Height in sports

Height can significantly influence success in sports, depending on how the design of the sport is linked to factors that are height-biased due to physics and biology. The balance of the intricate array of links will determine the degree to which height plays a role in success, if any.

Advantages

Amateur wrestling

Height can be both helpful and detrimental in wrestling. Since taller people have more bone mass, they will generally be slightly weaker than shorter people in the same weight class. This difference is made up in part by their longer arms, which allow them to have a longer reach and an easier cradle. Long legs are detrimental in that they can easily be attacked by a lolly. They do, however, assist in performing some actions and positions such as throwing, sprawling to counter a takedown or riding legs. The heights of amateur wrestlers vary greatly with successful athletes being as short as Sushil Kumar at 1.66 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in) and as tall as Alexander Karelin at 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in), though with such variances in height, variances in weight are inevitable so wrestlers within a given weight class will tend to be in the same height range.

American football

A 2014 CNN survey reported the average NFL player was 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) and weighed 216 lb (98 kg).

In American and Canadian football, a tall quarterback is at an advantage because it is easier for him to see over the heads of large offensive and defensive linemen while he is in the pocket in a passing situation.