Four-time gold medalist Michael Johnson apparently is faster on his feet than his brain, for Johnson actually said for public consumption that he believes the question of why black athletes dominate Olympic sprint competitions is because of slavery.
The eight men who ran in the 100-meter finals — all African-American or African-Caribbean — in the Beijing Olympics are believed to have been descended from slaves, according to the documentary. But, what’s the surprise there?
“Difficult as it was to hear,” Johnson contended, “slavery has benefited descendants like me. I believe there is a superior athletic gene in us.”
Johnson, who recently had his lineage traced back to West Africa as part of a British documentary, told the Daily Mail that slavery has “left an imprint through the generations.”
The Daily Mail wrote that some scientists believe a combination of selective breeding by slave owners and appalling conditions meant that only the strongest slaves endured, creating a group predisposed to record-breaking athletic performance.
African slaves underwent a rigorous selection process and only the fittest were transported on ships.
Johnson’s views on the genetics of slavery and his allusions to eugenics have been mostly ignored in the United States. The interview with the Daily Mail was published last Wednesday and barely made ripples on this side of the pond.
Well, the remarks have finally arrived, and they make Johnson seem like a dumb jock. He totally discounts the work ethic and training involved to be a world class athlete. He does not address why every black person walking around is not 0f Olympic status if blacks have a “superior athletic gene.”
Comments like these got jimmy (The Greek) Synder fired years ago. that they would arise again, in 2012, by a black athlete in particular, is, well, silly — and sad.
