Differences in life expectancy between olympic high jumpers, discus throwers, marathon and 100 meter runners

Several studies have demonstrated that body habitus is associated with survival (life expectancy) time. We sought to determine if survival differed between elite athletes with a range of body types. We hypothesized that the survival would differ between athlete types and that ectomorph athletes would have longer survival than heavier athletes.

For each Olympics between 1928 and 1948 we identified the top (up to 20) Olympic male and female finishers in the high jump (HJ), discus throw, marathon, and 100-m run. We determined date of death using internet searches and calculated age-specific expected survival using published US life tables. We adjusted life expectancy for country of origin based on Global Burden of Disease data.

We identified a death date for 336 of 429 (78%) Olympic athletes including 229 males (55 marathon, 56 100-m 58 high jump, 60 discus), and 107 females (54 100-m, 25 high jump, 28 discus). Discus throwers were heaviest and marathon runners the lightest and oldest athletes (p < 0.01). Observed-expected survival was highest for high jumpers (7.1 years for women, 3.7 years for men) and marathon runners (4.7 years for men) and lowest for sprinters (-1.6 years for women and -0.9 years for men). In multivariate analysis controlling for age and gender, type of sport remained significantly associated with mortality with greatest survival for high jumpers and marathon runners compared to discus throwers and sprinters (p = 0.005). Controlling for weight, reduced the survival benefit of high jumpers over discus throwers, but had little effect on the survival benefit of marathon runners vs. sprinters.

Significant differences in long term survival exist for different types of track and field Olympic athletes that were explained in part by weight.