This is not a major social issue, and I am not going to make it one. Rather, I think the way this story is being presented in the media effectively illustrates how race matters and is constructed in particular social contexts. Among track and field (“athletics”) aficionados, the 100 meters is frequently considered the premier event. At the elite level, the 100 meters is a power sprint, measuring fast twitch, explosive, kinetic energy manifested through meticulously honed technique.
For males, breaking the 10-second mark is still a colossal accomplishment. One might not think so since track and field doesn’t get much media attention in general (at least not in the United States), and when it does, we’re now more accustomed to watching Usain Bolt blast away his competitors, seemingly cruising to numerous sub-10-second performances (his world record currently stands at 9.58). A few weeks ago sprinter Christophe Lemaitre won France’s national competition with a time of 9.98 second, squeaking below that 10-second mark. A typical headline of Lemaitre’s accomplishment (from Reuters.com, July 9, 2010):
Lemaitre first white man to run 100m in under 10 seconds
And from the article:
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Christophe Lemaitre became the first white man to run the 100 meters in under 10 seconds when he clocked 9.98 on Friday, the French athletics federation said.
Lemaitre, 20, set his time during the French championships in Valence, southern France.
“He is the first white man to run the 100 meters in less than 10 seconds,” Jean-Philippe Manzelle, French athletics Federation press officer, told Reuters.
There have been other white sprinters who have excelled at the world level in recent years. Lolo Jones comes to mind in the 100m hurdles; Jeremy Wariner dominated the open 400m in recent years. And if we’re talking sprinters of “outlier” ethnicities in general, Liu Xiang of China recently held the world record in the 110m hurdles. But the early discourse around Lemaitre could be a bit more pointed in the way he is being constructed through the media as a great white hope.
When should race matter in sport, and when it does, how should it be discussed? In this case, at the very least, Lemaitre’s race is framed such that his being “white” is of greater importance than his win. As the track and field season moves on and should Lemaitre continue to run sub-10-second times, I expect to see increased media coverage about his whiteness. He is not going to beat Usain Bolt or America’s top sprinters at international competitions. But on the European circuit, I expect he will make waves. Mainstream media discussion of his success or failure should be interesting to follow.
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David Mayeda is adjunct faculty at Hawaii Pacific University in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies, where he will also come on board as Assistant Professor this coming fall semester. His recent book publications include Celluloid Dreams: How Film Shapes America and Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society. He also blogs at The Grumpy Sociologist.
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Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 21
Alicia — July 28, 2010
It's so hard to cut through rhetoric when it comes to things like this. While this is a clear example of trying to find a "great white hope" like you said, at the same time I wish there was a source that clearly and objectively helps dispel/explains the biology arguments usually linked to stories like this.
For example, the fact brought up during swimming stories that Africans have on average more dense bones, and therefore at top levels might have a harder time competing (all socioeconomic issues aside). This has also been cited as an explanation for why people of African descent have lesser instances of osteoporosis. It would be interesting to know just how much this is true, and if this also effects skewed systems like BMI extensively.
I remember a story coming out around the last Olympics surrounding Usain Bolt's performance, and something about musculature from people of his descent. If I remember correctly (it's been a long time), it was specifically linked to people from the Caribbean. Of course this was used to dismiss his self-driven talent.
While this all links a little closely to eugenics for many people's comfort (including my own), it would be interesting to hear about it from a source like Soc Images.
AL — July 28, 2010
Interesting that you racialize Lolo Jones as "white," when I have heard her describe herself as multiracial.
el.j — July 28, 2010
The other implication of "first white man under 10 seconds" is the idea that Black sprinters are drug cheats while white runners are honest. I used to see this a lot on a running message board I used to frequent, where the assumption was that all black athletes are dirty. They would often point to the first white finisher and state that he was the "real" winner because everyone else is on drugs. So as well as engaging the genetics argument, I think there is often also active the idea that if black people are better at something than white people it must be illegitimate, and therefore the black person must have an unfair advantage, either genetic or chemical. (They also had a ridiculous obsession with "American born" distance runners, even when the runners they were claiming to be imposters had come to the US at extremely young ages and had been entirely developed in the US running system.)
As a side note, the interesting thing about Bolt is that now everyone assumes it was obvious he would win, because he's much taller than usual and therefore has a longer stride. But until Bolt, it was very much common wisdom in track that too much height would be hard to move quickly and creates that much more bulk. In other words, it is constantly the case that once an individual or group gains dominance their success is seen as inevitable, even when it contradicts all the previous assumptions. And then that inevitability is used to prove that they had an advantage all along.
larrycwilson — July 28, 2010
Perhaps the point is simply that he is the first white man to run the course in less than 10 seconds.
Andrew — July 29, 2010
When I read in the news about someone being the first x to accomplish y, I instantly read the subtext as "x person overcame institutional barriers, discrimination, or physical limitations in order to do something that was previously not thought possible for x group."
Otherwise, it's a bit of useless trivia rather than news - like saying "Alicia was the first person to complete the Triathlon wearing green," or "Larry was the first Nobel Laureate with hemorrhoids."
This context doesn't pass the test, in my view. Whites are not widely believed to be structurally incapable of any athletic accomplishment, and I'm not aware of any institutional prejudice that would prevent a very talented white sprinter from attaining as much success as an equally talented black sprinter. Contextually, it doesn't appear to me that Lemaitre has broken any new ground.
But I'm not a sports expert...are there any here who take a different view?
Adam — July 29, 2010
LOL. You people seriously think whites and blacks are equal on the track.
Umlud — July 29, 2010
Why would you suggest this? Is the European sprint circuit almost completely packed with whites, or is it because he is a White-European competitor?
The last time I was in Britain and France (last year), there were many people who trace their presence in those countries to an immigration event sometime within the last 60 years, usually from former colonies of these countries (after all, if the video is from the French national championships, presumably the runners are all French, and aren't most of them not white?). In addition, there has been an increased number of job immigrants crossing the Med to get to Spain and France as well as many Turks and Arabs moving to points throughout Europe.
I would imagine that part of the whole "great white hope" is due to this apparent "massive influx" of obviously non-European ethnic peoples into these countries. In addition to (what I always felt) the tone-deafness among the French (and many Europeans) when it comes to discussing race, I wonder how much is really negative racism, how much is national pride (after all, the first white sprinter below 10 seconds was a Frenchman, and not a German, Brit, or American), and how much is projecting based on the "massive influxes" that the French are witnessing.