Research Paper Sports - Anissa Sonthalia

IOSR Journal of Sports and Physical Education (IOSR-JSPE)
e-ISSN: 2347-6737, p-ISSN: 2347-6745, Volume 1, Issue 3 (Jan. 2014), PP 24-30
www.iosrjournals.org
www.iosrjournals.org 24 | Page
Reasons for Success in Competitive Swimming among Various
Human Races
Mr. Partha Pratim Majumder1
, Dr. Sayantani Roy Choudhury2
1. Director, Swimming, Indian life saving society, CSC, Saturday Club, Kolkata, India
2. Associate Professor, Unitedworld School of Business, Kolkata, India
Abstract: It is very interesting to learn that though some consider swimming as Athletic Sports but when we
consider the best sportspersons in swimming and running, there is a totally different result in terms of Human
Race. It made us interested to find out the reason, why Swimming is not dominated by the Black race, what
physical disadvantages they have in swimming. Also what physical advantages an Asian have in comparison
with Dravidian to lead the Swimming World after White race! As we have analysed physical factors, there are
some prominent structural difference in between 'black' and 'white' races which clarifies why White people are
good in swimming. But these cannot reflect a clear difference in performance between Chinese and Dravidian.
The question remains, what might be the determined factors behind the performance of a swimmer! The other
factors can be (a) socio-cultural factor, (b) financial factor and most importantly (c) technical factor. We do
differentiate between 'blacks' and 'white' swimmers in that line of arguments. But if we again come to compare
between Chinese and Dravidians swimmers, it is difficult to get support from data in this context. Thus there
should be another important factor by which we can explain the missing link. That may be the factor by which a
swimmer can overcome his or her physical, socio-cultural as well as financial draw-backs. That factor may
reveal the reason behind the success of Chinese swimmers in recent past. This factor may point out the reason
behind absence of Dravidians in international swimming though they are very close to Chinese in terms of other
factors. That missing link is identified as ‘technical factor’. Despite having adverse physical factor upto certain
extend, it can be overcome by Systematic Training Pattern, Proper Filtration of Talent with Social recognition
and Financial Support.
Keywords: Competitive swimming, Socio-cultural, techniques, human races, physical.
I. Introduction
Competitive Swimming has taken a great part to build the Nations Pride, specially when the major
sporting event like Olympic is considered. Swimming which has been part of Modern Olympic Games first
held in 1896 at Athens. In 1908 the World Swimming Association called Fédération Internationale de
Natation (FINA), was formed. [Lisa Porter, 2010]
This sport contributes the 2nd
large numbers of medals in the Medal tally (after Athletics). Let us analyse few
factors that involve competitive swimming in terms of various human races.
The different type humans races are as follows:-[11]
Australian Aborigines and Papuans
American Indians (Native Americans)
Pacific Islanders
Blacks (Sub-Saharan Africans)
Whites (Caucasians)
Dravidians (Indians)
Asians
Mixed Race Population.
Table 1: Composition of world population
Composition of World Populations
Race Per Cent Geographic Origin
Negroid or Black 10.5 Sub-Saharan Africa
Caucasians or Whites 19 Europe, Near East, North Africa
Dravidians 12 India
Asians or Mongolian’s 48 Asia
Mixed Race, Aborigine, American Indian,
Pacific Islanders etc.
10.5 Various

