I would say the example statement WAS racist, since it generalizes about an individual's future performance based on his or her ethnicity. There are plenty of sub-saharan Africans who do not have superior physical prowess, and even if there are not many great sub-saharan swimmers at the moment, there could be multiple factors bringing that situation about. It used to be said that women weren't good in business or in the visual or musical arts. 212.140.128.142