The Elite Study: DNA of Extreme Human Performance

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The elite study is looking at the genetic determinants

of elite sporting performance.

In particular, aerobic endurance.

In a measure called VO2 max.

And we're looking essentially for

the fittest people in the world.

And we're trying to find what in their genome

is responsible for making them that fit.

We know that about 50% of the variance,

50% of what determines how fit you are,

comes from your genome.

50% is training.

So we wanted to find what that 50% is.

And so we're on a global search

to try and find the fittest people.

To give you an idea of just how extreme that is,

we have people have won gold medals in the Olympics

who do not reach the criteria for inclusion in this study.

So we're really looking for the elite of the elite.

And because we think by that studying the extremes,

we can really find something interesting

about what causes people like them to be so extremely fit.

And that should hopefully be relevant,

not just for the athletes and for sporting performance,

but for what we're also interested in here in the hospital

which is heart disease.

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