Taller Athletes Are Faster, Study Finds

[Cooter Brown]

Usain Bolt, the triple Olympic gold medal sprinter from Jamaica, predicted this week that he could break his own world record of 9.69 seconds in the 100 meter sprint with a time as low as 9.54 seconds. He claimed his coach told him its possible, so he believes him. His coach, Glen Mills, may have just finished reading some new research coming out of Duke University that showed sprinters and swimmers who are taller, heavier but more slender are the ones breaking world records...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...sterstudyfinds

[gh]

What a horrid bit of "science"; straight out of cherry-picking 101.

[Speedfirst]

What about the shorter athletes who break and have broken world records, run fast?

Why haven't there been more taller sprinters even coming close to world records or even on the lower levels performing to higher levels?

[Powell]

So what's SAF's slenderness factor?

[pherekydes]

Wow, what a big surprise!

Almost as big a surprise as the recent study that showed that linemen are likely to be large, or the one that showed that "Quarterbacks good at throwing things".

My own personal favourite is "Study shows that studies that reach blindingly obvious conclusions MAY be a waste of money."

Anyone in sports science institutes can choose from the following topics:

Sprinters faster than distance runners
Decathletes spend more time in gym than darts players
NBA BBers likely to be taller than average

And so on.

[dakota]

http://tinyurl.com/mgs7pj

:lol:

[gh]

This just in! A new study shows that butchers on averge are now 4 inches taller than they were in 1900. Barbers lag on the curve, being only 3.5 inches taller.

[Speedfirst]

This just in! A new study shows that butchers on averge are now 4 inches taller than they were in 1900. Barbers lag on the curve, being only 3.5 inches taller.

:lol: :lol:

[BisonHurdler]

This just in! A new study shows that butchers on averge are now 4 inches taller than they were in 1900. Barbers lag on the curve, being only 3.5 inches taller.

It should be noted, however, that "average" simply refers to the actual height of a single butcher selected every few years. But it's usually a really good butcher.

[track_expert]

If Bolt never won, no such study would exist.
So now 1 man dictates the entire sport and how the typical sprinter should be? gimme a break...

[Speedfirst]

If Bolt never won, no such study would exist.
So now 1 man dictates the entire sport and how the typical sprinter should be? gimme a break...

Michael Phelps is responsible for the study, him got wayyyyyyyyyyyyy more gold and world records than Usain.

[Jerome Marrow]

If Bolt never won, no such study would exist.
So now 1 man dictates the entire sport and how the typical sprinter should be? gimme a break...

Michael Phelps is responsible for the study, him got wayyyyyyyyyyyyy more gold and world records than Usain.

You must not know much about swimming because there are tons of elite swimmers much bigger than Phelps and there have been for years, decades actually.

[Speedfirst]

[quote=Jerome Marrow]

If Bolt never won, no such study would exist.
So now 1 man dictates the entire sport and how the typical sprinter should be? gimme a break...

Michael Phelps is responsible for the study, him got wayyyyyyyyyyyyy more gold and world records than Usain.

You must not know much about swimming because there are tons of elite swimmers much bigger than Phelps and there have been for years, decades actually.[/quote:373o0yr6]

I know enough about the sport, have followed it for a number of years(decades),... Mark Spitz sounds familar?

My point was in reference to what Phelps has done, in conjunction to the comment regarding Bolt.

I like to see those elite swimmers you mentioned resume, compared to Phelps.

[dakota]

Mark Spitz sounds familar?

Phelps is three or four inches taller than Spitz.

[Speedfirst]

Mark Spitz sounds familar?

Phelps is three or four inches taller than Spitz.

Not the point, point was Spitz from years back, indicating how far back I go in the sport. :wink: