White Men Cannot Jump

Ravi PERERA

Basketball’s domination by African Americans was the inspiration for the 1990s movie with the above title. Tall, athletic, very much at home in the fast and furious game, African Americans have come to dominate this huge money-spinner in the USA.

Elegant running, incredibly well timed passing, shooting with nonchalant brilliance while under threat are some of the enthralling scenes of sheer athleticism we now associate with these sporting heroes. African Americans have made their country a super power in Basketball.

However to conclude that white men cannot jump will be unjustified. There are many Basketball players of other ethnic backgrounds at the heels of the American team. At this year’s Olympics countries like Australia and Russia who are not too far behind, pressed the favoured Americans hard.

There was a time when it was said that black men could not play golf. Of course that was before Tiger Woods happened. Yet even now there are so few black men in the international golf rankings that it is argued by some that Woods is the exception that proves the rule.

If we were to examine the recently concluded Olympics from the perspective of regional, economic and ethnic participation certain clear patterns emerge.

The largest economies in the world such as the USA, China, Germany, UK, Japan etc, save for India, are all within the first twenty top performers at the Olympics. Among the first ten, seven would fall into the rich category of nations.

The athletes from countries with large economies have repeatedly proved their prowess in a wide range of events.

Obviously, these rich countries have the resources to undertake large-scale training programmes, which bear fruit at these international sporting events.

But what came first? It could also be argued that those in these countries are possessed of the skills and energy required for building large economies and by the way, also produce world-class athletes. Many of these countries were in the forefront of the global explorations and conquests, which began in the 15th century.

Among other things, conquests of that scale in those times required tremendous physical abilities and stamina, leave alone mental strength.

Black men may not be able to do certain things but they certainly can run. In the track and field events descendants of the more recent migrations from that continent held sway. Whether now wearing the colours of the USA, UK or Jamaica they ran like the swift winds of the Kalahari.

In the long distance events again the African runners proved to be the world’s best when it comes to endurance and tactical running. The athleticism of the Africans is a pride to the human race and an assurance that we as a species are not slowly weakening and moving towards extinction.

Swimming at this Olympics had only one name, Phelps. Twenty three year old Phelps had won six Gold Medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and now with the eight in China he has a career total of fourteen Olympic Gold Medals.

The eight Gold Medals won this year makes him the first athlete to have won eight Gold Medals at one Olympic game. When Michael Phelps sent his medal filled bag through the metal detectors at the home state airport of Baltimore Maryland they would have given a loud welcoming beep indeed.

It is always disappointing to observe how far behind stand the competitors from lands with warm seas such as the Pacific and the Indian Oceans in international swimming competitions. In Sri Lanka we have a lot of water around us.

But funnily we “fear” the water. As a consequent the percentage of those who can swim in this country is very small.

We were pleasantly surprised by the commendable performance of the athletes from much-troubled Zimbabwe. Throwing their economic and political troubles aside they bagged an impressive four Medals including one Gold and three Silvers. The troubled Georgians who won six medals, three Gold and three Bronze, gave a similarly brave performance. The triumph of the human spirit is what Olympics is all about.

The performance of the countries in the Indian sub-continent was lacklustre once again. Population wise these are big countries and are not utterly without resources. For this region, India this year managed one Gold and two Bronze, while Afghanistan won a Bronze.

It could well be that the general physical make up of the Indian branch of the human family and dietary factors work against them in athletic contests. We are more inclined towards contemplative postures than actual physical exertions.

This is reflected even in the team compositions from this part of the world where the advisers and coachers often outnumber the athletes. In our country it also seems greater efforts go into contesting for posts in sporting bodies than in actual competition.

We all know of the saying that those who can, do it, while those who cannot, teach and perhaps administer.

As shown from the pride we take in the occasional successes of our Cricket Team we would love to compete in other sports and if possible do well. Looking at out performance thus far a cynic might ask, if white men cannot jump can vegetarians run ? The answer awaits future Olympic games.