Which Sports Players Live the Longest?

There is no single sport whose players are guaranteed to live the longest, but research suggests that athletes in endurance and mixed sports often have better long-term survival than athletes in some power-based sports. Among Olympic athletes, studies have found particularly favorable longevity patterns in sports such as athletics, rowing, fencing, cross-country skiing, sailing, and equestrian sports. However, the answer depends heavily on how researchers define “living the longest” and which athletes are being compared.

Research also suggests that elite athletes, as a group, often live longer than comparable people in the general population. A study of more than 8,000 former U.S. Olympians found that they lived about 5 years longer than the corresponding U.S. general population.

That does not mean becoming a professional athlete automatically adds five years to someone’s life. Athletes differ in genetics, lifestyle, income, medical care, training, diet, injuries, and many other factors. The studies show associations, not guarantees.

Which Sports Are Associated With the Longest Lives?

Research comparing different sports does not produce one permanent ranking, but several sports repeatedly appear in studies of athlete longevity.

A 2024 observational study published in GeroScience examined 95,210 former athletes from 183 countries and 44 sports. The researchers investigated relationships between the type of sport and lifespan, providing one of the larger international datasets examining the subject.

Another study of Olympic athletes found that athletes in athletics, rowing, fencing, artistic gymnastics, shooting, cross-country skiing, sailing, and equestrian sports had the highest life durations compared with the overall athlete group studied. In contrast, athletes in boxing, weightlifting, ice hockey, cycling, football, swimming, and wrestling had shorter average lifespans within that particular Olympic dataset.

These results should not be interpreted as a simple “good sports versus bad sports” ranking. Different sports attract different body types and involve different training demands and injury risks.

Endurance Athletes Often Have a Longevity Advantage

Endurance sports have produced some of the strongest evidence for favorable longevity among elite athletes.

Endurance athletes include competitors in sports such as long-distance running, cycling, rowing, and cross-country skiing.

A systematic review of research on elite athletes found considerable support for better longevity outcomes among athletes participating in endurance and mixed sports. Earlier research also found that elite endurance and mixed-sport athletes generally had lower mortality and greater longevity than the general population.

One long-term study of former Finnish male elite athletes found that endurance athletes had a median life expectancy of 79.1 years, compared with 72.9 years among the study’s control group. Team-sport athletes also had relatively high median life expectancy at 78.8 years.

This does not mean every endurance athlete will live into their late 70s or beyond. It describes the average outcomes of a particular research population.

What About Team-Sport Players?

Team-sport athletes can also have favorable longevity outcomes.

Sports such as soccer, basketball, baseball, and other team games combine physical activity with competition, training, and social interaction.

Research on former Finnish athletes found that team-sport athletes had a median life expectancy of 78.8 years, higher than the control group’s 72.9 years.

A separate study of leisure-time physical activity also found strong longevity associations for soccer, although that study examined ordinary participants rather than professional athletes. Participants who reported playing soccer had an estimated 4.7-year life-expectancy advantage compared with sedentary participants in that population.

These findings should not be confused with evidence that professional soccer players necessarily live longer than all other professional athletes.

Tennis Players Have an Interesting Longevity Record

Tennis is particularly interesting because research involving the general population has found a strong association between playing tennis and longer life expectancy.

The Copenhagen City Heart Study followed more than 8,500 participants and compared different recreational activities. After statistical adjustment, people who reported playing tennis had an estimated 9.7-year life-expectancy gain compared with sedentary participants. Badminton was associated with 6.2 years, soccer with 4.7 years, cycling with 3.7 years, and swimming with 3.4 years.

However, this was not a study of professional tennis players.

The researchers also noted that the observational nature of the study means the relationship cannot be assumed to be causal. People who play tennis may differ from sedentary people in other ways that contribute to their health.

So it would be inaccurate to say that professional tennis players definitively live 9.7 years longer than other athletes.

