Contrary to the popular belief that successful athletes distinguish themselves through hard work, grit and most importantly raw talent, a new research claimed that an attractive face gives competitive advantage to sportsmen.
According to a survey of over a thousand Twitter followers, the better a sportsman looks the more is his chances of winning a game, the New Scientist journal reported.
A team led by Justin Park at the University of Bristol, UK, had asked women to rate the attractiveness of National Football League (NFL) quarterbacks — all were elite players, but the best were rated as more desirable.
“Athletic prowess may be a sexually selected trait that
signals genetic quality,” Park said, adding “so the same genetic factors that contribute to a handsome mug may also offer a slight competitive advantage to professional athletes”. This is not to say that the best athletes are always the best looking. Park said: “When we compared the players’ looks to another measure of performance — the percentage of matches each pro won in 2008 — the correlation proved statistically significant, though still modest.”
“The study may have been conducted informally, but you’ve made a new discovery,” Park said. “Who would have thought that better-looking tennis players are more likely to win matches?”