Large hands and feet act like natural paddles and fins, while large lungs increase natural buoyancy and endurance. Other anthropometric traits which are conducive for fast swimming are large hands, feet and lungs. Shorter legs have also been found to be advantageous for swimmers, as they help add more power without creating lots of drag. ![]() Swimmers with a high anthropometry score-that is, their arms are relatively long in relation to their height-tend to do best in the long-axis strokes of freestyle and backstroke.” In fact, research that was done by former 100 freestyle world record-holder and former resident USA National Team coach Jonty Skinner found that “limb length and size play a huge role in event potential, and the relationship between arm length and height gives a better picture of the athlete’s potential. For instance, swimmers with long wingspans have a definite advantage, as they are able to reach farther and pull more water with every stroke. When applied to swimming, some athletes possess certain physical variations besides height that give them an advantage in the pool. World Record holder Sarah Sjostrom: Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya AnthropometryĪnthropometry can simply be defined as the study of human body measurements and the physical variations found among humans. In fact, the average height of the 2016 Olympic finalists in Rio was 6 feet and two inches tall (1.884 m) for men and five feet nine inches (1.755 m) for women, both of which are substantially higher than the average human. Many of the top women in the world also possess great height, as world record-holders Sarah Sjostrom and Katie Ledeckey are both six feet tall (1.83m), while 100 free gold medalists Simone Manuel and Penny Oleksiak stand at 5-foot-eleven-inches and six-foot-one-inch tall respectively. Nathan Adrian stands at 6 feet 6 inches tall (1.98m), and Kliment Kolesnikov and Michael Andrew both stand at 6 foot 5 inches tall (1.96m). This can clearly be seen in many of the elite international male swimmers. ![]() ![]() One of the most obvious physical factors that give swimmers a distinct advantage in the pool is height. This begs the question: If you could hypothetically build the perfect swimmer’s body in a lab, what would it look like?Īlthough it is not possible to create one body that is perfect for all events, as there are so many different distances and strokes, research has shown that there are certain physical characteristics which are conducive to creating the best swimmers. Although swimmers with a wide variety of body types have found success in the sport, most at the international level tend to look similar, sporting tall and muscular bodies – typically with long torsos, long arms and short legs.
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