These are the body types that get you to the Olympics

Updated
What's the Youngest Age to Compete in the Olympics?
What's the Youngest Age to Compete in the Olympics?



The Rio Summer Olympics are finally here, and it's once again time to watch your favorite top athletes compete at the international level.

Olympic athletes are some of the best in the world, and the road to becoming one of these athletes is incredibly difficult. For example, men have only a 1 in 19,552 chance of becoming an Olympic wrestler, and women have a 1 in 45,487 chance of playing basketball in the Olympics.

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Years of hard work and training go into becoming an Olympic athlete. But is there any ideal body type that helps give these athletes that special edge?

We've compiled a list of the nation's top athletes who are competing in Rio or have dominated their sports at the Olympic Games in the past. While some wingspans for older athletes are not readily available, we estimated that they were 1 to 2 inches greater than height. Here are the ideal body types that allow athletes in a variety of sports to compete at the world level:

BI GRAPHICS_Sizing up famous Olympic athletes
BI GRAPHICS_Sizing up famous Olympic athletes

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

Here are the Olympic superstars lined up together.

BI GRAPHICS_Sizing up famous Olympic athletes together
BI GRAPHICS_Sizing up famous Olympic athletes together

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

NOW WATCH: Here's how gold medals are made for the Rio Olympics

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