# Why are gymnasts short?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gymnasts-short/63104>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 24, 2001, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gymnasts-short/63104 "2001-04-24T06:16:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gymnasts-short/63104/21 "2001-04-25T04:51:01Z")

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The obvious (to me) answer would be that the taller ones, or ones that grew tall throughout, were not able to complete at the same level as the shorter ones, for the reasons listed above, so all you see in competition gymnastics are short people (men and women).

I college, I had a roommate who was a gymnast. Little guy height wise, about 5’2". His specialty was rings and floor. He was on the same team as Kip Simons and Blaine Wilson and trained under Peter Kormann, but injuries (and stuff) ended his career. Anyway, the only really tall male gymnast I recall was John Rothelsburger (sp?) from MN.

We often partied with the womens team ( **!** ) and I once asked the women about the height thing. They commented on the stunted growth, the screwy menstration and whatnot. They also specifically mentioned how puberty threw off their center of gravity in a big way. I guess developing breasts is a bad thing for women gymnasts.

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**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2001, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gymnasts-short/63104/22 "2001-04-25T13:12:47Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Chronos \*  
> \*\*OK, we’ve heard from the biologists and the gymnasts. Now for the physicist’s answer: A shorter, more compact person will have a lower moment of inertia, which measures a combination of total mass and the average distance of that mass from the center. For a smaller person, both of these will be smaller. A lower moment of inertia will mean that it takes less torque to start the body rotating in any given manner (such as twirling atop a horse, or somersaulting in midair, or whatnot), and less energy. Ergo, smaller folks have it easier as gymnasts. \*\*

Beep, Beep…this just in…(imagine Kent Brockman’s voice)

News flash: “Big things don’t move as well as smaller things. After years of research, our agent-in-the-field, Captain Obvious, has concluded that smaller planes, cars, people, bugs, etc, etc, are more nimble than bigger things. Folks, faced with the great dilemma of big vs. small, where would we find ourselves without phycicists? One can only wonder, ladies and gentlemen. This is Skip Bowman for Eyeblivious News. Tune in tomorrow for ‘Elephants Vs. Fleas’ in our special investigation called 'How high can an elephant jump?”

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