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OLYMPIC ATHLETES ARE GETTING TALLER AND HEAVIER MUCH MORE QUICKLY THAN THE GENERAL POPULATION
Thursday August 6th, 2009

It's no secret that the average person nowadays is taller and heavier than the average person 100 years ago.  But it turns out that, on average, the BEST ATHLETES have gotten taller and heavier MORE QUICKLY than the general population. 

Nowadays, the average person is about 1.9 inches taller than the average person 100 years ago. 

But, according to a recent study from Duke University, the fastest Olympic swimmers now are 4.5 inches taller than the fastest Olympic swimmers 100 years ago.

And the fastest Olympic runners now are 6.4 inches taller than the fastest Olympic runners 100 years ago. 

Dr. R. Amadeus Mason is a sports medicine physician at Emory University.  He says, "The overall population is getting heavier and taller, [so] you would expect that the pinnacle is getting heavier and taller." 

Fair enough.  So just how big can we expect Olympic athletes to be in another 100 years? 

Actually, they'll probably be pretty close to their size today.  That's because there will come a point where athletes are too tall and too heavy to move quickly and efficiently. 

When that happens, Olympic athletes will stop outpacing the general population in terms of growth.  (CNN)

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