Research by the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) funded by Bayes Business School — based on Commonwealth Games competitor records since the inaugural event in 1930 — shows large differences in the longevity of medal winners compared to people in the general population that were born in the same year. A report finds that top-level sports people can live over 5 years longer than the rest of the population.

1. Marathon or sprint?
Do elite-level athletes live
longer than average?
Les Mayhew and Ray Algar
April 19th 2023
1

2. A marathon or a sprint: Do
elite-level athletes live
longer than average?
Join the conversation: @ilcuk
#SportLongevity
Ilcuk.org.uk
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Chaired by Paul Goulden
Head of Partnerships, ILC-UK

3. @ilcuk
#SportLongevity
Report launch
A marathon or a sprint: Do elite-level
athletes live longer than average?
Chair: Paul Goulden
@PaulGoulden
@ILCUK
Gemma Curtis
London Sport
@LondonSport
Sharron Davies MBE
Olympic and Commonwealth
Games medallist
@sharrond62
Prof Les Mayhew
ILC-UK
@ILCUK
Dr Dion Neame
Sanofi
@dion_neame
@sanofi
Scott Reid
Global Protection & Data
Actuary
@Zurich
Brian Whittle MSP
British athlete and politician
@BrianWhittle

4. Professor Les Mayhew
Join the conversation: @ilcuk
#SportLongevity
Ilcuk.org.uk
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Associate Head of Global Research ILC-UK
and Professor of Statistics at Bayes
Business School

5. About this research
• Promoting health is key policy aim and physical exercise and sport is a
proven route to health and wellbeing
• But little is known whether sport also increases longevity, if your later
years will be healthy years, or which sports do best
• Sport can be inspirational and confidence building– something that stays
with you and opens up opportunity
• Our previous research on the ‘Longevity of sporting legends’ found that
longevity was boosted in some sports more than others
• In this research we set out to determine which branches of athletics and
other individual sports do best
5

6. Why ILC?
• At ILC we want people to live long and productive lives free from
illness and disability but it a tough battle to bring about change
• Our work on prevention and inequalities is well known –next month
we will launch a global prevention index covering the whole world
• Our work also aims to spotlight things that make a difference - a
good example is our work on vaccination, and other health topics
• However, we also like to shine a light on activities or segments of
society with proven links to our mission which have to do with
lifestyles that provide potential role models
6

7. How longevity has changed
• Life expectancy has increased massively over last century – what was
old in 1900 is young by today’s standards
• With athletes we are comparing small numbers of people, our elites, with
a much bigger population
• It means we need robust methods to prove whether longevity differences
between sports and the general population are significant or not
• But the Games is still relatively young. Many medallists are alive today –
are their current ages unusual or do they reflect the population at large?
• To remove any bias, we use life tables based on the years of birth or our
subjects to compare their longevity
7

8. Evolution of the Commonwealth
Games
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
1930
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
Sports/
countries
and
territories
Number
of
athletes
Year of Games
Countries and territories
Sports
Athletes
Chart showing growth in
the Games since the first
held in Ontario, Canada in
1930. The Birmingham
games in 2022 featured
5000 athletes; 72 teams
from 54 countries and 18
territories competed in 19
different sports. The BBC
recorded a TV audience of
28.6m – the highest ever.
In 1930 it was known as the British Empire Games. Most competitors were men and events were measured in
imperial units (yards, miles, pounds). Women only competed in aquatics events and had to wait until 1986
before they could run in the marathon. The Games went metric in 1970 and today women compete for more
medals than men. Para events were integrated in the Games in 2002. Australia has the biggest all-time medal
haul. 8

9. Medal categories (men)
9
Athletics (track) Short, middle- and long-distance running events, including hurdles,
steeplechase, walking and marathon (578 medallists)
Athletics (field) Decathlon; discus; high jump; javelin; long jump; pole vault; shot put;
triple jump; plus shooting and lawn bowls (405 medallists)
Aquatics Diving; swimming; plus rowing (single sculls) (436 medallists)
Contact sports Boxing, judo, and wrestling plus fencing (726 medallists)
Indoor Gymnastics; racquet sports; weightlifting (323 medallists)
Cycling Road; mountain/cross country; and track (220 medallists)

