As a start, you could read this article (or the book, I guess), exploring elite athletes (like Usain Bolt) and comparing their stories to what Malcolm Gladwell suggests in Outliers: http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/media/books/H...

That article is arguing against a gross simplification of an idea in Gladwell's book. Not exactly the same standard of rigorous science that Gladwell's critics seem to demand.

I heard Gladwell very briefly on the radio today and he described his work as "intellectual adventure stories".

I'm good with that.