The Bizarre Truth About Athletes

So here’s something weird I learned recently:  elite athletes are generally asymmetric.   For some reason, I find this surprising.  I always thought that being good at something implied a kind of physical perfection and physical perfection always struck me as meaning you had the same perfect form on both sides.  For example, if you want to run fast, it seemed to me obvious you’d want legs of the same length with bulging muscles of equal size.  I mean, who would build a Formula One car with different size tyres on the left and right?

But no, that’s not the way it is with athletes.  In particular, the people who kick things with one foot, hit things with one hand, or hurdle over things with one leading leg have a right side that doesn’t map onto their left side.

There are two odd consequences to this:

a) The best athletes often get injured, not because of the things they’re kicking, hitting or hurdling, but because they run funny.

b) Coaches and physios often don’t know when their athletes have recovered because the only way they can judge fitness is to measure the strength and performance of their bodies and compare one side to the other.