Why gymnasts are short

Simone Biles, our star athlete, is just 4'8". Lucky for me, there's no research that directly challenges my prideful excuse. It could be that small people do tend to seek out careers in gymnastics. From a physics standpoint, people with shorter arms and legs are better suited for the tricky rotations like Biles' now-infamous "helicopter legs," which involves balancing on one foot, knee bent, with her other leg fully extended, and spinning around it that gymnasts often use to wow the judges.

A small study published in the journal Sports Biomechanics suggested that smaller gymnasts were better equipped for moves involving forward and backward whole-body rotations and twisting. But self-selection isn't entirely to blame for the gymnasts' short stature. Research suggests gymnasts' intense training plays a role, too. If you've ever played a competitive sport, you're probably familiar with the impact that daily, intense training can have on your body.

All those hours at the gym or around the track, or in the pool add up. The muscles in your arms and legs start to pop; you have an easier time with stairs; your reflexes seem quicker.

So it's not crazy to assume that the rigorous training regimens that gymnasts undergo have some dramatic effects on their bodies — especially since they're so young. A study from kinesiologists at the University of Texas at Austin, for example, concluded that gymnastics training, however intensive, did not appear to have any effect on gymnasts' heights as adults or on the growth spurts that accompany puberty. Dr Hiley says:.

The taller you are, the larger your moments of inertia about the somersault axis. The more muscle you have, the heavier you are. Muscle strength is related to cross sectional area, and therefore total volume and mass. In other words, the bigger you are the more muscle you need, and since gymnasts work by moving their bodyweight, it is an advantage to be lighter. Okay, so female gymnasts are short.

Why the discrepancy? Men and women have differing apparatus in gymnastics. The rings, for example, require very powerful upper-body muscles. So the advantage to being slight is lessened. Once hormones kick in, gymnastics becomes an uphill battle against the developing body. Intensive training really begins post-pubescence. It can also be explained by keeping a law of physics in mind. The larger you are, the larger your moments of inertia will be.

Hence, it would become harder to rotate and large turning forces will be required to generate the same number of acrobatic moments.

Or, you can simply say that flipping would come easier to shorter people, than taller. So, just like being tall is an advantage for basketball players, being short is a boon for elite gymnasts!

As per a study on the performance of female gymnasts with respect to their growth, it was found that smaller gymnasts have greater potential for performing skills over taller gymnasts. So, shorter and lighter gymnasts are able to perform better.