How Olympians Have Changed (1924-2014)

What has changed in nearly 100 years of sports?
DAILY EPISODES, answering your burning Olympic questions.
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Because of the excitement surrounding the Olympics, we decided to make a series about the psychology, physiology, biology, chemistry and physics of the games! Join us every day for your daily dose of Olympic science.

Use the hashtag #ScienceSays to share your burning Olympic questions!
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Written and created by Mitchell Moffit (twitter @mitchellmoffit) and Gregory Brown (twitter @whalewatchmeplz).

The athletes of today are not only much better

than those of the past, they also
look incredibly different.

The weird thing is scientists
know the human body

hasn't evolved that dramatically
in the past 100 years,

so why do Olympic athletes look
so different now compared

to the first Winter Olympics in 1924?

In the early 1900s, the ideal athlete was based

on classical human proportions.

If we imagine body types,
distributed as a bell curve,

with extreme body types
being on the far ends,

it was the middle of the curve

that was considered the best physical build.

Athletes who were not too tall, but not too short,

not to bulky, but not too skinny and, well, average,

were deemed as ideal for the Olympic pursuit.

But this has all changed.

Now athletes succeed based on
their highly specialized body types,

which allow them to excel in a world
of growing competitiveness.

For example, athletes who are
required to spin in the air,

such as figure skaters or gymnasts,
have been getting smaller.

These athletes with short, specialized body types

have an advantage over average or tall athletes,

weeding them out at the elite level.

In fact, in 30 years, the average
professional gymnast

has shrunk from 5'3" to 4'9".

Computer simulations studying
the physics of ski jumping

have proven that jump length
increases drastically

with a decrease of body weight.

Throughout recent years, this has
caused world-class ski jumpers

to become extremely underweight,
including many examples of anorexia.

With women competing in
the Olympic ski jumping event

for the first time this year,
their bodies are stockier,

and broader, than their male counterparts.

As female ski jumping becomes more
popular and competitive in the future,

it's likely we'll see the extremely thin ski jumping

body type dominate the sport.

Hockey is also an example of visible body changes.

Studies looking at the past
26 years alone have found

a steady increase through the years of nearly

all variables measured.

This included height, mass, body mass index,

aerobic and anaerobic fitness,
and even grip strength.

Since the 1920s, hockey players have increased

nearly four inches on average, from 5'9" to 6'1".

So, clearly, the average Joe
Olympian is a thing of the past.

But science says the games
may not be a realistic goal

for people of many different sizes and shapes.

Don't forget, we have a new video out

every day during the Olympics. Can't wait?

Our amazing partners at
the CBC already have five

of the videos up now for you
to binge on. Just head to

cbc/ca/olympics/ScienceSays to
watch them before anyone else.

Link in the description.

But we also want to know your
questions for this special series.

Use the hashtag #ScienceSays and let us
know your burning Olympic questions.

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