Body boffins shape future of sport

Identifying athletes whose body shape or type is ideally suited to their sport could mean the winning difference - and New Zealand is lagging behind. ANNE BESTON reports.

Science might one day decide which athletes should go to the Olympic Games and who should stay home.

Scientists are playing an ever-bigger role in top sport and at Sydney 2000, New Zealand was invited to take part in a study of a group of elite athletes - Olympic rowers - to find out what makes them win.

This branch of science is anthropometry - identifying athletes whose body shape or type is ideally suited to their sport.

The rowing team was one of New Zealand's few success stories at the Games, and sports scientist Professor Patria Hume, of the Auckland University of Technology, says we are behind the rest of the world in this field.



"Australia puts a lot more emphasis on natural talent selection and identifying talented people younger. We haven't done much of that at all."

Professor Hume is a former New Zealand representative gymnast and coach, and is a strong believer in the ability of sports science to help New Zealand improve its Olympic medal chances.

"I look at people walking down the street and think to myself, they'd be a good gymnast or volleyball player because of their body type."

Professor Hume was one of two staff from AUT to take part in the study of 417 rowers from around the world.

Although the full results will not be available until later in the year, one initial finding surprised no one - the most successful rowers have long arms.

The Russian and British rowers in particular have an almost unnaturally long arm span, on average 10-12cm longer than their height. Most people have an arm span equal to or less than their body height.

Most rowers have long lower arms, and all of them are tall.

Professor Hume and a team of sports specialists, including a physiotherapist and coach, were involved with gold medallist Rob Waddell in the leadup to the Games.

Although Waddell has an ideal body type for rowing, Professor Hume was able to suggest some changes to help his performance.

"In preliminary experiments before the Games we were able to suggest a change to the position of his feet in the boat.

"That's fairly crucial in rowing - it's where a lot of power comes from. People want a more scientific basis to what they're trying to achieve."

But money continues to be an issue for New Zealand's top athletes. Professor Hume says she was glad to be involved with New Zealand Rowing because the sport has a strong talent-identification programme and is keen to use the latest research and technology.

Unlike New Zealand, Australian rowers can wire their boats to a $20,000 computer that analyses their performance to look for areas where it can be improved.

"It would make a heap of difference to coaching here but we don't have one. We are always having to fight to get more money," Professor Hume says.

But science cannot do everything. Even athletes without the ideal body type can still succeed at the highest level. A rower without long arms but with a high cardiovascular capacity can still be a top performer.