how do sport selectors find champions?

YYou’ve heard the stories: Sitting in classrooms across the country are people with Thorpeish swimming skills, Cadel-like aerobic skills, or Freemanesque sprints.

The world’s most successful pool swimmer, Michael Phelps, was once described as the “perfect physical specimen” for his craft.

At 1.93 meters he is tall – an important factor for medal winners. Larger swimmers are more efficient in the water: their size reduces drag, and their larger bodies allow them to reach higher speeds.

Sports institutes around the world and in Australia are scouring the schoolyard and sports industry in search of the person who will be the next big thing on the pool, track, ball courts and pitches around the world.

As much as people love the idea that crazy athletes are somehow born that way, the truth is far more mundane.

As much as sports commentators and bar lovers love the idea that freaky athletes are somehow born that way and possess a borderline impossible mix of genes that make them claim medal after medal, the truth is far more mundane.

Genes play a role, but not in the way we think

“It’s one of those tantalizing issues where there’s probably a genetic role in some athletic performance, but pinpointing it [the genes] will be a formidable challenge,” says Professor David Bishop of Victoria University, a muscle training physiologist who has worked with Australian Olympic teams and advised AFL clubs.

And the challenge he identifies is cracking the genomes of thousands of top athletes around the world to find the candidate DNA that could provide insight into what gives them an advantage.

There is also another problem. The likelihood that one or more genes will confer an advantage on someone is unlikely.

“Sometimes there can be one genetic variation that is really a big contributor to a disease… but athletic performance, no matter how you define it, there’s likely going to be a large number of genes,” Bishop says.

The likelihood that one or more genes will confer an advantage on someone is unlikely.

For example, height, the most sought-after trait in elite swimmers, basketball players, and rowers, could be determined by hundreds of genes—a combination of which comes from a person’s parents.

However, genes play an inescapable role. But what Bishop calls the budding athlete’s “anthropometry” ultimately matters.

What nature’s randomness gives you — whether it’s your dad’s skinny legs or your mom’s height — and how you use it is surely a pillar of the holy trinity of athletic achievement.

Parents play a secondary role in aspiring athletes

Annette Edmondson has no idea if genetics played a role in her career.

Edmondson attached the bike to a decorated road and track cycling career two years ago. Her brother Alex is still racing in the Men’s Road World Tour.

When a family produces two track cycling world champions, surely there must be something special going on in the genes?

“Potentially genetics, but we were also very fortunate to grow up in a very loving family who encouraged us in whatever we wanted to do and nurtured our passion,” she says.

Parental engagement seems to be one of the most important factors in pushing potential talent to the top.

“They dropped everything so that we could pursue our goals.”

Parental engagement seems to be one of the most important factors in pushing potential talent to the top.

Edmondson was identified after completing a series of school-based tests. Such tests are commonly administered by high school students across the country in the form of pendulum runs, 20-meter sprints and vertical jumps.

From there, their results went to the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI).

There, the rule will be driven over the data and talent scouts will either retest prospects at school or invite them directly to specialized training to see if they have what it takes to excel at elite sport.

Genes might even play a role here, as academies take note of parents’ biological size, just in case the all-important growth spurt is yet to come.

But as much as genetic traits and parental support are crucial, they don’t matter if an extremely important factor that lies roughly between the athlete’s ears doesn’t exist.

It’s all in the head

Former Olympic gold medalist Brett Aitken now directs the program that the Edmondsons and dozens of other elite cyclists have gone through over the decades.

When I ask what the chances are that the perfect cyclist will actually still be found, that they’ll actually be sitting around pushing pens and scribbling scientific articles, he agrees that it’s entirely possible.

But he would hope that the best possible athletes are already being picked up by the academy system, where the best talent is sifted to the elite level.

That’s because the magic biological component isn’t actually in the genome, it’s in a specific organ.

In sport, which is measured by wins and losses, it’s the mental component that keeps the cream coming out on top.

