Does being tall give you an advantage?

A while back someone linked to a statistical study of elite swimmers that concluded close to what Allan said. (These conclusions are what I remember and might not be complete or perfectly accurate. Sorry don't have time to find the link.) - Height helps, particularly among male sprinters. - Wingspan really helps, particularly among sprinters. - Height makes less of a difference in breaststroke and IM. - I think there was something about short legs helping in backstroke. (That said, I'm 6'2" with a 75 inch wingspan and just about everybody who posts could beat me, because I'm lacking in just about everything else - flexibility, upper body strength, technique, etc.) Now I've always thought that your kick was helped by wide feet - though I've never seen it studied. That would help me rationalize having a lousy kick with a 12B foot. It's kind of what I was driving at all along. Since this is a masters forum, I had masters in mind...

A while back someone linked to a statistical study of elite swimmers that concluded close to what Allan said. (These conclusions are what I remember and might not be complete or perfectly accurate. Sorry don't have time to find the link.) - Height helps, particularly among male sprinters. - Wingspan really helps, particularly among sprinters. - Height makes less of a difference in breaststroke and IM. - I think there was something about short legs helping in backstroke. (That said, I'm 6'2" with a 75 inch wingspan and just about everybody who posts could beat me, because I'm lacking in just about everything else - flexibility, upper body strength, technique, etc.) Now I've always thought that your kick was helped by wide feet - though I've never seen it studied. That would help me rationalize having a lousy kick with a 12B foot. It's kind of what I was driving at all along. Since this is a masters forum, I had masters in mind...