Olympic fever is upon us and, like with any major sporting event where we watch men and women “just like us” perform incredible feats of athleticism, we often ask ourselves the question: could I have done that?
A new study by JeffBet examining the physical attributes of more than 220,000 Olympians may shed some light on the answer.
It looked at medalists from over 120 years of Olympic athletic events and found that winning male Olympians in athletics tend to be 25 years old, standing at 1.81m tall and weighing in at 77kg.
Female Olympic athletic champions are also, on average, 25 years old, 1.70m tall and weigh 61kg.
The findings tally with the results of recent Olympic Games, such as Canadian decathlon Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Damien Warner, who stood at 1.84 metres and weighed 83kg, and American pole vaulter Katie Moon, who also won gold in Japan measuring 1.73m and weighing 61kg.
If you think the numbers disqualify you from any chance of Olympic glory, then not to worry: the study also breaks the “ideal athlete” down by athletic event, meaning there’s a bit more room for manoeuvre and a way for you to see where you’d have the best shot at emerging victorious.
The oldest ideal athlete for both men and women is in the marathon, coming in at 29 and 30 years old, respectively, while track events tend to have the youngest champions.
Male winners of the 100m, 200m and 400m are 23 on average, while champions of the women’s equivalent events tend to be between 22 and 24 years old.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, if you’re taller you might be in with a better chance of winning the high jump: the perfect height for a female high jumper is 1.78m, according to the study, while for men it’s 1.88m.
Those of you on the shorter side might instead opt for long-distance running. Medallists in the men’s 10,000m and marathon stand at 1.73m and 1.72m, respectively, and women champions measure the shortest in the same events at 1.63m.
As for weight, the athletics events with the heaviest winners on average are the shot put, discus throw and hammer throw, owing to the considerable upper body strength needed.
The ideal women athletes for these three events weigh in at 90kg, 84kg and 84kg respectively, and their ideal male counterparts weigh 118kg, 110kg and 106kg.
Of course, it goes without saying talent and constant practice and training are perhaps the most important factors when it comes to becoming an Olympic victor.
Nevertheless, the study might provide countries with some strategic food for thought as they identify and train their up-and-coming athletes while also offering the rest of us mere mortals a look at where our last glimmer of hope for ever participating in the games lies.
Euronews
