Livingston, M. (2019). The birthplace effect’s prevalence in American and Canadian sprinting. The Young Researcher, 3 (1), 80-88.

Abstract
In this study, I assessed whether American and Canadian sprinters’ birthplace population influenced their likelihood of competing professionally. The birthplace and birthplace populations of high-ranking athletes were extracted from the International Association of Athletics Federation website as well as Canadian and American census reports. Sprinter results were grouped in population-related categories and compared to general population representation. For American sprinters, results showed extreme overrepresentation among athletes from communities with less than 50,000 people. For Canadian sprinters, the greatest overrepresentation occurred among athletes from communities with 100,000 to 499,999 inhabitants. Analyses suggested that in America but not Canada, athletes are more likely to originate from smaller populated communities.

Keywords: Birthplace effect, sprinting, athlete performance


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