Center of Gravity

Yup, the location of your belly-button defines what type of activity you will excel at... at least according to researchers at Duke University (this article describes the same study). So, what is it about your belly-button? Basically, it defines your center of gravity. This is different from your height, as two individuals of the same height can have different centers of gravity. In general, people of West African descent have longer legs, and therefore higher centers of gravity (~3cm, or ~3%), compared to people of European descent. Even though the difference may seem small, this "hidden height" produces a significant increase in "land speed" because, as the lead researcher so eloquently states, "locomotion is essentially a continual process of falling forward, and mass that falls from a higher altitude, falls faster." The pool is a different story. Because Europeans have proportionately longer torsos, they are able to create a bigger wave, ergo they are faster swimmers. As it turns out, people of Asian descent have an even larger torso:body height ratio, but their overall height leaves them just short of out-touching the Europeans at the wall. So, I guess the question remains, who is the better triathlete?!? #20