Reasons For Success In Competitive Swimming Among Various Human Races
As we can see there are, four Major Human Race in the World Population and Balance is Mixed and other
human races. When we consider the performance in terms of some major Swimming and Running events, the
results of last four Olympics are as Follows in term of the above four human races (or if it mixed the Dominant
race):-[14]
TABLE 2: Comparison through Olympic results
Swimming
Event
Olympic Result 2000 Olympic Result 2004 Olympic Result 2008 Olympic Result 2012
With country code With country code With country code With country code
Gold Silver Bronze Gold Silver Bronze Gold Silver Bronze Gold Silver Bronze
50 mt Freestyle
(Men)
USA USA NED USA CRO RSA BRA FRA FRA FRA USA BRA
400mt
Freestyle(Men)
AUS ITA USA AUS AUS USA KOR CHI USA CHI KOR USA
100mt Back
Stroke (Men)
USA AUS GER USA AUT JPN USA USA AUS USA USA JPN
100mt
Butterfly(Men)
SWE AUS AUS USA USA URK USA SRB AUS USA RUS RSA
100mt Breast
Stroke(Men)
ITA USA RUS JPN USA FRA RUS AUS USA JPN NOR FRA
50mt (Women)
Freestyle
NED SWE USA NED FRA AUS GER USA AUS NED BLR NED
400mt Freestyle
(Women)
USA USA CRC FRA POL USA GBR USA GBR FRA USA GBR
100Back Stroke
(Women)
ROM JPN SPN USA ZIM FRA USA ZIM USA USA AUS JPN
100 Butterfly
(Women)
NED SVK USA AUS POL NED AUS USA AUS USA CHN AUS
100mt Breast
Stroke(Women)
USA AUS RSA CHI AUS AUS AUS USA AUT LUT USA JPN
ALTHLETIC
EVENTS
100mt
RUN[MEN]
USA TRI BAR USA POR USA JAM TTO USA JAM JAM USA
10000M
RUN[MEN]
ETH KEN ETH ETH ETH ERI ETH ETH KEN GBR USA ETH
100M
RUN[WOMEN]
GRE JAM JAM BLR USA JAM JAM JAM JAM JAM USA JAM
10000M
RUN[WOMEN]
ETH ETH GRE CHI ETH ETH ETH TUR USA ETH KEN KEN
Table -2 : Colour code:
Caucasian or White Race : white colour
Mongolian or Asian Race: yellow colour
Negroid or Black Race : Grey colour
Dravidian : N.A.
Note : This colour doesn’t ensure of the Pure or Mixed race, but it indicate the dominant race of the
participating sportspersons.]
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Swimming Running
White
Black
Asian
Dravidian
Figure 1: Medal Winning Chart (on % basis) between Swimming and Running comparing last four Olympic
Result, among Different Human Race in reference to TABLE-2

1.2. Objective-
It is very interesting to learn that though some consider swimming as an Athletic Sports but when we
consider the best sportspersons in swimming and running, there is a totally different result in terms of Human
Race. As we can see from the “Table 2” and “Figure 1”, Swimming (both Short and Long Distance and different
strokes) is Dominated (Both men and women) by the White (Aryans or Aryans dominant mix) and part being
leaded by Asian, the existence of Black or Dravidian race are not in the lead. Whereas the Running (Both Short
and Long Distance) is mainly dominated by the Black race and quite few White are there in the league among
the top performers.
It made us interested to find out the reason, why Swimming is not dominated by the Black race, what
physical disadvantages they have in swimming and Advantages they have in running. Also what physical
advantages an Asian have in comparison with Dravidian to lead the Swimming World after White race.
1.3. Comparative study of Physical structure of different human race in respect of competitive swimming-
1.3.1 Floatation Capacity
a)
Centre of gravity and centre of buoyancy are behind swimming capabilities. Adrian Bejan (2010), a
professor of mechanical engineering at Duke University in North Carolina, and Dr Edward Jones (2010) of
Howard University in Washington discussed in The Daily Telegraph that mass that falls from a higher
altitude falls faster. In running, the altitude is set by the location of the center of gravity. For the fastest
swimmers, longer torsos allow the body to fall forward farther, riding the larger and faster wave. The
researchers concluded that, on average, blacks have
about a 3% higher center of gravity than whites. That may make black sprinters 1.5 percent faster than
white sprinters. Using that formula, whites may have a similar advantage over blacks in swimming
[Mathu Moore, 2010]. The paper also reported that although Asians have lower centers of mass/longer
relative torsos like whites, European whites have an advantage in swimming due to longer overall
torsos (Adrian Bejan; Edward C. Jones; Jordan D. Charles; 2010).
b) Racial differences could come through the structure of bone. Asian Indians are lean "sinkers" because they
have little fat and a high percentage of bone and muscle in their physical make-up. On the other hand, the
Inuit are fat and round, adaptations that minimize heat loss. That combination also makes them float well.
Similarly, because blacks have such dense bones, they are less buoyant and less likely to be swimming
champions. [William Robertson Boggs, 1992]
c)
The volume of air in the lungs has an important effect. After inhalation, a greater amount of water is
displaced without any increase in weight. Thus, floating is easier when the lungs and chest are expanded but
the angle of float will be increased. But from different study, it is found that there is no significance
difference among the races in this respect.(Brent S. Rushall, 2007)
1.3.2 Height . The average height for male swimmers is 187.1 ± 7.2 cm. It is about 14 cm higher than in
female swimmers. The height in male swimmers is more variable between events than in female
swimmers. Tall Swimmers are at an advantage because they have Bigger Feet to Kick with Longer Arms
i.e. “Longer Lever” to pull with.
Although if we consider general height among different Human Races, Aryans and Part of Black Race
have higher average height compare to Asians & Dravidians. But we have observed in Modern Swimming the
top swimmers have nearly same height despite of different races. This may be because of Proper Screening
Process. E.g. Although the average male height of Chinese (1.663 mt. or 5 ft 5½ in) is lower than the average
height of American (1.789 mt or 5 ft 10½ in) or Australian (1.784 mt or 5ft 10in), but the Top Swimmers from
China also have good height. Recent world champion Sun Yang is 1.98mt (6 ft 6 in) tall. However there are
exceptions also. The average height for an Olympic Gold Medalist in Men 200 Free Style is 6ft 4 inches over
past 12 years (Eugena Jung, 2012), but South Korean swimmer Park Tae Hwan despite having a height of 6 feet
only (which is 3.6 inches below the Olympic Average height) won Gold in 400 Free Style in 2008 Olympic and
Silver in 2012 Olympic [13].
After the above detailed discussion, it can be stated clearly that though physical structure is an
important factor but not the sole factor behind difference in swimming capability. There are some prominent
structural difference in between 'black' and 'white' which clarifies why White people are good in swimming
compare to Black in swimming, though Black race are better in running; but these cannot reflect a clear

