Shalom, I have read your article: "You can’t teach speed: sprinters falsify the deliberate practice model of expertise". At study 1, you write that: "All 15 Olympic champion sprinters were recognized as being exceptionally fast relative to their peers before or coincident with their initiation of formal training. There was no indication in any biography that any sprinter was initially unexceptional…" Reading Carl Lewis`s book "Inside Track – My professional Life in Amateur Track and Field" chapter two "The Runt", page 23: "…Being the loser in the family was so frustrating… My father was very supportive of us all, but he always talked about Cleve being the best at this or that… Every family seems to have someone who is not talented, and I thought I was for our family…" Lewis, the greatest sprinter/ long jumper of all time was a good athlete as at the age of 13 (5.77m LJ) but a long way behind the world age best (7.02 m); at the age of 14: 6.01m (7.41m); 15 – 6.93m (7.71m); 16 – 7.26m (7.95m); 17 – 7.57m (8.25m). He is only 23 at the All Time long jump junior list with 8.13m (8.35m) but by the age of 20 he was already the best in the world (8.62 m). Several other great athletes write in their biography that an expert told them they are not talented. Daley Thompson in: "One is my Lucky Number", page 11:"…despite the initial reaction of national decathlon coach Tom McNab who said that no way would he have me on the course because I was a bum sprinter who would never make a decathlete!..."

Yoram Aharoni Hod HaSharon Israel