Olympics - why aren’t there many/any black swimmers?

Mottie

Mottie

Joined
27 Feb 2017
Messages
38,289
Reaction score
5,563
Location
Essexshire
Country
United Kingdom
As above - why? I haven’t seen every heat so I may have missed them but I have seen it written that many black people people don’t have access to swimming facilities because they are generally poorer but that can’t be true as there are some very successful black Golfers and tennis players and it costs a fair bit more to play golf or tennis compared to going to a swimming pool. I can only remember one - Eric the eel and he was bloody useless. Is it just something black people cant do?
 
Sponsored Links
Mottie said:
As above - why? I have seen it written that many black people people don’t have access to swimming facilities because they are generally poorer but that can’t be true as there are some very successful black Golfers and tennis players and it costs a fair bit more to play golf or tennis compared to going to a swimming pool. Any idea's?
Click to expand...

Blacks generally have awesome physiques, ripped 6 packs, muscular toned torsos etc and its because of this they are not allowed into local pools.
 
Alice Dearing, I believe she's doing the 10k open water marathon on the 5th.

https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.c...-is-no-more-needed-than-white-before-swimmer/

At the same time she recalled when she was subject to racist abuse aged 17 by a coach who called her “a skinny n-word”. She was prepared to “laugh it off” only for her own coach to intervene.

So too does she look back at the stereotyping she was subject to, saying:“I“I remember parents coming up to my mum and saying ‘we didn’t expect Alice Dearing to look like that.’

“We just always thought it was because I was small and over the years I have thought about it more and more and I was like the amount of people that said that to my mum and that said to me there is no way it was because I was small.

“I was a nine-year-old girl – I think I’m meant to be small!

“It got to the point – we just laughed it off – but the more I thought about it I was like I think black parent, mixed-race daughter turned up to open meets and especially with a very white-sounding name like Alice Dearing.

“Probably looking at the programme and then seeing me behind the blocks and then me talking to my mum later on and just being shocked.”

“It’s very interesting because I come from a very diverse area, I come from Birmingham. Suddenly you go to swimming pools and swimming clubs and that diversity just gets washed out. Obviously there are the cultural stereotypal issues behind it – but I was always confused by it.”
Click to expand...
There's a strong history of overt racism, think of the image of a black swimmer in a pool while some arsehole poured acid into it. Then there's the hangover from that, because the most likely way for a child to go swimming is if your parents like swimming. That'll take generations to average out, even once the (relatively) low level racism that still exists disappears.
 
Sponsored Links
On a similar theme....

I have just seen on TV a couple of females climbing walls, with the coloured hand holds, with a safety rope attached their waists, in some event. The sheer speed they went up - are they being assisted by those safety ropes?
 
Harry Bloomfield said:
On a similar theme....

I have just seen on TV a couple of females climbing walls, with the coloured hand holds, with a safety rope attached their waists, in some event. The sheer speed they went up - are they being assisted by those safety ropes?
Click to expand...
I dunno Harry but in real life with no ropes, some are pretty damn quick!

 
Harry Bloomfield said:
On a similar theme....

I have just seen on TV a couple of females climbing walls, with the coloured hand holds, with a safety rope attached their waists, in some event. The sheer speed they went up - are they being assisted by those safety ropes?
Click to expand...
I think they use auto belayers at the Olympics, which don't pull you up.

At the speed they go up even if you were doing it manually and you wanted to pull them up by the safety rope you couldn't. They've got their legs and both arms to fling themselves up the wall, if you're belaying you can only use your arms, one pulling and one pushing with is less efficient. The lazy approach of using your bodyweight won't work there either because of the speed. Just getting the rope moving at the same speed so there's no slack is tricky for mere mortals.
 
I was told when I was young that Black people because of their buid up and heavy bones that they don't swim well... yet the excel in sprint...

Is it a racist thing that long distance running and sprinting are dominated by Black runners..
 
I understood it was typically because the Olympics/swimming committees etc won't approve swimming caps specifically designed for afro hair types.
 
I think you are right about muscle density & bones, heard some boffin on about it years ago
 
Bodd said:
I was told when I was young that Black people because of their buid up and heavy bones that they don't swim well... yet the excel in sprint...
Click to expand...

Some black swimmers are fighting this idea - I don't believe there has ever been any science to back it up.

Seeing that when swimming your body is under the water most of the time, and it is clear that black people don't just sink, it is very likely it is an urban myth.

Maybe it was even created by white people to deter blacks from trying swimming - you wouldn't try something that might kill you!

Found some limited research .... the extra bone mass in a black man is / could be around 300 grams - that is negligible:
https://swimmingwithoutstress.co.uk/2014/05/16/black-men-cant-swim/

"Matt Bridge goes on to say that in the US marine corps, where non swimmers have to learn to swim, no one, black or white, has ever failed (quite stringent and vigorous) swimming test. This shows that social factors, confidence, motivation, peer group influences, are significant."

Seems like, once again, it is good old fashioned suppression and racism, that is the reason for so few black people in swimming.

Here's another black swimmer that did OK

gettyimages-149504646.jpg
 
crystal ball said:
I think you are right about muscle density & bones, heard some boffin on about it years ago
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure that's a myth. There have been studies showing white people have higher body fat percentage, but that's about it.

Plus it wouldn't make any difference to anyone competing. Anyone with low fat levels is unlikely to float.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Sponsored Links

Similar threads

H
Squash at the Olympics
2
Replies
15
Views
2K
tim west
T
B
Olympic games
Replies
1
Views
592
Steve
S
S
Why aren't we helping the Kurds?
2 3
Replies
36
Views
3K
JBR
JBR
A
Why diesels are dangerous...
2 3
Replies
42
Views
3K
empip
empip
pred
Short stories
Replies
0
Views
526
pred
pred
Back
Top