difference in performance between Chinese and Dravidian. As per body fat, Chinese are same as Dravidian and
more surprisingly adipose tissue concentration with Chinese are less than all other race along with the Dravidian
(Dale R Wagner and Vivian H Heyward, 2000).
Therefore the question remains, what might be the determined factors behind the performance of a
swimmer! Is it only the Physical Factor in different human race?
Let us discuss some other factors:
The other factors can be (a) socio-cultural factor, (b) financial factor and most importantly (c) technical factor.
1.4. Socio-cultural factors-
As we have discussed early, swimming is not a sport in which we tend to see black faces. Contrast this
with sprinting and basketball, which are dominated by black athletes from all over the world. The 10 fastest
100m male sprinters in the world are all black, as are eight of the world's 10 fastest women. There is
undoubtedly a wide gap between black and white participation in certain sports. According to a recent study by
USA Swimming, nearly 60% of African-American children between the ages of six and 16 are unable to swim,
in comparison to 31% of white children (Chin MK, So RC, Yuan YW, Li RC, Wong AS, 1994). It shows socio-
cultural factors are very much influential. Biology alone cannot account for success.
One of the past studies (Lola Adesioye, 2008) of the survey evidently justify the hypothesis that the social status
of families from where the swimmers originated is one dimension of inequalities encountered in competitive
swimming. This sport is chosen mostly by the children of upper-middle class people in USA.
Different study shows that, children whose parents were of former performers in swimming and children of
former elite athletes in other individual sports who are getting engaged with competitive swimming, mostly on
the initiative of their parents. This reveals the high degree of self-reproduction of sport society, a tendency
which is expected to continue in the future as well (Lola Adesioye, 2008).
1.5. Financial factors-
A 1999 study by the University of Arizona actually shows that so ingrained are the stereotypes about
racial superiority and inferiority in certain sports that they affect not only which sports both black and white
people gravitate toward but also their performance in those sports.
The environment in which we live and are educated also plays a role. Although Eric the Eel was mocked for his
slowness, the reality is that in his hometown in Equatorial Guinea, he only had access to a 20m pool. (Lola
Adesiove, 2008)
In the west, where the vast majority of black people live in the inner cities, the types of sports they engage in are
the ones most suited to an inner-city environment, not only in terms of access but also cost. This may explain
why basketball courts are found on most inner-city blocks in African-American neighborhoods: they are cheap
to build, require little maintenance and participation is affordable.
There are very few swimming pools, tennis courts and golf courses built in black communities, and they tend to
require higher financial outlay. Golf and tennis are usually the domain of private membership clubs, and – even
with the stunning successes of Tiger Woods and the Williams sisters – are still considered white, upper middle-
class sports. The USA Swimming study found that swimming ability, regardless of race, actually increases in
relation to parents' income and education.
In the same way, Black Africans have had restricted access to swimming pools that are both be privately or
publicly owned. Private swimming pools in residential areas are owned by homeowners and access is
determined by the home owner. The majority of home owners with pools are wealthy. Many Black people
cannot afford the high costs of building and maintaining an individually owned pool.
It has been shown in the study by Karen D. Berukoff and Grant Michael Hill (2010), 'A Study of Factors That
Influence the Swimming Performance of Hispanic High School Students' that swimming opportunity has a very
strong significant positive relationship with swimming performance.
The characteristics of the personality which are necessary for competition – independence, assuming risks, long-
term planning (to be discussed in Technical Factor), and acceptance of deferred gratification – are precisely
overlapping with those elements of the life-style which children and youth growing up in an entrepreneurial
culture are socialized in. The financial situation of sport worsened to such an extent that the families of young
athletes are necessarily overtaking the financial burden of sporting careers.
A lot of discussion has been done in two earlier paragraphs. We do differentiate between 'blacks' and 'white'
swimmers in that line of arguments. But if we again come to compare between Chinese and Dravidians
swimmers, it is difficult to get support from data in this context.
Thus there should be another important factor by which we can explain the missing link. That may be the factor
by which a swimmer can overcome his or her physical, socio-cultural as well as financial draw-backs. That
factor may reveal the reason behind the success of Chinese swimmers in recent past. This factor may point out