Olympic Athletes Often Live Longer Than the General Population

One of the clearest findings in athlete-longevity research is that elite athletes can have favorable survival compared with people in the general population.

Researchers studying 8,124 former U.S. Olympic athletes found that male and female Olympians lived approximately 5.1 years longer than the U.S. general population after accounting for relevant demographic factors.

An earlier study involving more than 15,000 Olympic medalists found that medalists lived an average of 2.8 years longer than matched controls from the general population.

These findings suggest that reaching an elite level of sport is generally associated with good long-term survival.

But there is an important caveat: Olympic athletes are not a random sample of the population.

They are selected because they already possess exceptional physical characteristics, training ability, discipline, and health. Researchers call this kind of issue selection or healthy-athlete effects.

Does Winning Medals Make Athletes Live Longer?

Not necessarily.

A newer study examining 17,194 deceased elite athletes found that Olympic medalists actually had shorter lifespans than non-medalists in the analyzed group. The relationship also varied considerably by sport.

This is an excellent example of why athlete longevity is complicated.

Winning an Olympic medal does not automatically mean an athlete will live longer. Factors such as sport type, training intensity, body size, injury exposure, and other characteristics can influence outcomes.

The same study found that sports dominated by power demands were associated with shorter lifespans than sports involving more skill-oriented characteristics.

What About Power Sports?

Power-oriented sports include activities in which explosive strength and high levels of muscular force are particularly important.

Weightlifting is one example.

Some research has found less favorable longevity outcomes among elite power athletes compared with endurance athletes. A systematic review concluded that evidence for power athletes was more inconsistent than evidence for endurance and mixed-sport athletes.

That does not mean strength training is bad for longevity.

In fact, resistance exercise can be an important part of healthy aging. The research question is different: it concerns the long-term mortality patterns of elite athletes, whose training can be extraordinarily intense and whose bodies may be selected for particular physical characteristics.

A recreational person doing sensible strength training is not equivalent to an elite power athlete preparing for international competition.

Does Contact Sports Affect Longevity?

Contact and collision sports deserve particular attention because athletes can experience repeated physical impacts.

Football, boxing, hockey, and wrestling can involve substantial contact. Professional athletes in these sports may also experience injuries accumulated over many seasons.

Research has identified different mortality patterns across sports, but it is difficult to isolate one factor as the sole explanation.

For example, an athlete’s position, body size, era of competition, training methods, injury history, and lifestyle can all influence long-term health.

A systematic review of elite-athlete mortality found that factors such as sport type, playing position, race, and the energy system used by the sport can influence longevity outcomes.

Therefore, it would be too simplistic to say that every contact-sport athlete has a shorter lifespan.

Does Body Size Matter?

Body size appears to be one factor that can influence longevity patterns in some sports.

A study comparing Olympic high jumpers, discus throwers, marathon runners, and 100-meter sprinters found significant differences in long-term survival. High jumpers and marathon runners showed the greatest survival in that dataset, while sprinters had lower survival relative to the comparison groups. Weight explained part of the difference between high jumpers and discus throwers but not all of the marathon-runner advantage.

This illustrates an important point: athletes in different sports have very different physical characteristics.

A marathon runner, heavyweight wrestler, basketball center, and jockey can all be elite athletes while having dramatically different body sizes and training demands.

Why Might Some Athletes Live Longer?

Several explanations have been proposed.

Regular Physical Activity

Elite athletes generally perform large amounts of physical activity. Regular exercise is associated with better cardiovascular health and lower risk of several chronic diseases.

Cardiovascular Fitness

Endurance training can produce high levels of cardiovascular fitness, which may contribute to favorable long-term health.

Healthy Lifestyle

Some athletes maintain healthy diets, avoid smoking, receive regular medical care, and have access to professional health support.

Social Connections

Some sports provide strong social networks. Interestingly, research involving recreational sports has suggested that sports involving social interaction may have particularly favorable longevity associations.

