Sprinters are born and not made: Researchers say practice alone is not enough to take on Usain Bolt

• Contradicts theory that 10,000 hours practice can make you an expert in anything
• Researchers studied 26 world-class sprinters, including 15 Olympic gold medalists and the eight fastest men in U.S. history
• All were exceptionally fast prior to beginning formal training
• Were able to reach Olympic level within three years in some cases

It is bad news for budding athletes - all the practice in the world will not make you a world class sprinter if you aren't quick to begin with.

Researchers say the best sprinters in the world were exceptionally fast prior to beginning formal training.

The finding contradicts the popular theory that 10,000 hours practice can make you an expert in anything - including sports.

Researchers say sprinters such as Usain Bolt (pictured) are exceptionally fast even before they begin formal training.

THE 10,000 HOUR THEORY

The popular 'practice' model of expertise has been championed by social scientists including Malcom Gladwell.

According to this model, there is no such thing as innate talent.

Instead, 10 years of deliberate practice (roughly 10,000 hours) are necessary and sufficient for anyone to become an expert in any field, including sports.

The researchers say they hope their work will 'finally put an end to the debate' and prove the theory is wrong - for sports, at least.

Published in the online journal PeerJ,  Grand Valley State University researchers studied biographies of 26 world-class sprinters, including 15 Olympic gold medalists and the eight fastest men in U.S. history.

The research, conducted by Michael Lombardo, professor of biology, and Robert Deaner, associate professor of psychology, shows that the developmental histories of elite sprinters contradict the popular 'practice' model of expertise championed by Malcom Gladwell.

According to this model, there is no such thing as innate talent. Instead, 10 years of deliberate practice (roughly 10,000 hours) are necessary and sufficient for anyone to become an expert in any field, including sports.

The researchers studied biographies of 26 world-class sprinters, including 15 Olympic gold medalists and the eight fastest men in U.S. history.

The first major finding was that every expert sprinter, male or female, was recognized as exceptionally fast prior to beginning formal training.

 

This contradicts the deliberate practice model, which assumes that initial performance and final performance in a domain will be unrelated.

A second key finding was that, contrary to the 10-year rule, most sprinters achieved world class performances in less than five years, and more than half of the Olympic champions reached this level in three years or fewer.

'We expected that most sprint champions’ biographies would indicate that they were always the fastest kid in their neighborhood, even before they did any formal training or received any coaching,' said Lombardo.

'But the consistency of the pattern was surprising – from Helen Stephens, a 1936 Olympian, to Usain Bolt, there were no exceptions.

'Gathering the data systematically allowed us to see how strong the patterns were.

'It also allowed us to test and rule out alternative explanations.'

Researchers studied 26 world-class sprinters, including 15 Olympic gold medalists and the eight fastest men in U.S. history.

In addition, Lombardo and Deaner surveyed 64 sprinters and throwers (i.e., shot put, javelin, discus) who qualified for the 2012 NCAA collegiate track and field outdoor championships.

Sprinters recalled being faster as children, while throwers recalled greater strength and overhand throwing ability.

Another key finding was that the collegiate sprinters’ best performances in their first season of high school competition, generally the beginning of formal training or deliberate practice, were consistently faster than 95-99 percent of their peers.

'Our results won’t come as a surprise to most biologists, sports scientists, or coaches—all of the previous data pointed to this conclusion,' said Deaner.

'But our results are important because the deliberate practice model and its ‘10-year rule’ remains enormously popular among many social scientists and intellectuals.

'Our results are clear-cut and should require no scientific training to understand.

'So we hope they will finally put an end to the debate.

'In sports, innate talent is required too.