the reason behind absence of Dravidians in international swimming though they are very close to Chinese in
terms of other factors.
1.6. Technical Factor
Swimming is a Technique Driven Sports. The Performance of a Swimmers not merely dependent on the
physical advantage of a Swimmer (Though it is a factor) as we can understand from the study of Olympic result
of different human race, but it also depend on few major factors (for which the Swimmers of China and Japan
are doing so well despite having less physical advantage then the White Americans, Australians and Europeans).
These factors are:-
1. Stroke Technique: Good technique enable a swimmer to pull more water in an efficient manner (that mean
without wasting too much of energy per pull/kick) with less Body Drag.
2. Mental Strength: It has been seen that many swimmers despite having less basic physical advantages like
height, power etc., outperform the race with great mental determination. Some of the major metal strength
requirement is the pain bearing capacity at the lactic pic level, managing race pressure against some tough
competitor; learn from loosing, killer instinct.
3. Nutrition: Nutrition and proper food habit with the required supplement are not easy to maintain for a low
economic background swimmers.
4. Sacrifice: Any Elite Sportsperson need to sacrifice a lot of small thing in their life for the achievement.
Some of this thinks are balancing or time management of their personal and education life, lot of small
entertainment factor, other sports.
5. X Factor: It has been seen that in a group of Swimmers of same class of physical advantage and doing
same in practice one swimmer is doing better in the Vital Swimming Meet, this type of difference can be
treated as the X Factor or Competitive spirit of a Swimmer.
6. Long term planning though a systematic training program: All the technical factors discussed above to
be imposed on swimmers through a long term planning and well build systematic training program. Though
Dravidian and Asian have similar structure but one of the thing that differentiate Asian performance in
swimming compare to Dravidian is the Social recognition of Sports and target setting towards the
performance. Let us take an example of Chinese swimming in term of Long Term Planning.
In Barcelona Olympic China got four Gold and five Silver medals in Women section [12], but this did not
happen on sudden program rather through a long term planning. This success was in part due to the standards
used for selecting swimmers of Olympic potential:
1. Evaluation of growth to future performance: In 1980, all All-Chinese swimmers were surveyed for setting up
a Chinese outstanding swimmer's model and they found,
a) There was a significant difference between the Chinese male swimmer's height and the Olympic swimmer's.
b) The strength of the Chinese women and men swimmers was much weaker compared with Olympic
swimmers.
2. Evaluation of morphology, fitness, and physiology: Understanding the physiological factor, specifically,
importance of height of swimmers in the selection procedure was more specific from the basic stages which
encourage the tall swimmers to get better opportunity.
3. Final selection and training.
For the Chinese Olympic Swimmers, the coaches increased practice intensity, and improved the
swimmer's strength.
In 1980, research showed that practice intensity of the Chinese swimmers was too low.
Altitude training is an effective training method, although there is controversy about the effects of altitude
training on subsequent performance at sea level. Since 1985, the Chinese swimmers have been to Kunming
(where the altitude is almost the same as the Olympic training centre in Colorado Springs) to do altitude
training. Usually, the training lasts three to four months, then swimmers return to sea level about two weeks
before championships. Before the Barcelona Olympics, the Chinese swimmers and the Unified team all
experienced altitude training. [Jinri Jiang, ]
This clearly indicates how a long term well build planning can overcome the physical drawback.
Whereas no such long term measure has been taken to build the swimmers of South East Asian Countries (who
are Dravidian Dominant origin), this clarifies the poor result in Swimming by these country in the said Olympic.