10. Mortality of track medallists
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
0-10 10-25' 25-50 50-75 75-95 95-99 99+
Cumulative
%
of
deaths
Percentile range
Male track medallists
General male population
Chart showing the
cumulative mortality of
track medallists versus
the general male
population. Their
mortality is lower than
expected up to the 99th
percentile.
Mortality
advantage
We have 102 deceased track medallist in our sample. The mean percentile to which track medallists live is
62.4% compared with a 50% median for the general population. Their longevity is boosted on average by
62.4/50 = 1.25, or 25 %. Quite large numbers in this group lived well into their 90s, the oldest being aged
100.
10

11. Mortality of contact sports medallists
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
0-10 10-25' 25-50 50-75 75-95 95-99 99+
Cumulative
%
of
deaths
Percentile range
Male contact medallists
General male population
We have 112 deceased contact sports medallists in our sample. The mean percentile to which track medallists
live is 55.3% compared with a 50% median for the general population and so lower than before. Their longevity
is boosted on average by 55.3/50 = 1.10, or 10 %.
Chart showing the cumulative
mortality of contact sports
medallists versus the general male
population. It shows mortality is
comparable to the general
population except at younger ages
where there is a small advantage.
11

12. Mortality of aquatics medallists
Chart showing the
cumulative mortality of
aquatics medallists
versus the general
male population. Their
mortality is significantly
lower up to the 75th
percentile but similar
after.
We have 52 deceased male aquatics medallists in our sample. The mean percentile to which track medallists
live is 64.3% compared with a 50% median for the general population. Their longevity is boosted on average
by 64.3/50 = 1.29, or 29 %, but the spread of ages is lower than for track and relatively few lived into their
90s.
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
0-10 10-25' 25-50 50-75 75-95 95-99 99+
Cumulative
%
of
deaths
Percentile range
Male aquatics medallists
General male population
12

13. Longevity boost by category
.0.9
1,24
1.10
1.29
1.14
1.25
1.00
0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50
Cycling
Indoor
Contact
Aquatics
Field
Track
Male (general)
Relative longevity of athletes
Aquatics gives the largest overall boost of 29%. Also boosting longevity by more than 20% are track and
indoor categories. Only cycling does worse than the general population. While aquatics does best there
are more examples of exceptionally old medallists in the track category than in any other. The equivalent
boost for women is 22%.
We compared
comparative
longevity across
categories in the
case of men and
produced a single
aggregated figure
for women
13

14. Living athletes
Mortality measures are
backward looking. How
many are still alive will
depend on their birth year,
current age and lifestyles.
We compared the
expectation of them being
still being alive with the
general population.
0.8
0.9
1
1.1
1.2
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Observed/expected
Year
Male track sports
General male population
Our work on living athletes is based on the number alive in any year compared with the number we
would expect to be alive based on their birth year. This shows that as competitors age there’s a greater
probability of them being alive at any moment compared with a member of the general population –
rising to 10% higher in track
14

15. Conclusions
• Longevity is boosted between 4.5 and 5.3 extra years. Female longevity is
boosted 3.9 extra years of life on average.
• Compared with our previous research this is on a par with golf and tennis
(physical exertion and the ability to play to late age may be the common
factor here).
• Cycling has safety issues and appears to be comparable to horse racing,
which also has safety problems
• These results are broadly consistent with other published studies using
different data but are narrower in scope
• Drilling down we find that long distance racings (over 3km) boosts
longevity more than shorter distances but find no difference between field
events such as jumping and throwing.
15

16. A final word
• Sport has a huge global following is worth billions to the
economy
• Elite athletes are adored by fans, they are role models and
help change behaviours
• This makes them good role models and an
encouragement for people to get into sport
• But sport alters over time – the rules and safety, financial
rewards, training regimes, and intensity and governance –
so health and longevity is not guaranteed
16

17. Upcoming events
Healthy ageing:
Priorities for the G20
in India
Webinar
Tuesday 25 April
G7 high-level side
events in Japan:
Healthy ageing and
prevention
10 May - Niigata
18 May - Hiroshima
Global launch of the
Healthy Ageing and
Prevention Index - 76th
World Health Assembly
Geneva, Switzerland
Tuesday 23 May

18. Thank you!
Join the conversation: @ilcuk
#SportLongevity
Ilcuk.org.uk
What happens next
ilcuk.org.uk
bayes.city.ac.uk