top U.S. gymnasts getting bigger

Dr. Bill Sands is always doing this — stifling perfectly entertaining online debates with the facts. 🙂

Here’s an abstract of one of their newer publications looking at the official heights and weights of U.S. Olympic teams since 1956:

The lay press, scientists, and physicians appear to believe that gymnasts are continually getting smaller and that their “smallness” is a health risk.

PURPOSE: Assess the historical changes in the size and age of the U.S. Women’s Olympic teams from 1956 to 2008.

METHODS: The official records from the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics, of Olympic team members were assessed at two levels: 1) individual height, mass, age, and body mass index (BMI) and 2) the team performance scores and rankings.

Fourteen Olympic teams with a total of 106 team members, including the alternates, were included. Trend analyses were conducted using linear and polynomial models.

RESULTS: Simple linear correlations indicated that since 1956 height, mass, age, BMI, and team Olympic rank have been declining. However, 2nd order polynomial curve fits indicated that in the last four Olympic Games the members of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastic Teams have been getting larger.

CONCLUSION: Women’s Olympic gymnasts were getting smaller through approximately the 1980s and early 1990s. Since then the size of these gymnasts has increased. The minimum age rule modifications may have played a role in athlete size changes along with a shift from former communist Eastern Bloc near dominance.

Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2012 May 29. [Epub ahead of print]

Historical Trends of the Size of U.S. Olympic Female Artistic Gymnasts.

Sands WA, Slater C, McNeal JR, Murray SR, Stone MH.

Source: Monfort Family Human Performance Research Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology, Colorado Mesa University, Grand Junction, CO.

In jock speak:

… the teams got continually smaller through the 80s and early 90s and then have been getting bigger ever since.

Interestingly, Olympic places and medals tends to follow the same trend. As the latter gymnasts got larger so did their medal count.