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很久以前，我是一名认真的运动员。我非常出色，在18岁以下的冠军赛中排名第三，并赢得了超过1亿美元的欧洲20岁以下冠军。然而，作为成年人，我从未参加过世界冠军或奥运会个人决赛。如果您将我的时间与在2012年伦敦奥运会决赛的决赛中进行比较，那么我18岁，我是最快的。然而，在那些有前途的青年表演之后的几年中，我表现出很少的进步，而那些运动员则发展成为真正的世界一流短跑运动员。
We propose that, alongside traditional Talent Identification methods, perhaps we should attempt to identify those athletes with the greatest capacity to improve with training.
This illustrates a common problem with most Talent Identification (TI) programmes; they tend to use results, either from a physical test or competition performance, at a given age as a method to predict future success as an adult. However, as my results show, this is both inaccurate and inefficient, potentially leading to the mis-identification of athletes. Instead, we need a better way, and this is the subject ofa paper published today in运动医学 - 开放我自己和我的合着者约翰·基利（John Kiely）。在这里，我们建议，除了传统的TI方法外，也许我们应该尝试确定那些具有最大能力改善训练能力的运动员。在这种情况下，我们可以发现那些目前已经非常擅长运动的年轻人，而是可以揭示那些最大余地的年轻人。
In order to frame our argument, we discuss whether the ability to adapt to exercise (or, in this case, training) can be considered a talent. To do this, we utilise a framework first proposed byHowe and colleagues, which states that for something to be considered a talent, it must fulfil five criteria:
- 它一定是天生的
- The full effects of this talent must not be fully evident at an early age
- 必须早日表明这种才能
- Only a minority of people must possess this talent
- 人才必须是特定领域的
A key point in this argument is that, when subject to a training programme, there is a wide variety in the training improvements seen in individuals. Some of this variation is down to statistical error and noise, as covered excellently byAtkinson and Batterham，但有些也是由于生物学变异. An important component of this biological variation are small changes in our DNA, which can have a fairly large impact on the size of the improvements we see from training. As there is an undoubted genetic component to this variation, then the ability to see large improvements from training is at least partially innate. Having established that the ability to respond to training is at least partially innate, we also show evidence that it meets the other four criteria, and, as such, we can consider it to be a talent. The next step is to determine if we can test for it, because, if we can, then we have the opportunity to improve the TI process.
在过去的二十年左右的时间里，技术的快速改进使基因测试既实惠又广泛可用。正如我们基因的差异解释了个体对训练的某些差异一样，基因检测可能有助于我们确定那些拥有这样的基因的运动员，从而可以从训练中得到最大的进步。这种方法是目前有争议, and as of yet very few genes have been determined to alter the adaptations from training. However,早期研究in this area is promising, but there are still a number of scientific and ethical hurdles to be overcome.
Nevertheless, there is the potential that, in the future, the use of genetic testing may aid in the identification of individuals with the greatest capacity to improve with exercise. Such information should enhance the current talent identification process, which at present identifies those athletes who are currently successful, as opposed to those who will be successful in the future.
注释