But that simply isn't true! What training did Michael Phelps do to get those extraordinarily long arms and flipper-like feet? Now don't get me wrong, he trains like a madman, but someone who trains equally hard without those genetic advantages is going to lose. Doesn't mean it's not worthwhile trying to be the best swimmer you can be. It does mean that you shouldn't get depressed if you can't beat him.
The people at the top of any field combine hard work with genetic predisposition. You need both because you will be competing with people with both.
It's a good thing that in our field there is no single winner and the rest are losers. As a programmer, I want to become as good as I can, be one of the few. I might never become better than Linus Torvalds (simply because he'll keep getting better too), but that won't prevent me from achieving my goal.
Our field is not a competition. There is plenty of room for a bunch of great programmers.
The people at the top of any field combine hard work with genetic predisposition. You need both because you will be competing with people with both.