[SteelBlue]

Originally Posted by Black Diamond Bay

We actually discussed Michael Phelps in particular, because is his legs are absurdly short for how tall he is. It does seem to me that his legs are on the short side of things. Look at this picture:
http://theleblancfamily.net/celebrit...chael_jes1.jpg

I think he might be weirdly proportioned. He's arms are almost as long as his legs.

Can you really come to this conclusion from a picture in which his legs are cropped at the knees?

Edit: Found a NYT article that says he does have short legs compared to his height. He apparently has a 32 inch inseam.

It's looking like your bil might be dead right and I was dead wrong. From the NYT:

Phelps's build -- 6 feet 4 inches, 195 pounds, broad shoulders, slim hips -- conforms to the classic swimmer's physique. But he is a type within that type, with a bizarrely long torso and short legs -- an inseam of just 32 inches -- that help him ride high in the water like a long, thin sailboat. The body below hip level is what tends to sag in the water, creating drag, or resistance, so Phelps, relative to his overall height, has a short lower body to keep afloat. ''He has the upper body of a man who is 6-foot-8 but not the legs to go with it,'' says Jonty Skinner, USA Swimming's national team director of technical support. ''It's an advantage.'' Another Phelps oddity: unlike most people, for whom height and wingspan are nearly identical, his wingspan is 6-foot-7, 3 inches longer than his height. He is that rare person with short legs but long arms -- that is, long levers for pulling water.
He has size 14 feet, and his hyperflexibility allows him to flex them probably 15 degrees beyond average, almost parallel to his shin, so they operate like big flippers. That is an obvious advantage, but there are lots of big feet in swimming, most notably Ian Thorpe's size 17's. Phelps's flexibility, says Scott Heinlein, his physical therapist, is ''an all-over thing -- feet, knees, hips, elbows, back. But most elite swimmers either start out flexible or become so through training. The difference with Michael is control of that flexibility in the water.''