Nature, nurture required for elite athletes

Swimmer Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian of all time during the London Olympics. Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter, Zara Philllips, helped her equestrian team win a silver medal. The American women's gymnastics team won gold. All of them are very different athletes. All were elite. Do they have a genetic edge over the rest of us?

Doctors Michael Joyner and Michael Bostwick at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota studied this and also looked at other research.

“Most high-level athletes have something that distinguishes them from regular people and thus makes them able to compete at a very high level,” noted Bostwick.

Joyner added that certain body types can...

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Australian kids can't run, jump, throw: study

Australia may pride itself on its sporting prowess, but a new study has revealed that most of its children struggle to run, jump, kick and catch a ball.

Research led by the University of Sydney has uncovered an overall decline in children's ability to perform the skills at the appropriate age - with most seven year olds yet to have mastered leaping, running and jumping.

"The majority of our children don't have these skills," Louise Hardy from the university's School of Public Health told AFP on Sunday.

"It's a total myth that kids will naturally acquire these particular skills. They do need some tuition."

The study, which analysed data gathered in 2010 from...

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