Not to mention it's canon.
No it's not. Bethesda deliberately makes the identity and accomplishments of each hero vague and completely unknown, and effectively writes out the hero of the previous game. The most canon you'll get is that every hero is different, but even then that's not entirely true.
Anyway, on the topic on hand, a big, burly nord male is going to make more...sense for Skyrim, for a lack of a better word. Symbolic maybe? Anyway, having any other race really won't. When people think Skyrim and nords, a large majority of people will think Conan the Barbarian and vikings.