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Re:Olympic executives cash in on a ‘Movement’ that keeps ath... by rhizome on Monday August 01, 2016 @02:25PM (#12204705)
Yours is a perspective that effectively renders the term "talent" meaningless.
Re:Olympic executives cash in on a ‘Movement’ that keeps ath... by ktRolster on Monday August 01, 2016 @02:59PM (#12204972)
That's kind of the consensus modern psychology and trainers are coming to. Some kids just have a drive that others don't, and that is what determines how well they do.

The major difficulty with the idea of "natural talent" is that every time someone points to a skill/whatever and says, "this is natural talent" someone else finds a way to teach that skill. Here is one paper: http://talentdevelop.com/articles/ITROM.html

Re:Olympic executives cash in on a ‘Movement’ that keeps ath... by Eutow on Tuesday August 02, 2016 @10:44AM (#12210304)
So if you trained hard enough you could run the 100m as fast as Bolt?
Re:Olympic executives cash in on a ‘Movement’ that keeps ath... by ktRolster on Tuesday August 02, 2016 @12:38PM (#12211160)
"Body shape" isn't what people usually mean by 'talent', and I doubt you define it that way either; but if you want to define talent to mean body shape, I will happily concede that talent is important.
Re:Olympic executives cash in on a ‘Movement’ that keeps ath... by Eutow on Wednesday August 03, 2016 @02:35AM (#12216043)
Merriam Webster defines talent as a special ability that allows someone to do something well. I agree with that definition. Usain Bolt is a naturally talented runner.

You said

>The major difficulty with the idea of "natural talent" is that every time someone points to a skill/whatever and says, "this is natural talent" someone else finds a way to teach that skill.

Can anyone be trained to run as fast as Bolt or would they have to be naturally talented in the first place to be trainable?

Re:Olympic executives cash in on a ‘Movement’ that keeps ath... by dragonwriter on Tuesday August 02, 2016 @12:43PM (#12211196)
> "Body shape" isn't what people usually mean by 'talent'

"Talent" is usually a catch-all for innate features distinct from trained features. ("Body shape" has both innate and trained elements.)