1.7. Conclusion -
We can conclude the entire discussion in the following way,
Efficiency in swimming = A function of (factors come from race, socio-cultural factors, financial factors,
technical factors). All the factors are very important. A champion swimmer can be a combination of all the
above factors.
Fig 5: Venn diagram showing four factors and common portion
Above figure can be a good representative of our discussion. We have identified four influencing factors on
which performance of a swimmer depends. Suppose 'A' is the factors from race, 'B' is the socio-cultural factors,
'C' is the financial factor and 'D' is the technical factor. In the diagram, 'B' and 'C' are shown as a part of 'A'.
Because 'socio-economic' and 'financial' factors can come from different race. A good swimmer may be a
combination of all four. In the diagram, 'red' portion represents the common zone. Thus, if a swimmer lies in the
'red' zone, he got all positive influences from all four factors, and could be a champion.
But, there is a very high chance that most of the swimmers stand outside that zone. Somebody can have one, two
or three positive factors; may not have all four. Question arises, how to overcome the absence of positive impact
of some factors?
A swimmer can never change his or her race. Similarly, it is almost impossible to change his/her socio-cultural
factors. One can try to change his/her financial condition, but according to our discussion total economic
financial condition should be changed to find some positive influence on the performance of a swimmer. That is
a long term phenomenon, beyond the capacity of an individual. So, we are left with the sole factor, that is,
technical factor. The performance of a swimmer can definitely be changed with improved technique. Negativity
of all other factors can definitely be reduced by proper technique. Therefore, 'B' can lift a swimmer out of all
negative impacts of his/her race; it can bring him/her out of 'A'.
1.8. Recommendations -
In the above discussion and study it has been understood that the performance of swimmer in terms of
different Human Race are dependent not only on the Physical Factor of each Race but also on the (a) socio-
cultural factor, (b) financial factor and most importantly (c) technical factor. Despite having Adverse Physical
Factor upto a certain extend can be overcome by Systematic Training Pattern, Proper Filtration of Talent with
Social recognition and Financial Support. We strongly believe that in Near Future we can see some of the
Quality Swimmers will come from Dravidian and Black Race also if the above stated factor supports this sport.
References:
[1]. Adrian Bejan, Edward C Jones, Jordon D Charles, 2010. The Evolution Of Speed In Athletics: Why The Fastest Runners Are Black
And Swimmers White.International Journal of Design and Nature and Ecodynamics. 5(3):199-211.
[2]. Brent S. Rushall. 2007. Floating In Swimming: The Forgotten Technique Modifier. Swimming Science Bulletin, Number 36.
[3]. Chin MK, So RC, Yuan YW, Li RC, Wong AS. 1994. Cardiorespiratory fitness and isokinetic muscle strength of elite Asian junior
soccer players. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 1994 Sep; 34(3):250-7.
[4]. Dale R Wagner and Vivian H Heyward (2000). Measures of body composition in blacks and whites: a comparative review1,
2, Am J
Clin Nutr, June 2000 vol. 71 no. 6 1392-1402.
[5]. Eugena Jung (2012). Swimmer Overcome Height Challenges, Yale Baily News , 11/09/12
[6]. Jinri Jiang, M.S. How to select potential Olympic swimmers. www.geocities.ws/ddstcoach/Coach.htm
[7]. Karen D. Berukoff and Grant Michael Hill, 2010. A Study of Factors That Influence the Swimming Performance of Hispanic High
School Students. International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education,2010, 4, 409-421
[8]. Lisa Porter, 2010.The History of Competitive Swimming. Livestrong.com (http://www.livestrong.com/article/342427-the-history-of-
competitive-swimming/).

[9]. Lola Adesioye, 2008. Is race a factor in sports success? The lack of African-American swimmers at the Olympics doesn't mean race
determines athletic prowess. theguardian.com, Monday 25 August 2008 09.30 BST.
[10]. Mathu Moore, 2010. Centre of gravity theory for dominance of black sprinters and white swimmers. The Daily Telegraph, 12 Jul
2010.
[11]. Scott A Lear, Karin H Humphries, Simi Kohli, Arun Chockalingam, Jiri J Frohlich, and C Laird Birmingham (2007) .Visceral
adipose tissue accumulation differs according to ethnic background: results of the Multicultural Community Health Assessment Trial
(M-CHAT)1_3. Am J Clin Nutr 2007;86:353–9. Printed in USA. © 2007 American Society for Nutrition.
[12]. William Robertson Boggs, 1992. Race and Physical Difference. American Renaissance Magazine, Vol.3, No.12.
[13]. http://www.internetlooks.com/humandifferentiation.html
[14]. www.olympic.org
[15]. http://www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1450&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en
[16]. http://websearch.cs.com/cs/boomframe.jsp
[17]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height

Research Paper Sports - Anissa Sonthalia

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (18)

Similar to Research Paper Sports - Anissa Sonthalia

Similar to Research Paper Sports - Anissa Sonthalia (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Research Paper Sports - Anissa Sonthalia