What athletes have gone far despite having the 'wrong' body type for their sport?
e.g.
Chiyonofuji: sumo wrestler with low body fat
Mike Tyson: heavyweight boxer who is short
I came into this expecting a thread full of Stanley Cup champion, elite athlete at the highest level, and prime example of perfected male physique, Phil Kessel, but haven’t seen a single mention of him. So I’ll start it.
Just noticed the tear in the underwear lmao
The hotdog man himself.
Tim Lincecum. It literally required his engineer father to analyze and perfect every part of his pitching mechanics to be able to compete at the highest level. Everything about his pitching delivery was so goddamn weird that he is simply known as The Freak. But for a short time he was as good as anyone, throwing 2 no hitters, and winning 2 cy young awards and 3 world series.
And let's not forget the Giants' amazing reliever, Pablo Sandoval (0.00 ERA and 0.00 WHIP)!
For those not in the loop, he was a (seemingly) overweight 3rd baseman who made phenomenally athletic plays and hit monster home runs (especially in the postseason, leading to 3 World Series trophies and a WS MVP), earning the nickname "Kung Fu Panda."
Then, in the twilight of his career, he also pitched 2 innings without allowing a baserunner, becoming a bit of an SF meme, including at least one "Let Pablo Pitch" bobblehead.
Donald Trump. He's really not fit for anything. Kinda weird though being 6'4" and 240lbs of pure muscle...
Nonsense. I'm sure there's an orange jumpsuit that fits him perfectly.
reddit-tier dumbfuckery: comment makes no sense but you fangirls will still upvote coz ur boyfriend got mentioned
Muggsy Bogues
You see, what I fear in Tyson is not his height, but his arms.
Yes, it's just long people usually have long arms.
There was a lot of chatter when the Seattle Seahawks drafted Russell Wilson about how he was too short to throw over the linemen. In his second year as a quarterback he led the Seahawks to their first ever Super Bowl victory, and led them to another appearance and almost a second victory the following year.
I similarly thought of Michael Vick. Man, I miss watching him play every Sunday.
On the note of short QBs there's a really cool ESPN documentary on Doug Flutie which is a good watch
Mugsy Bogues was pretty short but did well in the NBA.
Tommy Caldwell is a high level outdoor rock climber and he’s missing most of his left index finger.
Loris Baz a motorcycle racer. He’s 190cm (6’3”) in a sport where the average is 172cm 5’8”. He isn’t super accomplished when it comes to podiums or anything. But he still managed to drive in the MotoGP class which is the highest motorcycle racing class.
Sebastian Jankowski was an NFL kicker listed at 6'1" and 260 lbs. While not much taller than average he was 65 lbs heavier.
Also while there have been a handful of 5'6" or under NFL players, I love the fact that the Eagles have had two of them in the last 5 years. Darren Sproles and Boston Scott.
Hunter Pence has multiple world series rings and had the goofiest throwing and batting style. Turns out he has a back condition that caused his thoracic vertebrae to fuse giving him basically zero flexibility through his mid spine. Also just a fun weird guy.
Hunter Pence is a great example, but one of the things that's great about baseball is that there is a place for every body type. If you're in shape (and sometimes even if not) no matter where your athletic gifts are, you can imagine a role on a baseball team.
Bartolo Colon was my pick for OP. If he can be an in demand pitcher into his 40s, any body type can.
Fedor Emelianenko always looked frumpy compared to everyone he fought. That was the last thing most people thought before they woke up from hard reboot anyway.
Tyson being relatively short and stocky might've breen what helped him in the heavyweight division against all those guys with a wider wingspan that couldn't really catch him when he got close.
I think Fedor fits this category more where he didn't look fit but just kept winning against everyone.
Short also helps in weight based competition by allowing more muscle mass.
Fedor is proof that dad bods can be just as scary as roided muscle bods, for sure.
Shogun was kinda built like that, too, and had a hell of a run in Pride.
Bartolo Colon aka Big Sexy - the legendary pitcher who retired from the MLB at 50 years old but apparently will pitch in an upcoming Pakistani baseball league on a team called the Karachi Monarchs managed by none other than Miguel Tejada with Adrian Beltre at GM.
Interesting question, I don't know any unfortunately
I found this kinda clickbaity article with some examples: https://web.archive.org/web/20200308145022/https://globalsportmatters.com/science/2020/01/16/too-tall-too-short-too-big-athletes-breaking-body-stereotypes/
Tony hawk has said he's a bit too tall and lanky for skateboarding
Messi had genetic issue, but he went to winning valid 6 baloon d'or. The last two were questionable.
Isn't he extra short too?
Brendan Gallager
Drew brees. Apparently he is too short to be a QB
Spud Webb - 5'6", won the 1986 NBA dunk contest
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spud_Webb
Watching him dunk looks so unnatural. He was amazing.
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Watching him dunk
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Holy shit that's awesome. So that's what the guy in Haikyuu would look like in real life (anime about volleyball where one of the protagonists is a short guy who makes up for it because he can run fast and jump real high).
Goddamn his smile in that picture is contagious. He looks like he's just stoked to be there.
Muggsy Bogues, too. Though I don’t think he won a dunk contest.