Ok, for you 400m fans, I loved that Jeremy Wariner won and that the USA swept. He’s sort of like eminem with long legs. But I’m getting tired of everyone freaking out because he’s white and saying that he’s the first white sprinter to win a gold since 1964. Uh, anyone know who won the 200 in 2000? Konstantinos Kenteris, a greek. Are Greeks not considered “white”? Sure looks white to me! http://www.kenteris.gr/timeline_en.asp
But really, what’s the big deal and who is considered “white?”
I’m sorry to have to contradict you. One of the substances that Kenteris took was CHLORINE! 
nice
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I don’t care if the guy is white or black, what I find interesting is the way he runs exactly like Michael Johnson. When he is running the second bend with the tilted body and the arms moving, the resemblance is amazing.
ok, I have to take back this post. I guess most media is saying that he’s the first white AMERICAN to win gold since '64. Still…get over it people. He’s just stinking fast!
Smartasscoach I agree, very similar to Johnson but I guess that comes from having the same coach or just emulating his hero. It works for him though and it worked for Johnson too.
That is one good coach. First a double WR holder, now this with a white guy
And wasn’t he the one who turned in the Balco syringe? And where did he get it?
Must think positive thoughts…GO USA!
Go Obikwelu!
just bought Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports And Why We’re Afraid to Talk About It, by Jon Entine (www.jonentine.com). Looks like a Bell Curve for sports. I’ll let you know what I think.
In europe that book is named “Why black athletes dominate american sports and why they’re afraid to talk about it”
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I can almost hear the lid being peeled back off the can of worms…
I don’t believe he is tha same coach. The coach who turned in the syringe containing THG is now the coach of Gatlin(sp), and the former coach of Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery of the Balco scandal.
He found the syringe while coaching Jones and Montgomery, But I’m sure they are still innocent!
Indeed, there have been exceptions in the past 20 years or so, but the numbers speak for themselves. (I hope that I don’t stir things up too much here.) The vast majority of top ranked runners in the sprint events( 400 and less) have been black. Even more interseting, is if you trace these athletes lineage back, they almost invariably come from west Africa. They either run for a west African country or they come from the caribbian or the US where if you look into their family lineage, they are the descendents of slaves.
There was an article that a read a few years ago that looked into this in detail and also pointed out the fact that statistically an abnormally large number of the top distance runners in the world all come from east Africa( Kenya & Ethiopia).
I think it’s more interesting that Wariner is so scrawny (relative to most other world class sprinters). But he is tall and only 20 after all and has probably only been lifting and training hard for a year or two … Speaking of skinny, do any really hot 400m runners ***ever ***move up to the 800? I remember a quote from M. Johnson saying that he thought the 800 is the “toughest race there is” and that he would never try it.
Many 400 guys are long an lean.
I wonder why all of the sprinters are so muscular in the upper body. I would think that the extra weight would hinder their acceleration, unless it helps them later in the race to maintain their speed in the last 30 meters.
Allan Wells from Scotland/UK won the 100m gold in Moscow in a rather pedestrian time. I believe it was around 10.20. He was no slouch though. He also won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in 1982 in Edinborough …and there is no shortage of studly West African and Carribbean athletes who show up for this competition.
The articles didn’t say he was the first white man since '64 to win a “sprint” race. They said he was the first white AMERICAN since Larrabee in '64.
Juan Antonio Kahuna
How do you know he is white? And, who is white?
Now you have your hands full and won’t get into any more trouble. 
-Robert
When watching the race I made a comment “man, look at that skinny white boy run”. My wife laughed at my political incorrectness. Good thing it was in our own home for fear of the PC police!!
He is a bit unusual. Most sprinters from the 400m races and shorter length tend to be black. But then France did have a couple of black swimmers. This is not racism - it’s just a legitimate observation.
It’s sort of a silly discussion.
Whether somebody is called “white” or black or whatever is largely based on casual observation, and is inherently arbitrary and unstable.
How white do you have to be “white”? And likewise, how “black”? As jmorrissey noted earlier, this is a huge can of worms, and the implications aren’t all that valid, or for that matter, nice.
The point is, if one is going to approach this issue, it should be somewhat more objective and scientific (if that’s at all possible), than just based on how somebody looks. It’s often not terribly descriptive.