ABSTRACT
Ever since the first Olympiad in the modern era (1896), sport is recognized to play a relevant societal role to promote education, health, intercultural dialogue, and the development of individuals – regardless of sex, race, age, gender orientation, and socioeconomic background (5). Conversely, sport performance is also affected by societal influences as one of many factors that ultimately coalesce and contribute to athletic success. These factors could generally be categorized as either predominantly inherent (i.e., nature) and/or environmental (i.e., nurture). It is well accepted that elite athletes are endowed with exceptional genetic potential but require the appropriate deliberate sport-specific practice/training and environment to develop these talents (14, 55). The relative contribution of nature to sport performance is likely above 50% but less than 100% (14). Figure 29.1 presents a general theoretical model that considers many of these factors influencing sport performance without basis for the relative weighting of each. Regarding those of primarily genetic origin, sex is clearly one fundamental genetic factor that dictates performance, particularly in sports objectively measured by time, distance, or weight.
