ArticleBMC genomics2017
Why nature prevails over nurture in the making of the elite athlete.
Article in BMC genomics, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Environmental factors influencing the development of elite athletes: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- The Genetic Profile of Combat Sport Athletes: A Systematic Review of Physiological, Psychological and Injury Risk Determinants.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Pooled it
- Metabolic GWAS of elite athletes reveals novel genetically-influenced metabolites associated with athletic performance.Scientific reports · 2019Trial
- Prognostic value of exercise blood pressure: role of fitness and exercise training.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2026Review
- Decoding endurance performance: integrative genomic and epigenetic insights into the molecular basis of athletic adaptation.Frontiers in systems biology · 2026Review
- Article
- Reevaluating the total genotype score: a practical perspective from applied sport science.Journal of applied genetics · 2025Article
- The fastest nonprofessional age group IRONMAN triathletes in the world originate from Europe.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Scaffolding theory of maturation, cognition, motor performance, and motor skill acquisition: a revised and comprehensive framework for understanding motor-cognitive interactions across the lifespan.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Advocating individual-based profiles of elite athletes to capture the multifactorial nature of elite sports performance.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Review
- Association between ComplexGenes · 2024Article
- Article
- Early excellence and future performance advantage.PloS one · 2024Article
- The Relationship between Changes inJournal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2023Review
- A Social and Ethical Framework for Providing Health Information Obtained from Combining Genetics and Fitness Tracking Data.Technology in society · 2023Article
- Youth Sports Specialization and Its Effect on Professional, Elite, and Olympic Athlete Performance, Career Longevity, and Injury Rates: A Systematic Review.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2022Review
- Review
- Genetics Matters: Voyaging from the Past into the Future of Humanity and Sustainability.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Phenomics in sport: Can emerging methodology drive advanced insights?Frontiers in network physiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
While the influence of nature (genes) and nurture (environment) on elite sporting performance remains difficult to precisely determine, the dismissal of either as a contributing factor to performance is unwarranted. It is accepted that a complex interaction of a combination of innumerable factors may mold a talented athlete into a champion. The prevailing view today is that understanding elite human performance will require the deciphering of two major sources of individual differences, genes and the environment. It is widely accepted that superior performers are endowed with a high genetic potential actualised through hard and prodigious effort. Heritability studies using the twin model have provided the basis to disentangle genetic and environmental factors that contribute to complex human traits and have paved the way to the detection of specific genes for elite sport performance. Yet, the heritability for most phenotypes essential to elite human performance is above 50% but below 100%, meaning that the environment is also important. Furthermore, individual differences can potentially also be explained not only by the impact of DNA sequence variation on biology and behaviour, but also by the effects of epigenetic changes which affect phenotype by modifying gene expression. Despite this complexity, the overwhelming and accumulating evidence, amounted through experimental research spanning almost two centuries, tips the balance in favour of nature in the "nature" and "nurture" debate. In other words, truly elite-level athletes are built - but only from those born with innate ability.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.