When the Australian Institute of Sport started the “Talent Search Program,” its mission was to find teenagers who had specific physiques and could be trained as elite athletes in sports that matched their body types. They hand-picked Megan Still at 15 and a decade later, she brought home to Australia a gold medal for rowing at the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta.
The institute chose Still because she had what they considered the perfect physique for a rower — tall with long limbs and a long torso that allows for a tall sitting height.
While not all competitive athletes who find success in a specific sport have the same build, some do. Some world class swimmers are tall with long limbs; some elite weightlifters have shorter arms and legs with thick muscles; some sprinters have slim legs and narrow hips.
