I disagree.

While it is unquestionably true that some people will have a genetic advantage (and some people will have a genetic disadvantage) the majority of people will have sufficient genetic potential to be able to perform within the top percentile.

The tricky bit is that the training needed for any given individual to reach their full potential is non-obvious. Practice does not make perfect. perfect practice makes perfect.

So I'm highly suspicious of that 10k hour figure, because it doesn't take into account the nature of the activity nor the practice. 10k hours in the saddle tooling around my neighborhood will not prepare me for the TdF. 10k hours spent in France, riding the Tour routes, at Tour intensities, potentially could.

So it's not so much that the genetically gifted posess that much extra maximum capacity, but rather that the demands of whatever activity they are "gifted" in already lies along tracks they are already suited for. It takes less training for them to reach higher levels because they don't have to do the training needed to get to their current start state. they have a genetic "head start".

Furthermore, the resources needed to determine what "perfect practice" is for a specific individual may be harder to source and more costly than that given individual would be willing to pay (in terms of not just money, but also time and effort).

In fact, I'll go as far as to say that the effort and resources needed to actually reach the elite are so much larger than most people expect that most of those that try don't go anywhere near far enough. It's not that they "couldn't" reach that level, but that they "wouldn't".

DG