Recipe for success

As Olympic fever gripped the nation over the last few weeks, we bore witness to some of the greatest athletic feats in history.

It’s hard to watch the resolve of Michael Phelps and the African distance runners, or the explosive ferocity of Usain Bolt, without wondering how they got so good. There’s no question that genetics play a critical role.

Many of these sporting icons are products of their ancestral environment, their physiology sculpted by evolution over many generations to make them ideally suited to their indigenous surroundings.