Genetic research provides answer to Jamaicans' speed »

Genetic research provides answer to Jamaicans' speed

Leighton Levy, Freelance Reporter

Professor Errol Morrison, president of the University of Technology (UTech), shares a joke with Olympic sprint relay gold medallist, Sherone Simpson, after athletes from the MVP Track Club met with Gleaner sports editors at the university's Technology Innovation Centre in Papine, St Andrew, last week. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Jamaicans are born to run fast. It's in our blood.

At least, so say preliminary findings of research being conducted by the University of Glasgow and the University of the West Indies (UWI) that has been going on for more than two years now.

Over that time, more than 200 Jamaican athletes were tested and found to possess the Actinen component in their fast-twitch muscle fibres - the rapidly contracting muscle fibres that enable sprinters to run really fast.

Early data

"Jamaica (and) Scotland, through the University of Glasgow, have been studying athletes from around the world, those of West African origin, east Africa and elsewhere. The early data is that for the fast-twitch fibres in the muscles, there is a special component called the Actinen A, of which the gene was identified in the fast-twitch fibres has been found in 70 per cent of the athletes from Jamaica," reveals an excited Professor Errol Morrison, president of the University of Technology (UTech).

More to come

"This compared to only 30 per cent in an Australian group that is being tested. What it says to us is what is happening is not a flash in the pan, but there will be many potential Asafa Powells, Sherone Simpsons and Sherikas (Williams), because the genetic predisposition is there."

Professor Morrison was understandably excited when he released the information to The Gleaner recently, because he was partially responsible for initiating the research that unearthed these findings.

He explained that the Univer-sity of Glasgow and a few Japanese universities had for some time been conducting research on athletes in Kenya, apparently trying to unlock the secrets to their prowess at long-distance running. Then, just over two years ago, while he wasemployed by the Department of Biochemistry at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor Morrison wrote an article that caught the researchers' eyes.

"I had published an article about what seemed to be the underlying principles behind the high performance in sprint among Jamaican athletes," he said. "And when they saw that article, they contacted me and said they would like to set up a link to look at athletes of a West African origin because that is where Caribbean athletes come from."

The University of Technology became involved when Professor Morrison assumed duties as president and eventually tests were conducted on the athletes there, including those from the MVP track club that has as its members some of the world's best sprinters.

Tests were not only conducted on UTech and MVP athletes, but on some of Jamaica's greats like the late Herb McKenley and Olympic 200 metre silver medallist Grace Jackson, who now runs the sports programme at the UWI, Mona Campus.

Blessed sprinters

The early results, according to Professor Morrison, are not only exciting, but it gives cause to create the environment to nurture this genetic predisposition with which Jamaica's sprinters have been blessed.

"It is quite clear that there are a lot of people with this potential to be good performers who, by nurturing the environment for them, the nutrition, training, focusing the whole psychological competitiveness, we can remain at the forefront for many years to come," Professor Morrison said.

Definitive answer

The results could go a long way in providing a definitive answer as to why Jamaicans continue to compete with the best sprinters in the world and in recent times, take the lead.

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