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The ugliest weightlifter is beautiful under the skin In Sickness and in Health

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From: The Sunday Telegraph London
Date: 20040829
Author:Dr James Le Fanu

`Wonders are there many, none more wonderful than man," observed the playwright Sophocles, enchanted by the spectacle of his lightly clad fellow Athenians thronging the city's pristine temples and public buildings. And, 2,500 years later, we likewise - after three weeks of the Olympics - cannot help but be impressed by the beauty and power of the human form in all its diversity.

The first scientific investigation of the influence of athletic build on sporting aptitude, Dr J. M. Tanner's classic The Physique of the Olympic Athlete, was published in the 1960s. Dr Tanner started by measuring ...

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