Is Running the only sport where all body types have a chance of competing and succeeding?

It all depends on the kind of shorts you wear. Fat people are too embarrassed to wear 2" split shorts, but if they did, they would be just as fast as skinny people. Add to that the pure hate they've accrued over the years from being ridiculed, and fat people would be crushing it. It's time to stop fat shaming so we can start winning gold.

What about baseball? You can be 6'7" and 280 pounds or you can be 5"7" and 180 pounds and still be good. Hell, there are even 300 pound pitchers. Basketball has some variation too. There's a huge difference between a Steph Curry and a land whale like Shaq.

I don't think fat people who play golf can compete and succeed. It takes a mentality. If someone's fat and has a bad posture, I think they're miserable. Although if they're fat and smiling, they probably embody the personality of the dad bod and I think that makes them a weekend warrior.

Hiccups wrote:

I don't think fat people who play golf can compete and succeed. It takes a mentality. If someone's fat and has a bad posture, I think they're miserable. Although if they're fat and smiling, they probably embody the personality of the dad bod and I think that makes them a weekend warrior.

Tim Herron, John Daly, and Kevin Stadler have something to say about that.

Tim "Lumpy" Herron in particular was fat and successful, then lost a bunch of weight and lost his card, and got it back once he gained the weight back.

Don't get me wrong: the trend in golf is to be ripped. But (much more than running) all body types can certainly be successful at golf at the highest levels, which was the OP's question.

"Fat and happy" is a thing (unfortunately).

Don't you need muscular arms (aka be a guy) in order to swing in golf? And baseball too? When I think about it, I've never seen or watched women's golf. In my whole life I don't ever recall watching women's golf. But I picture women's tennis apparel as resembling golfing gear.

I don't really meet that many fat and happy people.

thejeff wrote:

: the trend in golf is to be ripped..

Um, what? Do you mean getting ripped as in drunk?

I've heard it said that track & field can accommodate people of many different body types, but the field component allows for shot putters, hammer throwers, etc., and complements running well.

Phil the doughboy wrote:

thejeff wrote:

: the trend in golf is to be ripped..

Um, what? Do you mean getting ripped as in drunk?

Yes, clearly that is what I meant. Enjoy your freshman year.

Pure Hate (Out of Love) wrote:

I'm trying to get my friend into running because it doesn't require equipment. It's the lazy guy's exercise in the sense that you only need shoes to be able to function.

I honestly think that the shot, discus, HJ, LJ, and javelin events are for very well-off people. It's Duke University tier, while running is Kenyan tier (so it's very accessible).

Also, don't those events require a lot of motor skills and coordination? It's also very skill based as well and you're confined to a small place on the field.

Mostly I think you're right, although I'd make an exception for the LJ and maybe even the discus & jav. Both the discus & jav are quite natural actions that don't really require specialist equipment or technique - if you can find a frisbee or a plate, or the right shaped stick, you can try them out in the same way people in poor communities all over the world kick around soccer balls. The fact that you don't have proper equipment doesn't stop you competing with others who are using the same implement as you - I imagine there were cavemen having competitions about how far they could throw a spear, for example.

Same with the LJ - all you need is a place to jump from, and a safe place to land. A good sandpit is nice, but basically anything that's soft will do. Although the distances might be different the technique's basically the same.

The HJ probably would have been included up until Dick Fosbury came around. The Fosbury Flop has to be learned, but prior to that I think the HJ techniques were easy for anyone to pick up - as long as they have a bar and a safe place to land (and of course it's particularly important to have a safe place to land with the Fosbury Flop).

The shot, hammer and PV are different though - if you use the wrong technique in those, you're going to get hurt.

You're right that those events tend to be more the domain of well-off people, but I don't think that that necessarily has to be the case.

See, I always thought cycling and running were pretty similar in this regard, except everybody does basically the same race.

The really small guys, you may expect in the 10k or marathon distance make for great climbers. The key formula you always hear is "watts per kilogram" and because they weigh a lot less, they excel going uphill.

But those same guys would have no chance against the 6' 6" massive guys in a sprint. Their raw power output for a short 10 second burst is impossible to match for somebody the size of Gebresallasie. Kind of like on the track.

Then there's everybody in between. Guys that are bigger, but can get over the hills more efficiently than the pure sprinters and win a reduced bunch sprint. Or guys that can output huge watts for a short burst while still retaining a low weight. won't beat pure sprinters, but can breakaway up a short climb or win an uphill sprint.

There's extremes too; I've seen people that are straight up overweight that have fast enough twitch to excel in the velodrome if the race is literally shorter than a kilomter. And (relatively) big guys like Miguel Indurain that could outclimb guys that weigh 50 pounds less and are 6 inches shorter because their aerobic capacity is just that good.

The difference is that in cycling, all of those guys are in the same race. The sprinter might have to wait for their flat day for the finish to end in a sprint and the climber has to wait for the mountains. But they're all on the start line together and competing with each other. In that sense, everybody on the line knows that depending on the day, if they play their strengths right and exploit their opponents' weaknesses, they can win.

We're never going to know if Mo Farah or Usain Bolt would win in a 600m race. But we can watch plenty of times every year to see if Marcel Kittel can make it over the climbs of the day to beat Michael Matthews in the sprint at the end.

To answer your question: No.

TLDR: Cycling is really similar, except Usain Bolt, Van Neikerk, Centrowitz, Farah and Kipchoge all race the same race.

thejeff wrote:

Phil the doughboy wrote:

[quote]thejeff wrote:

: the trend in golf is to be ripped..

Um, what? Do you mean getting ripped as in drunk?

Yes, clearly that is what I meant. Enjoy your freshman year.[/quote

Thanks but I don't think you know what alternate definitions mean.

Maybe less time in Sunday school and more actual learning?