Does being tall give you an advantage?

An old saying has it that "a good big 'un, will always beat a good little 'un." But then another saying goes, rather pithily, that ... "It's not the dog in the fight ... it's the fight in the dog ... (that matters)."

if you were 50 m long then you could do a length instantly!

big feet=fins too

The saying is "Its not not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog..." But I will disagree with all of you (partly because I like to do that!). Height is very important, and it is not a coincidense that the 95% of the top swimmers are tall. Can a short swimmer be very very good. Absolutely. But can a 5' 9" sprinter hold the world record (male). Realistically no. Natural talent and a little work will achieve more than little talent and lots of hard work. Sad but true.

Wow, is the big feet thing for real..I went to the Pro/AM Kerr-McGee swim meet in Oklahoma City the past few years to watch my son swim and noticed a guy swim a 19.22 in the 50 SCY free. He had VERY LARGE FEET! MOST of the male swimmers that were swimming very fast times had very large feet.

At the elite level I would say yes, in sprint freestyle never saw short people. But think of thise chinese women with steriods that are only 5'7" and 5'8" can defeat American and European and Aussie women that are at least 5'10" in 50 meter freestyle because the steriods gave them more upper-body strength. On the other hand, think of this, women in their 45 to 49 age group world records are not much faster than the top 10 year old girls in USA swimming. And these kids are mainly under 5'0" and don't have the same amount of upper-body strength as a middle age women does. So, maybe because 10 year old girls weigh a lot less there able to equal women that may be a foot taller than them and have more upper-body strength.

in both swimming and rowing (especailly rowing), I was always a munchkin. My parents, standing at 5'11 (mom) and 6'3 (dad), I arrived at 5'4. In pictures with them I look like little person. But, the shortness never stopped me, and only encouraged me to whip the snot out of the big girls (especailly in rowing, who the only woman on my team faster than me was in the last olympics). So, height, smeight. Go short people! :D PS, Janet Evans still rocks.

Funny you should mention Janet Evans! I believe she was one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) swimmers of our time....and...I believe they are going to be shooting at her 1500 free record for MANY YEARS TO COME....She had a great deal of grit....as her 1500 free time indicates.

1) Feel for the water 2) Flexibility 3) Height Height is obviously a factor (afterall, swimmers are pretty tall compared to the "average" population) but it takes a back seat to feel for the water and flexibility. Add Dave Berkoff and Ray Carey to the list of under 6 foot swimmers who had great swimming success.

ever tried to swim with flippers (let's pretend the answer is yes :P)...well, big, flexible, feet with strong kicks does that... Yeah, certainly when it comes to physical stuff, genetics can provide unfair advantages...but without hard work those advantages are nothing...