Genomics of Elite Sporting Performance

Sporting performance is a complex phenotype, and it is acknowledged that to become an elite athlete, a synergy of physiological, behavioral, and other environmental factors is required. It is nevertheless widely accepted that there will be many genes involved in sporting performance. The data reviewed have been generated using classical genetic methods such as candidate gene analysis and primarily applied to cohorts with small sample sizes and therefore especially prone to type one error. Variants associated with elite athlete status by comparing allele frequencies in the elite athletes who are at one extreme of the phenotype distribution to their geographically matched controls. The general consensus amongst researchers in sport and exercise genetics is that direct-to-consumer genetic tests based on current knowledge have little or no role to play in talent identification or the individualized prescription of training to maximize performance.