African origin, dark coloured, long legs and robust, vigorous muscles.
Ok. Another one. Imagine a swimmer. What do you see?
Essentially Caucasian, well streamlined physique.
Ever wondered why some athletes dominate on track while others in the swimming pool? Apparently, scientists have unravelled this mystery. It's the belly button stupid!
According to the study, the factor that influences the perfomance is the location of belly button, body's centre of gravity. Among West African-origin runners, the center of gravity is 3 cm higher than whites. This gives them a 'hidden height' advantage on the track.
"Locomotion is essentially a continual process of falling forward, and mass that falls from a higher altitude, falls faster" according to Prof. Andre Bejan who led the study at Duke University.
However, in the pool whites have the advantage because of 'longer torsos'. "The swimmer who makes the bigger wave is the faster swimmer, and a longer torso makes a bigger wave. Europeans have a three-percent longer torso than West Africans, which gives them a 1.5 percent speed advantage in the pool" he said.
Image Credits: Wikipedia
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