“Sometimes you can’t tell it just from the physical numbers,” says Aitken.

The magical biological component is not in the genome but in the mind.

“You have to watch them in game when they do the shuttle run test, how much grit and will do they have?

“This mental, psychological aspect is enormous. Sometimes it overcomes everything else, even if they may be a little off in the physical component.

“They’re still so young, they’re still developing, so you have to be able to see through it. There is an age of maturity for talent-seeking children, especially young teenagers, who go through different stages of maturity and development.”

heart and mind

The Queensland Government now hopes to identify the next big thing in elite Olympic sport.

A 13-year-old in today’s Sunshine State can be identified and placed on one of the Queensland Sport Academy’s development paths, then make the leap into elite training and don greens and golds at the Brisbane 2032 Games.

The hope is that not only will Australia enjoy the gold rush that is often seen among the host nations, but that Queenslanders will take a sizable chunk of the medals.

But state sports academies and Olympic squads may not have exclusive rights to the top talent.

While these high-performing programs are a breeding ground for world artists, they cannot compete with anything offered by other national codes in Australia.

Money.

The football codes and cricket programs have developed a knack for poaching code-switchers in recent years, and not just from each other.

While these high-performing programs are a breeding ground for world stars, they can’t compete for money.

Former WNBA titlist Erin Phillips was a marquee signing for the Adelaide Crows at the inaugural AFL women’s competition in 2017, eventually winning three premierships. Commonwealth and World Championship gold medalist Sharni Norder joined Collingwood’s netball team in 2017 and then joined next door’s Australian football team, the Magpies, in 2018.

Even Olympic gold medalist Kyle Chalmers, one of Australia’s top swimmers, met with AFL clubs Port Adelaide and Geelong in 2020 to get out of the pool and dive into the lucrative domestic football competition.

Cricket could also be eyeing potential talent. Patrick Farqhart is Head of Sports Science and Medicine for Cricket New South Wales. He was previously Head Physiotherapist for the India Men’s National Team and has worked with some of the world’s top cricketers.

He sees parallels between what NSW needs in fast bowlers and some of the Olympic codes.

“If you look at the prototype javelin thrower, 400-meter hurdler, long jump or triple jumper, I see a lot of those evolving into fast bowlers, especially in women’s sports,” says Farqhart.

“Should we be open with people in these sports? Selfish as a cricket man, yes.”

According to Farqhart, cricket could also turn its gaze to “combine tests” used particularly in the AFL: mass gatherings of talented juniors for the nation’s top scouts to select potential big hitters and pace bowlers for senior picks.

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With big bucks in national competitions and specialized talent programs aimed at identifying – and retaining – top talent in the football and cricket codes, state sports academies specializing in Olympic sports have their job made for them.

Back in South Australia, Aitken recalls one such talent slipping through the cracks.

“About six or seven years ago we set up a mini-track on the back oval at SASI where they did time trials on bikes on an oval,” says Aitken.

With big bucks in national competitions, state athletic academies specializing in Olympic sports have their work cut out for them.

“I remember looking at this one kid who was just outstanding, not just on that test but on a number of different tests. I looked at everyone else [discipline] Coaches say “I want this kid”.

“This boy’s name was Izak Rankin. In the end, he was close to being the number one draft pick in the AFL.”

Aitken says the rise of women’s football is particularly threatening talent acquisition for Olympic sports. Part of the challenge that the Brisbane 2032 Games could support is capturing the imagination of young Australians once again.

“Olympic sports are no longer the most desirable sports for a lot of young athletes… I think everyone still aspires to that when they look at the Olympics and that’s still the ultimate in sport.

“But it’s a completely different culture and demographic these days, and younger generations tend to aspire to sports that they watch more regularly: AFL, cricket, basketball and all these other sports that are a little more lucrative, and those sports themselves are really, really determined.” also this talent.”