Ja.... Men likevel så viser den andre studien hvor det ble oppfølgingsmål av ulike vekstindikatorer at jentene der ikke var underutviklet - selv om det kunne virke som at det var en slags selvselektering inn i de ulike idrette ift. høyde og utvikling (lange slanke blir svømmere, korte broilere blir brytere). Her er noen andre relevante tanker de gjør seg:
"Thus, the consistently observed
reduced stature in gymnasts could probably be related to
the fact that, on average, gymnasts are late maturers. In the
present study, the average height of gymnasts during the
initial phase of the study (1998–1990) decreased between
18 and 20 yr of age (Fig. 2). It is very unlikely that
gymnasts were losing height during this time period; it is
much more likely that the shorter and later-maturing
athletes were remaining in the sport, whereas the average
and early-maturing individuals were dropping out."
De gjør seg også noen tanker om hvorfor den studien du siterer (eller lignende studier) faktisk finner det de gjør vedrørende gymnastikkutøvere og beinlengde:
"Caine et al. (10) and Bass et al. (1) conclude that
gymnastics training results in a reduction in growth of the
trunk, whereas Theintz et al. (31) conclude that gymnastics
training resulted in reductions in growth of the legs,
resulting in reduced adult stature.
However, the former
study did not align its subjects by biological age but, rather,
chronological age. This is problematic because, as stated
earlier, gymnasts are, on average, late maturers, and thus
their leg length to sitting height ratio would be different
than the ratio of an average or early-maturing individual.The latter study (31) accounts for biological maturation, but
the gymnasts were not followed to adult height; therefore, it
is impossible to infer that adult height was compromised. In
the present study, we aligned individuals to biological age
(years of menarche), followed them to adulthood, and found
no significant difference in sitting height to standing height,
leg length to standing height, or sitting height to leg length
ratios between the three athlete groups."