Sport for tall.

Abstract

Eight new events (handball, basketball, and six rowing events) were introduced for women in the Olympic Games at Montreal in 1976. Of 187 women rowers who competed at Montreal, none was shorter than the mean height (162 cm, 64 in) of women aged 18-24 in the United States. In team events only two out of 250 participants were shorter than the reference mean. Even among the tall, it was the taller participants who won medals. What does the slogan "Sport for All" mean in this context? Moreover, the physical size required of champion rowers and basketball players is not to be found in some Asian, African, and Latin American populations. International contests in many such events therefore seem to be at variance with the first charter of the Olympic Games. An independent reviewing body is urgently needed to examine the merits of man made rules in many sporting contests.