Every elite athlete makes it look easy. Splashing in the water or walking gracefully down the runway makes it look effortless. Some people assume that they are “natural,” that their perfect DNA sequence is what got them to this level. Others argue that hard work and commitment are what made the difference, separating the elite from the average. These thoughts are what give rise to the age-old debate between nature and nurture. Countless hours of study and research have concluded: it is both. High-performance sports consultant Ross Tucker puts it this way: “The science of success is about the coming together of dozens, maybe hundreds of factors” (1). The relationship between such factors, including genetics, type and duration of training, and environment, is woven into such a dense web that it has proven extremely difficult to discern exactly the effect of each of them. Since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, University of Utah biology researcher Riddhita Chakraborty explains how scientists have been able to "read" a person's entire genetic makeup (1). Genes are sequences of DNA that will determine characteristics such as height, eye color, and hair color, to name a few (1). Finding specific genes for each trait, despite there being nearly 23,000 per person, seems like a relatively simple process given today's advanced technology. However, according to David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene, our genes appear to be much more complex than initially believed (24). As scientists delve deeper into human genetics, the idea of ​​finding a simple gene related to a specific trait appears less and less realistic. For something so crappy... middle of paper... Utah. July 9, 2012. March 1, 2014. Epstein, David. The sports gene: inside the science of extraordinary athletic performance. New York: Penguin Group, 2013. Futterman, Matthew. “Bodies Built for Gold.” WSJ.com July 27, 2012. February 21, 2014. Kelland, Kate. “Does nature or nurture make a better sprinter?” Reuters. July 31, 2012. March 1, 2014. Lee, Se-Jin. “Sprinting without myostatin: a genetic determinant of athletic ability.” Direct science. 23.10 475-77. September 19, 2007. March 1, 2014.Miah, Andy. Genetically modified athletes: biomedical ethics, gene doping and sport. New York: Routledge, 2004.Sauter, Edward R. “How Genetics and Environment Contribute to Athletic Ability and Compensation for Disease Deficiencies.” Journal of the AMAA. 21.1 5-10. 2008. March 5, 2014. Tucker, Ross. “Training, talent, 10,000 hours and geniuses.” Sports science. August 11, 2011. March 5. 2014