Does being tall give you an advantage?

Well, it depends upon your swimming generation. In my day back in the 1970's there were no 6'0" women. Shirley Babashoff was a little over 5'10". Her height was not the only advantage to why she was the best US swimmer of the 1970's. She workout harder than most swimmers in practice. Now in the previous generation Debbie Meyer was the Janet Evans of the day. She was at the most 5'6" and won the 200 and 400 and 800 meter freestyles in the 1968 olympics. John Naber came along and male swimmers started being 6'5" and above. And as for childhood swimming, the better swimmers like Shane Gould and Laurie Val when they were younger still dominate against people that didn't make nationals or the olympics. In my age group, I sure that the three top breaststrokers that have most of the records swam in nationals during the early and mid 1970's. And in women I would say its 55 and over genration would be included as well, many of the top 55 to 59 swimmers swam as kids or started master swimming at young ages. Yet, there are some of us who don't make the top ten and swam as kids. Also, the Netherlands that produced Inky and Hoogie also has one of the highest average heights. Males at 5'11" and females at 5"6" and half.

Well, it depends upon your swimming generation. In my day back in the 1970's there were no 6'0" women. Shirley Babashoff was a little over 5'10". Her height was not the only advantage to why she was the best US swimmer of the 1970's. She workout harder than most swimmers in practice. Now in the previous generation Debbie Meyer was the Janet Evans of the day. She was at the most 5'6" and won the 200 and 400 and 800 meter freestyles in the 1968 olympics. John Naber came along and male swimmers started being 6'5" and above. And as for childhood swimming, the better swimmers like Shane Gould and Laurie Val when they were younger still dominate against people that didn't make nationals or the olympics. In my age group, I sure that the three top breaststrokers that have most of the records swam in nationals during the early and mid 1970's. And in women I would say its 55 and over genration would be included as well, many of the top 55 to 59 swimmers swam as kids or started master swimming at young ages. Yet, there are some of us who don't make the top ten and swam as kids. Also, the Netherlands that produced Inky and Hoogie also has one of the highest average heights. Males at 5'11" and females at 5"6" and half.