THE PHENOMENON OF AFRICAN RUNNERS

Abstract

The advantage of athletes representing the "black" continent is obvious in track and field running competitions, especially in middle-distance, long-distance and marathon running. A quarter of a century has passed since African runners created an "atmosphere of invincibility" at international sports competitions. In many scientific studies, attempts to identify the phenomenon of the results of African runners in running competitions at various distances have been made. The purpose of the study is to identify the dominance of the strongest middle-distance and long-distance runners and marathon runners from African countries over runners from other regions of the world. The research results have reveal that the participation of runners of both sexes in all endurance competitions in all regions over the world has the following picture in percentages: a) men: Africa - 55.16, Europe - 19.66, North America - 13.38, Asia - 6.8, Central and South America - 1.44, Australia and Oceania - 3.56; b) Women: Africa - 35.2, Europe - 25.3, North America - 21.48, Asia - 12.92, Central and South America - 1.58, Australia and Oceania - 3.52.