Country Loon  wrote or quoted:

> I have heard that the best long distance runners come from a tribe in
> Ethiopia who could get more wives(and hence more offspring) by buying them
> with livestock which they had to catch by running. The fastest ones had more
> offspring and hence the predominance. I would have though that this favoured
> sprinters more than long distance. Look at any Olympics and you will see 90%
> black runners in the final (or more!). There has to be a reason.Or is this a
> taboo question?

The evidence suggests that this is because those individuals are 
genetically better at running - due to their ancestry.

Perhaps their ancestors did more running down wild game - or something
like that.  Incidentally, running down wild game /does/ involve endurance
running - and humans are "suprisingly" good at running long distances.

This guy has written lots of material about the reasons for the success of 
certain African athletes in their fields:

  http://www.jonentine.com/sports_race.htm

In particular, he wrote a book entitled:

``Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports And Why We Are Afraid to Talk 
  About It''
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