Dubai: A study has revealed that sportsmen are born and not made.
Speaking on the concluding day of the seminar of the UAE National Olympic Committee (NOC) Dr Andreas Hohmann of Bayreuth University in Germany, said: "Studies show that 80 per cent of talented athletes are born to be sportsmen. About 20 per cent are trained to be champions.
"Heredity plays a significant role in individual sports but does not have very good results in team events. Some children were not discovered as having a talent, however, when they grew up they showed great skills," he said. But Hohmann said some studies came up with the opposite theory.
He used an example of a German player who was short as a child and was not tipped to be an athlete.
"When he grew up, he played handball in the national team and scored the winning goal which gave Germany the European championships," he said. Dr Hohmann added that talent is linked with good training. "We must have continuous reports about talented athletes, this will help in deciding suitable training programmes and will help us to avoid weaknesses and increase positives," he said.
The seminar for discovering talented athletes concluded yesterday.
All the participants received their certificates from Ebrahim Abdul Malek, secretary-general of the UAE National Olympic Committee (NOC), at the Dubai Police Officers Club.
Dr Mousa Abbas, the NOC manager, expressed his delight with the seminar.
"We organised two seminars, the first about anti-doping in sports and the second about discovering talent in sport. The two were very successful," he said.
"I hope all the participants benefit from the two seminars which will help them to contribute in developing sports in the UAE."
