Superior Physical Ability!
4 July 2002
R. Sanborn Brown
It is always interesting to listen to sports commentary when one is removed from the usual trappings of home, country, routine. Or when the sportscasters are discussing foreign athletes. What passes for the normal blather, mere background noise, suddenly takes on new meaning when heard out of its normal context. Unwittingly, commentators often reflect the milieu of a time and place. Though on home ground, Japanese journalists proved this at the 2002 World Cup with their excessive and reflexive use of a term to describe black athletes
Thank God. After a month of listening to and reading about and hearing analysis of Takai Shintai Noryoku ('superior physical ability') during the World Cup, a Japanese writer has finally revealed the expression for what it is: racial code.
Writing on the Commentary page of the Asahi Shinbun, Atsuhisa Yamamoto's article 'Just What is Superior Physical Ability?' exposes this. 'During the World Cup, television announcers, print journalists, and others have made frequent use of this expression' - a collection of Chinese characters that translate roughly as 'having extraordinary physical ability' - so much so that it has moved from the realm of specialized meaning into every day use. However, after using the term, 'the commentators themselves become vague, and viewers and or readers have been left at a loss' [as to the meaning], notes Yamamoto.
Worse though than the above confusion, though, is - consciously or unconsciously - the racist implication that underlies its usage, according to Yamamoto. The term is used exclusively to describe black players and or African teams and players. Nigeria, Cameroon, and Senegal were routinely thus described; Tunisia was not. Black players on the French, English, and American teams were also so labeled; the same moniker, however, did not find its way onto their non-black teammates. In one telling example, Germany's goalie Oliver Kahn's made a brilliant save on a shot from American Landon Donovan. Kahn and Donovan - both of whom are white - made it onto FIFA's 'Best 11' of the tournament; neither of them, however, was ever described as being blessed with 'superior physical ability.' Rather, they possess 'skill' or 'technique.' Later in the second half of the same game, American Tony Sanneh made several penetrating runs at the German goal. After one particularly dangerous header, the Japanese announcer could no longer contain himself and, Pavlov-like, blurted out about the American's 'superior physical ability.' At the international level, Sanneh is an athlete who at best could be described as a solid player. Eddie Pope also was on the receiving end of the same appellation after several of his pulsating runs at the German defense.
Yamamoto writes: 'consciously or not, a dichotomy has been created. Spirit
versus Athleticism, Technique versus Athleticism, Europe versus Africa.'
In the same vein, he continues: 'The play of black African players was
artlessly praised for its athleticism.' Lurking behind this, though,
is the implication that the physical attributes of black players are those
of 'a primitive, a barbarian, of an uncivilized body.' At the same time,
though, the source of the performance of most valuable player of the tournament
Kahn was invariably ascribed to his 'German Soul.'
Even on the Japanese team itself, the only player deemed worthy of the 'great athleticism' sobriquet was Brazil born-and-bred (and black) Alessandro Dos Santos. The 'athleticism' of Parma's Hidetoshi Nakata and Feyenoord's Shinji Ono - both are clearly better players than the naturalized Santos in terms of both physical ability and level of skill - was never mentioned. Instead, they were showered with the truisms fit for a true Japanese athlete: small but hard-working, never say die, makes up for an innate lack of superior physical ability with grit and determination.
Yamamoto concludes that if the Japanese media continues to divide and reduce players on the basis of their race through the use of such terminology, four years hence at the 2006 Germany World Cup the appearance of new playing styles and formations will go unnoticed.