Morphological evolution of athletes over the 20th century - Causes and consequences

Over the course of the past century it has become increasingly difficult to find athletes of the size and shape required to compete successfully at th e highest level. Sport is Darwinian in that only the 'fittest' reach the hi ghest level of participation. Not every physical characteristic could be ex pected to play a role in this selection process, but two that are important and for which substantial data assemblies exist, are height and mass. Meas urements of elite athlete sizes were obtained from a variety of sources as far back as records allowed. We charted the shift in these anthropometric c haracteristics of elite sportspeople over time, against a backdrop of secul ar changes in the general population. Athletes in many sports have been get ting taller and more massive over time; the rates of rise outstripping thos e of the secular trend. In open-ended sports, more massive players have an advantage. Larger players average longer careers and obtain greater financi al rewards. In some sports it is equally difficult to find athletes small e nough to compete. In contrast, there are sports that demand a narrow range of morphological characteristics. In these sports the size of the most succ essful athletes over the century has remained constant, despite the drift i n the population characteristics from which they are drawn. A number of soc ial factors both drive and are driven by the search for athletes of increas ingly rare morphology. These include globalisation and international recrui tment, greater financial and social incentives, and the use of special trai ning methods and artificial growth stimuli. In many sports the demand for a specific range in body size reinforces the need to adopt questionable and illegal behaviours to reach the required size and shape to compete at the t op level. Future scenarios also include 'gene-farming' through assortative mating and athlete gamete banks.