Philip M Clarke professor, Simon J Walter research fellow, Andrew Hayen associate professor, William J Mallon orthopaedic surgeon, Jeroen Heijmans technical adviser, David M Studdert professor et al
Clarke P M, Walter S J, Hayen A, Mallon W J, Heijmans J, Studdert D M et al.
Survival of the fittest: retrospective cohort study of the longevity of Olympic medallists in the modern era
BMJ 2012; 345 :e8308
doi:10.1136/bmj.e8308
The Achilles heel of Olympic survivors
Clarke et al describe how Olympic medallists live on average 2.8 years longer than controls. Two observations may be relevant:
First, it is likely that few of these Olympians smoked. Current smokers are expected to die, on average, about ten years earlier than non smokers (BMC Medicine201513:38 https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-015-0281-z ). As historical smoking rates in the countries from which these athletes came were in the order of 30% or more, it seems likely that this single factor more than accounts for the Olympians' apparent survival over 'controls'.
Second, it seems reasonable to speculate that these "super performers" spent at least 2.8 years of cumulated effort in training for the Olympics.
If they enjoyed their training and consequent success, then in this small group, the trade-off may be reasonable. Otherwise, non-smoking and a subscription to Athletes Anonymous might be as efficacious, without the disappointment of failure, and the risks illustrated by the accompanying article that describes an injury rate of 11% at the London games. (Br J Sports Med 2013;47:407-414 doi:10.1136/bjsports-2013-092380)
Competing interests: No competing interests