Usain Bolt – fastest man on earth – sprint talent is in his fingers!

Usain Bolt has the marker for sprint talent: a long ring finger! The 2008 olympics in Beijing pointed out that Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is the fastest man on sprint ever! And last sunday he set another new world record at the Athletics World Championships 2009 Berlin. How come that Jamaican sprinters run so fast? Earlier this year British researchers studied the hands of 241 boys aged 10 to 17 who took part in a sports talent-spotting competition in Qatar. And the results pointer out that a low 2D:4D finger ratio is linked with a fast sprint! Professor John T. Manning (a.k.a. ‘the finger professor’) about the research: “We found finger ratios of the right and left hand were positively linked with sprinting times in boys. The advantage they had was soon apparent after the start of the sprint and remained steady thereafter.” Previous studies have confirmed the link between finger length and sprint talent: long-distance runners have the same hand characteristics – a ‘low 2D:4D finger ratio. But to understand the implications in this perspective one should be aware that the long ring fingers has also been linked with other ‘testosterone’ related matters such as: a lower risk of heart disease and good results in exam success in mathematics, to male aggression and higher earnings at the London Stock Exchange. So the predictive value of a long ring finger is actually pretty, and certainly not reliable in individual subjects. Nevertheless, John T. Manning has described in his first book – ‘Digit Ratio’ – that the hands of Jamaicans are usually featured with a relatively long ring finger – which is confirmed by various hand photos of the most successful sprinters from Jamaica (see the photo below). RELATED ARTICLES: • The hands Usain Bolt – olympic world record holder sprint! • Usain Bolt has the long ring finger – measure for sprint talent • Finger length explains the success of Jamaican sprinters! • About finger length & athletic succes • Why Jamaican sprinters run so fast! • Jamaican samples show low 2D:4D ratio