The other day, Venbanyama became an NBA draft pick. At 224cm tall but with excellent ball control, passing and shooting skills, the 19-year-old is already regarded as a future superstar.
In the Women's Basketball Asian Cup, the Chinese women's basketball team defeated the Lebanese women's basketball team 89-44 in the first game, Han Xu scored 17 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, with 0 turnovers. The 211cm tall "female version of Yao Ming" completely dominates the inside.
Basketball is the most familiar "giant sport", in the case of similar technical levels, the higher the figure, the more dominant.
And what about other projects? In addition to basketball, what other sports can height show advantages?
Run fast, swim fast
Athletics and swimming are the two sports with the highest number of gold medals in the Olympic Games.
Are there height requirements for these two items?
Let's start with two people, Usain Bolt is 195cm tall and Phelps is 193cm tall.
If you haven't checked the height data of these two people before, will you be surprised by these two numbers?
Most athletics events have little height requirement. "King of Marathon" Kipchoge is 167cm tall, and "Asian Flyer" Liu Xiang is 189cm tall, which is not an exaggeration.
Before the appearance of Bolt, there were basically no famous players with a height of more than 190cm on the 100-meter track. Being too tall is not conducive to sprinting is a generally accepted view.
But Usain Bolt broke that convention, constantly pushing human limits with a pair of long legs.
Can Usain Bolt prove that being tall is actually an advantage in sprinting?
Of course, it cannot be understood so simply. Xiao Gu feels that what Bolt proves is that when other skills and talents are similar, the taller he grows, the faster he runs.
If there is a sprinter who is more than two meters tall and is similar to Usain Bolt in terms of technique, reflexes, explosiveness, etc., he is likely to break the human limit again.
Usain Bolt's height is an outlier among sprinters, and Phelps' height is more common among swimmers.
Sun Yang, who has won 3 Olympic gold medals and 11 world championship gold medals, is 198cm tall. Wang Shun, who won the gold medal in the men's 200m individual medley at the Tokyo Olympics, is 192cm tall.
In the net duel, height is important
In tennis, serve is important.
Whether it's sending out an ACE ball to score directly, or creating pressure on the opponent's return ball, you can play more calmly.
Heavy gunners on tennis courts often have an advantage in height.
Wu won the Dallas Open in February, defeating his opponent John Isner in the final, the player who has the most ACE balls in men's tennis history, while maintaining the ATP's official official fastest serve speed (253km/h).
Isner's serve is so powerful, largely due to his height of 208cm.
Before Isner, the one who sent the most ACE balls was Croatia's Ivo Karlovic, who was 211cm tall.
A taller figure often means a higher ceiling of strength. In all the "net duel" events, being tall also means having a better angle of hitting the ball.
It is no accident that the two historic tennis heavy gunners are "giants" with a height of about 210cm.
Not long ago, the men's doubles showdown in the semifinals of the Sudirman Cup flooded the net. Liu Yuchen/Ou Weiyi scored 6 points in a row, staging a shocking reversal in a row in the desperate situation of holding 4 match points, winning the most thrilling big score for Guoyu.
Liu Yuchen is 195cm tall and Ou Weiyi is 189cm tall, which is a pair of "twin towers" in the badminton arena.
Is height important in all "net showdown" events?
Volleyball, which is very popular with Chinese audiences, is also a "giant sport".
The upper limit of volleyball players is not as high as basketball, but when it comes to average height, volleyball is not necessarily worse than basketball.
Dai Qingyao of the Chinese men's volleyball team is 208cm tall, Zhang Jingyin is 207cm tall, Peng Shikun is 208cm tall, Jiang Chuan is 205cm tall... Zhu Ting of the Chinese women's volleyball team is 198cm tall, Li Yingying is 192cm tall, Wang Yuanyuan is 195cm tall, Yang Hanyu is 198cm tall...
An inch long, an inch strong
The art of war has clouds, an inch long, an inch strong, an inch short, and an inch dangerous.
Specifically——
"One inch long, one inch strong" means that the use of long weapons can expand the attack range and increase the attack power, but it requires enough space and strength; "One inch short, one inch dangerous" refers to the use of short weapons can flexibly deal with enemies at close range, but requires high skill and reaction speed.
For martial artists, fists and feet are their weapons, and height and reach represent the length of the weapon.
Since fighting events are divided by weight, "giants" in the fighting arena generally only appear in particularly large divisions.
Boxing king Ali is 190cm tall, his contemporary, the famous heavyweight champion George Foreman, is 192cm tall, and Joe Fraser is 185cm tall. The height of the boxing champions of their time is not exaggerated.
Lennox Lewis, who was later a contemporary of Tyson, was 196cm tall, and Riddick Bow was 196cm tall. At 189cm tall, Holyfield rose from the welterweight division, and his body size is relatively thin in the heavyweight ring.
And what about Tyson?
Tyson is only 178cm tall, even if he lowers two or three competition levels, he is still small. But that's what makes Tyson great.
Most heavyweight fighters pursue "one inch long, one inch strong", and Tyson's fighting style perfectly interprets "one inch short, one inch dangerous".
After Tyson, the heavyweight champion is still good at long-range attacks, and he is better than his predecessors in terms of height. Now without a height of about two meters, it is difficult to occupy a place in the top stage of heavyweight boxing.
The Klitschko brothers are all about two meters tall, Anthony Joshua is 198cm tall, and Deonta Wild is 201cm tall. At present, the most popular heavyweight champion "Gypsy King" Tyson Fury is 206cm tall, which is the largest heavyweight king in history.
In addition, former UFC superstar Francis Nganno, who called Tyson Fury, is also 194cm tall. Zhang Zhilei, the first Chinese heavyweight boxer, is 198cm tall.
Height advantage, everywhere?
The three kings of "World No. 1 Sport" football, Pele is 176cm tall, Maradona is 165cm tall, and Messi is 170cm tall. It seems that you don't need to grow taller to play football.
But after all, there are 11 positions in football, and the positions played by the kings have no requirements for height, and other positions are not necessarily needed.
The height of the goalkeeper is generally over 190cm, and the height of many top central defenders is also very prominent. For example, Van Dijk is 193cm tall and Varane is 191cm tall.
Haaland is 194cm tall and also has top-level shooting, movement, speed, and awareness. The reason why he is favored is similar to that of Vemban Yama?
Having said that, is height a "universal advantage" in sports?
Of course, this is not the case, such as gymnastics, diving, figure skating, etc., growing too tall is a disadvantage. And such as e-sports, chess games, etc., have nothing to do with height.
What do you have to say about the issue of "height" in sports?
Edit | Three o'clock in the morning
Proofreading | The entire editorial office
Executive producer丨Hanayama
Approval | Lingjun
Figure Source | Network (invasion and deletion)
Today's topic
Who is your favorite "sports giant"?
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