Introducing Yuki Kawauchi

It has become unquestioned today that superior and consistent performance in sports is the result of the application of scientific methods of training, nutrition and use of cutting-edge equipment. Thus in most of the sporting activities today, the level of professionalism required for consistent performance is necessarily costly and that explains the partnership between performers and corporations or sponsors who pay for the training and equipment. bearing this in mind, i am particularly fascinated by this story in Slate Magazine about a Japanese marathoner whose methods and techniques for performance provide a resounding exception to this rule. 

Yuki Kawauchi is a leading marathon runner in japan who is different because he runs a personal training regime, enters races more regularly than is considered ideal, has no corporate sponsor while also maintaining a 40-hour per week job with the government. As the article states, his training regimen consists of daily running and entering for long distance races with very regular frequency. the surprise is that despite his peculiar approach to a very difficult discipline, he not only thrives but records better performance than his colleagues who are sponsored and trained by the national athletics institution.

The lack of professional coaching is evident in his running style that inevitably leads to wrong posture and poor stride but his performance in none the worse. As stated, a maverick of this kind inevitably attracts hostility from sports bosses who would like to see a performer under their direct control. 

As a person who runs a annual marathon race in the tropics with virtually no prior training, I agree that it is possible to exert oneself and perform reasonably well without adherence to the conventional professional advise. What I find truly impressive about Yuki Kawauchi is the consistency in performance and the ability to enter a large number of races. Perhaps his good performance is proof of the 10,000 hour rule described by Malcolm Gladwell in this book. In spite of this, my belief is that his athlete is overtraining and while he has kept risk of injury low, is likely to take longer to recover. the ultimate price hough is that Yuki is shortening his career substantially by the overwork of his body and would probably peak soon and decline much faster thereafter. It is still possible that he may prove the exception and have a truly long career because so far, nothing about this athlete is conventional. His career and times are worthy of keeping for close study. 

Amartya Sen's Take on the Race of the Asian Giants

Due to my declared libertarian inclination, I have weighed in with arguments on this blog about the longer-term prospects of India and China. In summary, my consistent contention has been that India may be a bungling democracy but will continue to make steady steps and eventually catch up and outrace China into sustained development. All this is because of my belief that the advantages of a sustained democratic order for more than half a century are not only unique but will be enduring. Despite the steady leadership of China's political party and the surface calmness, its political institutions are not comparatively advanced. This unequalled strength of the Chinese Communist party is perhaps its achilles heel too because of the absence of competing ideas in the political market.

Amartya Sen has written a timely and very incisive article in the NYT here, not only noting the difference between the two Asian neighbors but also seeking to explain why one leads the other. In spite of his being an Indian citizen, he makes the profound statement that India has trailed for so long that it may not be able to catch up with China at all. In this Nobel laureate's view, the gap in development outcomes between india and China is explained by the weakness of the India's public sector and the poor provision of public services.

Of particular concern is that india has failed to internalize the lessons of the Asian miracle which placed a huge premium on provision of good healthcare and education.  The stark comparison is real and reveals India's contradictions and great differences in the capability of citizens. In india's case, the world's largest producer of generic medicine also has appallingly underdeveloped public health systems. To sum it all, India's best industries can compete internationally but the large differences between its best and least educated undermines a longer and sustained growth path. While Amartya sen does not mention it, I am led to ask myself why the seeming comfort with vast inequalities in access and outcomes of health and education services in india is an enduring legacy of the social stratification engendered by the caste system.

Whatever the answer may be, I am aware that the odds of my bet that India will outrace China have shortened substantially. Sen's summary leads me to wonder how badly india would be doing if it did not have the single engine of democracy to begin with.