Selection Effects

Elite athletes are not average members of the population. They are selected for exceptional physical characteristics and often undergo extensive medical screening.

This can make athletes appear healthier than the general population even before considering the effects of training.

Do Professional Athletes Always Live Longer?

No.

Some professional athletes have died young, and some sports have experienced significant health risks.

Athletes can suffer from accidents, cardiovascular disease, cancer, injuries, substance-related problems, mental-health difficulties, and other causes of premature death.

Elite sport can also involve extreme training loads and physical stress.

A systematic review found that although most studies showed favorable longevity among elite athletes, results were not uniform across every sport. Soccer, for example, produced mixed findings across different countries and studies.

So the correct conclusion is that elite sports participation is generally associated with favorable longevity, not that professional athletes are protected from early death.

Which Sports Players Appear to Live the Longest?

Based on available research, there is no definitive universal ranking, but several categories repeatedly show favorable results.

This table should be viewed as a summary of research findings rather than a prediction of an individual athlete’s lifespan.

What Matters More Than the Sport?

For an individual person, the sport they play is only one part of the longevity equation.

Genetics, smoking, alcohol use, diet, sleep, blood pressure, cholesterol, body composition, mental health, injury history, access to medical care, and socioeconomic circumstances can all affect lifespan.

An athlete who retires and remains physically active may have a very different long-term health profile from someone who becomes sedentary after retirement.

Similarly, a recreational athlete who exercises moderately may gain substantial health benefits without experiencing the extreme physical demands associated with elite competition.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which sports players live the longest?

Research does not establish one definitive sport whose players always live the longest. Endurance and mixed-sport athletes generally show favorable longevity, while Olympic studies have found high longevity among disciplines such as athletics, rowing, fencing, cross-country skiing, sailing, and equestrian sports.

Do professional athletes live longer than non-athletes?

Many studies suggest that elite athletes have lower mortality and longer lifespans than comparable people in the general population. A study of more than 8,000 former U.S. Olympians found approximately a five-year longevity advantage.

Do endurance athletes live longer?

Research generally finds favorable longevity among elite endurance athletes. A Finnish study found higher median life expectancy among former endurance athletes than among controls.

Do soccer players live longer?

Some studies have found favorable longevity among soccer players, but results are not completely consistent. Research on recreational soccer also found a strong association with longer life expectancy, although those participants were not professional athletes.

Do tennis players live longer?

A large Danish observational study found that recreational tennis participation was associated with the largest estimated life-expectancy gain among the sports it examined. However, this does not prove that professional tennis players live longer than athletes in every other sport.

Do Olympic athletes live longer?

Many studies suggest that Olympic athletes generally have favorable survival compared with the general population. Former U.S. Olympians in one large study lived about 5.1 years longer than comparable people in the U.S. population.

Does being an athlete guarantee a long life?

No. Athletes can still develop diseases, suffer serious injuries, experience accidents, or die prematurely. Sport participation is associated with health benefits at the population level, but it cannot guarantee an individual’s lifespan.

Conclusion

So, which sports players live the longest? There is no single sport that can be declared the universal winner. The strongest research generally points toward endurance and mixed-sport athletes having favorable longevity, while studies of Olympic athletes have found particularly long lifespans in disciplines including athletics, rowing, fencing, cross-country skiing, sailing, and equestrian sports.

Elite athletes as a whole often live longer than comparable people in the general population. Former U.S. Olympians, for example, were found to live about five years longer than the general population in one major study.

Still, these are population-level findings, not guarantees. The sport someone plays is only one factor affecting longevity. Genetics, lifestyle, medical care, injuries, training intensity, and what happens after retirement can all matter.

For that reason, the best takeaway is not that one sport produces the longest-lived athletes, but that regular physical activity and a healthy overall lifestyle are important parts of long-term health, while the extreme demands of elite sport can produce very different outcomes depending on the sport and the individual.