Trying to explain racial differences in running

WSJ op-ed:

Why Are the Top U.S. Women Sprinters Black and the Top Marathoners White?

A longstanding racial division can be traced to the culture of athletics at women’s colleges in the early 20th century. ...

In fact, since women first ran at the Olympics in 1928, the vast majority of sprinters representing the U.S. have been Black. In the 40 years since distance events were added for women, the vast majority of those runners for the U.S. have been white. Why?

The disparity can be traced back to the culture of women’s athletics in the early 20th century. ...

This essay is adapted from Maggie Mertens’s new book, “Better Faster Farther: How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women,” which will be published on June 18 by Algonquin Books.

This is the looney land of the race deniers.

If you say there is no such thing as race, then obvious racial differences become very hard to explain. They start making up crazy stories, such as saying that someone loses a competition today because of a lack of role models a century ago.

Some people are naturally better at some tasks. It is as simple as that.