You really shouldn't. There's no discriminatory element to the fact that certain countries/cultures have been better at certain sports (it's not limited to sports either, you see it in nearly every discipline). Some sports are pretty even across a lot of countries, like golf and tennis and basketball. But if you think ice hockey, you think Canada, Russia, etc. If you think table tennis, China and Taiwan. Speed skating: South Korea. And so on. Nothing to be ashamed about knowing those things.
Why? It's a proven fact that marathon runners from Kenya and Ethiopia dominate the race. So why not go for bordering countries or nearby countries? I personally thought of Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Botswana, then worked my way out. I probably guessed over half of the African nations. Unsurprisingly, that seems to be the dominant continent in this quiz. Some outliers, but most were not all that surprising.
WOW is right. I knew before coming that Kenya and Ethiopia would dominate, but, by THAT much? Wow. Also, had no idea Japan had so many. I guess sumo wrestlers are faster than they look. They blow away 4th place but I had no idea.
It is not illegal in Japan to be overweight. The law you are referencing, that went into effect April 1, forces companies and the government (the two sources of health insurance in Japan) to measure the body fat of employees ages 40 to 74.
Employers may be required to pay more into the national health care system if the waistlines of employees exceed the government’s limits.
And almost all their great runners are from the Kalenjin (and especially the Nandi) people. From Wikipedia:
"Since the mid-1960s, Kenyan men have earned the largest share of major honours in international athletics (track and field) at distances from 800 meters to the marathon; the vast majority of these Kenyan running stars have been Kalenjin. From 1980 on, about 40% of the top honours available to men in international athletics at these distances (Olympic medals, World Championships medals, and World Cross Country Championships honours) have been earned by Kalenjin."
Good quiz. But, can somebody explain why USA was guessed more than Kenya? Even though Kenya appears to have more people in this list than the rest of the World put together? Also, I note that some were surprised by the Japanese. Shouldn't be when you consider their "national character". Dogged determination and giving up brings shame.
Because it's 3 characters (easy to type) and a lot of marathons are held here (big country with lots of cities). If I want to run a marathon I can just go down the street, or drive a little while. Or even just fly to Kenya if there's a marathon there, it's not that expensive. Harder for a Kenyan to get over here, I imagine.
Of course not, but Sifhraven was saying that those countries are GUESSED most often when people aren't sure. If there was a list of most guessed countries, right or wrong, China and Russia would probably show up (not so sure about India though).
Wasn't at all surprised by Japan they normally have someone in the elite runner field, they have the major race in Tokyo and running is very popular there as it is an easy way to keep fit in the big cities.
I hate to be overly technical, but this isn't through March 17 but rather January 30. Since then, the Japanese record has been broke, plus a ton of Japanese marathoners broke 2:10 (some of whom I'm sure weren't previously on the list).
Darn, Eritrea got me. Do places like India not prioritize runners? They are so populated, I definitely tried them as a guess, but not too surprised based on the other answers.
The list is basically "developed countries with strong running cultures and large populations" and "developing countries with targeted programmes for developing elite athletes." India has very little amateur running culture and no particular support for professional runners.
They don't really prioritise any Olympic sports. Despite its huge population, India has won a grand total of 28 summer Olympic medals since their first participation in 1900 - 11 of which in field hockey.
In fact, one guy has won 100% of the summer olympic medals India has ever won in athletics (or track and field, as the yanks call it), and that was in 1900 (Norman Pritchard, who won silver in men's 200m and 200m hurdles).
Kenya is absolutely insane!!! And this list is certainly very diverse! African countries usually don't dominate much at sports, so it's nice seeing how many there are here.
One of the main reasons they’re so much better is the altitude on the plateaus of East Africa, which leads to naturally larger lung capacity and more efficient respiratory system. Although there are other interesting factors here: https://populous.com/born-to-run-why-do-east-africans-dominate-long-distance-running-events
Yes, that very likely plays a role, although it would be hard to say if it's more or less significant than the running culture, where running is valued, encouraged, where the people have role models and success stories surrounding them... It's probably a combination of both!
It's actually not diverse at all. Kenya and a handful of other countries dominate the world while most other countries are entirely absent. There are more people on this list from a tiny area of Kenya than from China, India, and the United States combined.
Wait, I don't get it at all. According to the source there are only 5 Australians who have run a marathon in under 2:10? You only get to 10 Australians by including the 5 Australians who ran between 2:10:00 and 2:10:30. So either Australia ought to be removed or the description needs to be changed.
I think it counts number of fast marathons ran rather than number of people, so if one person ran a sub-2:10 three times, they are counted three times.
Berlin is known for being a particularly fast marathon track (mainly because the city is very flat), but the race is usually not won by people *from* Berlin!
Absolutely ridiculous that many of the Gulf countries think they need to bribe and cheat in sports to achieve a status on par with the developed world. I know this won’t ever happen, but I wish sports could be exempt from politics. I understand that politics play a role in many sports, but I think the focus should be on the talent of the athletes and not their country.
Checking the source and I see other countries like BEL (I'm assuming for Belgium), and TUR (again, assuming Turkey). Is there a reason that they didn't make the list?
A decent chunk of the fast American times (but certainly not all) happen at the Boston Marathon which is a point-to-point race (start and end are in sufficiently different places) and thus none of those times are recognized by World Athletics.
If you update the quiz in the future, it might be a good idea to filter out the point-to-point times (the ones with an "a" next to them in your source) since as far as I know nobody in the marathon community recognizes them as actual records for the sake of comparison. They're obviously still very impressive personal achievements but are fundamentally different from times obtained at more standard marathons.
Employers may be required to pay more into the national health care system if the waistlines of employees exceed the government’s limits.
"Since the mid-1960s, Kenyan men have earned the largest share of major honours in international athletics (track and field) at distances from 800 meters to the marathon; the vast majority of these Kenyan running stars have been Kalenjin. From 1980 on, about 40% of the top honours available to men in international athletics at these distances (Olympic medals, World Championships medals, and World Cross Country Championships honours) have been earned by Kalenjin."
Also, it's not under 2:10, but 2:10:30.
I'm very impressed.
Suzuki Kengo ran 2:04:56 at 2021-02-28.
A decent chunk of the fast American times (but certainly not all) happen at the Boston Marathon which is a point-to-point race (start and end are in sufficiently different places) and thus none of those times are recognized by World Athletics.
If you update the quiz in the future, it might be a good idea to filter out the point-to-point times (the ones with an "a" next to them in your source) since as far as I know nobody in the marathon community recognizes them as actual records for the sake of comparison. They're obviously still very impressive personal achievements but are fundamentally different from times obtained at more standard marathons.
*me* forgets Italy and South Africa but gets Eritrea,”bruh”
Also remember to update soon for Kelvin Kiptum