Robert A., et al. (2003). “Demographic Characteristics of Elite Ethiopian Endurance Runners.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 35(10):1727–32.
208 Mitochondrial DNA of Oromo Ethiopians and Kalenjin Kenyans is not particularly closely related:
Scott, Robert A., et al. (2008).
“Mitochondrial Haplogroups Associated with Elite Kenyan Athlete Status.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 41(1):123–28.
Scott, Robert A., et al. (2005). “Mitochondrial DNA Lineages of Elite Ethiopian Athletes.” Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part B: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 140(3):497–503.
211 Nineteenth-century scientists were unaware of the variety of altitude adaptation Beall would find:
Beall, Cynthia M. (2006). “Andean, Tibetan, and Ethiopian Patterns of Adaptation to High-Altitude Hypoxia.” Integrative and Comparative Biology, 46(1):18–24.
212 Beall raised the possibility that Ethiopians living at high altitude have enhanced transfer of oxygen from lungs to blood. (Snell’s theorizing on that topic was directly to the author in an interview.):
Beall, Cynthia M., et al. (2002). “An Ethiopian Pattern of Human Adaptation to High-Altitude Hypoxia.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99(26):17215–18.
213 Kenenisa Bekele’s altitude workout data was generously shared by Barry Fudge, senior physiologist at the English Institute of Sport.
214 Scientists from Norway and Texas exposed athletes to altitude and documented EPO changes:
Jedlickova, K., et al. (2003). “Search for Genetic Determinants of Individual Variability of the Erythropoietin Response to High Altitude.” Blood Cells, Molecules & Diseases, 31(2):175–82.
214 The response of red blood cell levels and 5K times to altitude is highly individual:
Chapman, Robert F. (1998). “Individual Variation in Response to Altitude Training.” Journal of Applied Physiology, 85(4):1448–56.
214 Information on the altitude “sweet spot” comes from numerous interviews with altitude experts, including Randall L. Wilber, senior sport physiologist at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A good background resource—including a list of the altitudes of famous training cities:
Wilber, Randall L. Altitude Training and Altitude Performance. Human Kinetics, 2004.
215 Children who grow up at altitude have larger lung surface area, but adults who move there do not:
Moore, Lorna G., Susan Niermeyer, and Stacy Zamudio (1998). “Human Adaptation to High Altitude: Regional and Life-Cycle Perspectives.” Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, 41:25–64.
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