[eleusive]

This series of articles[1] goes into some depth in explaining why certain countries (and ethnicities) dominate various sports - this includes an in-depth discussion of why Kenyans are so good at distance running. The author focuses on genetics, location, support, training, incentives, culture, etc. of various combinations of these sports and the countries that seem to dominate them.

It's not yet complete and is quite lengthy, but it's one of the most fascinating things I've read in some time. While the title seems to make the article focuses solely on Olympic Weightlifting, but the main focus is much more general, and is about uncovering recurring patterns between countries who dominate various sports.

[1] http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/why-the-us-sucks-a...

[jacques_chester]

Olympic Weightlifting is an interesting case. Some of the qualities that predict weightlifting success -- high fast-twitch fibre ratio, for example -- predict success in plenty of other sports.

Whether a country excels at Weightlifting seems in large part to be a function of whether there is a more popular sport in that country. So in the Carribean potential lifters become sprinters, in the USA they become NFL players, in Australia rugby and AFL players and so on.