Why is the 100m Race Gap smaller among women than men?
In the last 11 Olympics, Sub-Saharan men have earned 87 of 88 finalist berths in the 100m dash, but black women garnered only 74 of 88. Why the Sex Gap in the Race Gap?
Wikipedia harangues us that “modern science has concluded that race is a socially constructed phenomenon rather than a biological reality …” But every four years comes the Olympic 100 meter dash.
It’s impossible to logically reconcile the reigning dogma that The Science has proven that race does not exist with the results of the Olympic men’s 100 meter dashes over the last 44 years.
In the last eleven races to decide the World’s Fastest Man going back through the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, 87 of the 88 spots in the final were filled by a sprinter with at least one sub-Saharan parent.
The one exception was Su Bingtian of China, who ran the race of his life to win his 2021 semifinal in 9.83.
The women’s 100 meters sees a large race gap as well, but it’s not as big. Among the last 88 female finalists, 74 had at least one black parent, but that leaves 14 whites. And, white women have won 4 of the last 33 medals in the women’s 100m
How come there’s a sex gap in the race gap?
If you go back far enough, you can observe Eastern European expertise with steroids, synthetic male hormones. The Warsaw Pact was more organized than the Westerners at juicing, while Western sprinters needed to be more entrepreneurial about getting their hands on the drugs plus the information they needed to exploit them fully.
But still, even now it looks like there is slightly larger race gap among male than female sprinters. I’m not sure why.
For example, in the women’s semifinals on Saturday, all eight qualifiers were of substantial black descent. But five of the next eight fastest times were turned in by white women.
In contrast, in the men’s semis, the fastest nonblack was the half-English/half Filipino Louis Hinchcliffe at 11th, while Thai Puripol Boonson tied for 21st out of 27. The other 25 semi-finalists had at least one sub-Saharan parent.
Also, Asian men seem to be relatively out ahead of Asian women in sprinting.
Just as there are more male morons and male geniuses - the male distribution is spread out further into the tails.
Is it possible that the effects of testosterone drive outliers further in the male population?
Another way to present that data:
.
2008 to 2024:
2 white-female top Olympic sprinters / 40 total = 5%
.
1980 to 2004:
12 white-female top Olympic sprinters / 48 total = 25%
.
Did white-females get worse at sprinting?