A convincing theory for why Jamaica is so good at track

Jamaica produces the fastestsprintersin the world.Jamaicans won 15 of the 24 medals awarded in the 100m and 200m sprints at the last two Olympics, including five of six golds. Three of the four fastest men everare Jamaican, and so is the new women's 100m champion from the 2016 Rio Olympics.So how does a countrywith less than 3 million people dominate one of the most prestigiousevents in world sports'In his book "The Sports Gene," David Epstein writesaboutYannis Pitsiladisa scientistwho has studied just this. While Pitsiladis'expertise is in biology, his theory for why Jamaica is so good at track has more to do with societal factors.Pitsiladisbelieves Jamaica dominates world sprintingbecauseof their talentdiscovery system. Epstein characterizedit a "natural sifting program" in an interview with Outside.To put it in basic terms,Jamaica is able to identifyevery single kid who has the natural speed to be a world-class sprinterandturn him or herinto a track athlete.Sprinting is popular in Jamaica. Like really popular. It's so popular that recruitingpromising young sprinters to high schools to compete is track is insanely competitive (Epstein compares it to college football recruiting in the US). Becauseof that,every kidwho has potentially world-class speed will eventually be found by a scout or coach. No one falls through the cracks. Moreover, those kids will be steered toward a career in sprinting rather than another sport.From Epstein:"Slow kids never make fast adults. So keeping the swiftest kids in the sprint pipeline is paramount. And in what country other than Jamaica could a boy with blinding speed and who stands 6'4" at the age of 15, as Usain Boltdid, end up anywherebut on the basketball or volleyball our or the football field'"It sounds simpletheyfind all the fast kids and make them run track competitivelybut it actually requires a very specific combination of societal factors.You're country has to be crazy about sprinting. You have to have a track and field infrastructurethat's robust enough to tackle the logistical challenge of scouting kids, recruitingthem to high schools, and giving them propertraining. And sprinting has to be seen asa more viable and lucrative career path than any other sport.Jamaica has all of it, and it's why they're so unstoppable.Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: What abandoned Olympic venues from around the world look like today
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