The navel decided to win and lose in sports

What determines success is not an athlete with an innate talent, but a position of their umbilical cord compared to the rest of the body.

What decides to win and lose in sports

Scientists have figured out why some people succeed on the run and others excel at the pool.

The navel is the center of the body's gravity. With two runners or two swimmers of the same height, one from Africa and the other from Europe, " the important thing is not the body length, but the location of "Navel" , study author Andre Bejan at Duke University, USA, said.

"According to the physical architecture of runners of West African descent, their center of gravity is significantly higher than those from Europe, so they have the advantage in small races. " .

The world's fastest athlete Usain Bolt.

The researchers analyzed a record of 100 years of men and women sprinting and swimming freely 100 m. People of West African descent have longer legs than people of European descent, meaning their navel is more than 3 centimeters tall, Bejan said.

" Mobility is essentially a continuous process of pouring forward, and the weight falling from a higher height, will fall faster, " AFP quoted Bejan as saying.

However, in swimming pools , Europeans have an advantage because they have a longer body, making their navel lower than the whole body.

" Swimming is the art of surfing the waves created by swimmers , " Bejan said.

" People who create larger waves swim faster, and their bodies are longer, will create larger waves. Europeans have a body 3% longer than West Africans, giving them 1, 5% speed advantage under water tank ".

Asians are as long as Europeans, so they have the same potential in swimming pools. But they often lose to Europeans because, overall, Asians are smaller.