Ring Finger Length as an Indicator of Athletic Performance in Women

New Meaning to "Giving the Finger"

Can future female sports stars be predicted just by looking at the length of an individual's fingers?

Professor Tim Spector from King's College London has found that women whose ring fingers are longer than their index fingers should achieve higher levels in sports.

The ratio of the length between the index finger and the ring finger has previously been shown to be associated in males with diverse traits including cognitive ability, disease susceptibility, sexuality, sperm counts and aspects of personality. The King's College London study is the largest one to date examining the ratio between finger lengths and sporting ability.

The research examined hand radiographs of 607 female twins aged 25-79 years from the UK, and the lengths of the second and fourth fingers of each hand were measured. Participants also ranked their highest level achieved in a list of 12 sports on a questionnaire. Research found the highest achieved level of participation in any sport was correlated to women with longer fourth fingers than second fingers.