A SPRINTER GENE‽

Jamaica's lineage of sprinters; nature, nurture or simply genetics.

Transcript

I’m going to brag about Jamaica for just a little bit.  If you have ever watched the track and field portion of the Olympics or any other International Track meet then you understand running, no, sprinting to be more exact is a Jamaican specialty.  The how and why may be chalked up to natural ability, disciplined training and the decades long legacy of sprinters, paired with the pride of a nation to uphold.

Welcome to Small Excellence where I discuss various nations around the world.  I'm your host Ngai.  If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe and share.  Also take a look at the Small Excellence website at www.smallexcellence.com; that address again is www. S m a l l e x c e l l e n c e .com.  This season we are speaking about my homeland, Jamaica.  In this episode, I will be discussing Jamaica’s sprinting history.

Names like Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Frasier-Pryce, Asafa Powell, Elaine Thompson-Herah, and Yohan Blake may sound familiar and if they don’t, shame on you.  However, before those youngsters we had the likes of Herb McKinley who in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics reached the finals in the 100 meter, the 200 meter, the 400 meter and the 4x400 meter relay races; a feat that has never been duplicated. He ended up with three silver medals because, in trying to preserve his energy for the 400 meter final which he thought he had better odds of winning, he withdrew from the 200 meter finals. To his dismay, he placed second in the 400 meter race; beaten by George Rhoden, another Jamaican and the country took home the gold and silver in that race.  Now there are some track and field purists who consider the 400-meter run a middle-distance race and not part of the sprint category but regardless of where you stand on this matter the 400 meter run is a beast to tackle.  I speak as someone who took part in this sprinting heritage in my youth.  Your legs will be left quivering, and your muscles will feel as if they are burning you to smithereens.  Another great track star, Merlin Otty, represented Jamaica on the world stage from 1978–2002, winning 9 Olympic medals – 3 silver and 6 bronze.  Otty continued her sprinting career representing Slovenia from 2002–2012.  Throughout her 34-year career as a sprinter Merlin Otty medaled innumerable times.  The mere fact that she had a 34-year career as an athlete is impressive in itself.  Arthur Wint, George Rhoden, Donald Quarry, Omar McCleod, Hansle Parchment, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Deon Hemmings, Melaine Walker, Shelly Ann Frazier-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah and Usain Bolt; all Olympic track and field gold medalists. Outside of placing first, Jamaican sprinters have consistently medaled Olympic games after Olympic games, international meet after international meet.  Jamaicans have taken home the gold medal in the men’s 100 meter race at 6 Olympics in a row thanks to Ben Johnson, Linford Christie, Donovan Bailey, and Usain Bolt who himself won this race 3 times consecutively; though I must confess not all those men were representing Jamaica in those games.

Many Jamaican sprinters in the diaspora have represented countries such as Canada, the USA, and Great Britain.  Jamaicans who represented Canada at the Olympics are Ben Johnson (100m), Gavin Ramon Smellie (Relays), Donovan Bailey (100m Gold medalist and 4x100m Relay) with Bailey even breaking the world record in winning the Olympic 100m race.  During the Olympic Games, the Jamaicans who represented Great Britain include Linford Christie (100m Gold medalist) and Dina Asher-Smith (200m Bronze medalist).  Finally, Jamaicans who represented the USA at the Olympics are Inger Miller (4x100m Relay), Sanya Richards-Ross (400m and 4x400m Relay, winning 2 Gold medals).  Honorable mentions to the Jamaican-Canadian athletes, Lascelles Brown who won 2 silver medals in the bobsled and Christine Roper, who won a gold medal in rowing, and to Germain Mason, the Jamaican-British high jumper who took home the silver medal: it’s not sprinting, but well done.  I’m joking of course I celebrate all our athletes wherever they are in the world and their accomplishments.  There are a host of other Jamaican sprinters that I have not mentioned but have honored and inspired our country.

Speculation regarding why Jamaicans run so very fast, range from the foods we eat to being genetically gifted.  Now, according to the science, people have both slow twitching and fast twitching muscles (https://www.ancestry.com/c/traits-learning-hub/sprinter-gene).  The slow-twitching muscles help with performing activities requiring endurance like running a marathon (https://www.ancestry.com/c/traits-learning-hub/sprinter-gene).  The fast-twitching muscles are associated with speed (https://www.ancestry.com/c/traits-learning-hub/sprinter-gene).  There is an actual gene, interchangeably called "Actinen A" or the “ACTN3” gene, colloquially called the sprinter gene or the speed gene.  Everyone has 2 copies of the Sprinter gene.  There are however 2 distinct sub-types of the ACTN3 gene – the 577R and the 577X.  The 577R makes the associated protein that influences fast-twitching muscles to work more powerfully (https://www.ancestry.com/c/traits-learning-hub/sprinter-gene) creating “force at high velocity, [speed] which is crucial for success in power and sprint performance” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23681449/).  While the 577X is associated with strength and endurance.

According to a 2012 Reuters article “Athletics – Does Nature or Nurture Make a Top Sprinter?” a “gene-centered explanation…dismisses the importance of a whole host of psycho-social and cultural factors that are likely to be major contributors to the success of Jamaican sprinters…[such as] track and field [holding] a position of high respect in Jamaica” (https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-oly-athl-m100m-package-genes-day4-idUKBRE86U0WU20120731).  Structural systems also exist in Jamaica to discover and nurture world-class sprinters.  In the same article, researcher Daniel MacArthur, clearly expresses that too much focus is placed on what may be thought of as an “evolutionary advantage” the sprinter gene.  He further clarifies that while elite sprinters like Usain Bolt are highly likely to possess a variant of the sprinter gene, so too do about 5 billion other people worldwide; making the speed gene not so exclusive to quote unquote athletes.

Back to the original question of why Jamaicans, a country of less than 3 million people, run so fast.  Is it the food, the environment, the nurture, the sprinter gene?  More than likely it is all of the above.  What I do know is “it takes a lot more than one lucky gene to create an Olympian” (https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-oly-athl-m100m-package-genes-day4-idUKBRE86U0WU20120731).

I hope that you have garnered some knowledge from this episode.  Walk good, my friends.

References

Sprinter Gene

https://www.ancestry.com/c/traits-learning-hub/sprinter-gene

Genes for elite power and sprint performance: ACTN3 leads the way

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23681449/

Athletics - Does nature or nurture make a top sprinter?

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-oly-athl-m100m-package-genes-day4-idUKBRE86U0WU20120731