Average Height of Female Gymnasts: Olympic Comparisons & Trends (1996–2024)
How tall are female gymnasts? At recent Olympic Games, women’s artistic gymnasts have averaged about 155 cm, or 5′1″. That is roughly 6 cm (about 2.5 inches) shorter than the average adult woman in the United States.
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The average has risen since the 1990s, but only a little. The Atlanta 1996 field averaged 151.76 cm; London 2012 reached 155.39 cm. Within any one Olympic field, heights still range widely.
The figures below come from a published study of the 1996–2016 Games, plus partial records for Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. They cover artistic gymnastics only, not rhythmic gymnastics or trampoline.
Average height at each Olympics, 1996–2024
| Olympics | Average height | Feet and inches | Athletes with a recorded height |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta 1996 | 151.76 cm | 4′11.7″ | 94 |
| Sydney 2000 | 153.03 cm | 5′0.2″ | 94 |
| Athens 2004 | 153.24 cm | 5′0.3″ | 97 |
| Beijing 2008 | 153.85 cm | 5′0.6″ | 98 |
| London 2012 | 155.39 cm | 5′1.2″ | 96 |
| Rio 2016 | 154.64 cm | 5′0.9″ | 97 |
| Tokyo 2020* | 155.90 cm | 5′1.4″ | 52 of 98 |
| Paris 2024* | 155.38 cm | 5′1.2″ | 24 of 94 |
The 1996–2016 rows come from Almir Atikovic’s 2020 study of Olympic artistic gymnasts in the International Journal of Morphology, which used archived Sports Reference profiles and official Rio 2016 data.
*Tokyo and Paris are Gymnast Gem’s own averages of the gymnasts who have a recorded height in the olympicAthletes dataset (version 0.5.10, built from Olympedia records). Most Paris gymnasts have no height on file, so treat both figures as rough estimates and compare them with the published rows only loosely.
Have female gymnasts gotten taller?
Slightly. The Rio 2016 average was 2.88 cm, just over an inch, above Atlanta 1996. The study found that difference statistically significant, but the effect was small.
The rise was not steady. Most of it came between Atlanta and London. London 2012 had the tallest average of the six fully published Games, and Rio 2016 came in a little shorter. Atlanta 1996 was the shortest field in the study, so a chart that starts there makes the trend look larger than it is.
Each Games also has a different set of athletes. A higher average shows that the Olympic field changed; it does not show individual gymnasts growing.
Men’s averages barely moved over the same period: 166.36 cm in 1996 and 167.07 cm in 2016, with no significant difference. Our guide to the average height of male gymnasts covers the men’s figures.
How much heights vary
An average of 155 cm does not mean most gymnasts are 155 cm tall. The average is the total of the recorded heights divided by the number of athletes, and it says nothing about the spread. In Rio 2016 the standard deviation, a common measure of spread, was 7.4 cm. Gymnasts several centimeters shorter or taller than the average were common.
Familiar Olympians show the same range. These heights come from official team, federation or university profiles:
| Gymnast | Listed height | Converted | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simone Biles | 4′8″ | 142 cm | Team USA, June 2021 |
| Flávia Saraiva | 1.48 m | 4′10.3″ | Brazilian Olympic Committee, Santiago 2023 guide, p. 279 |
| Jordan Chiles | 4′11″ | 150 cm | UCLA roster, 2025 |
| Sunisa Lee | 5′0″ | 152 cm | Auburn roster, 2022 |
| Rebeca Andrade | 1.55 m | 5′1.0″ | Brazilian Olympic Committee, Santiago 2023 guide, p. 282 |
| Jade Carey | 5′2″ | 157 cm | Oregon State roster, recent seasons |
Listed heights are worth checking at the source. UCLA lists Chiles at 4′11″, while some websites repeat 5′5″, which is far too large a gap to be rounding. When two official profiles disagree, quote the dated source rather than averaging the two numbers.
For athletes at the tall end, see the tallest female gymnasts in Olympic history. For the current U.S. team, see how tall the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team is.
Female gymnasts compared with average women
CDC figures from the August 2021–August 2023 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey put the average height of U.S. women aged 20 and over at 63.5 inches, about 161.3 cm.
| Group | Average height | Difference from U.S. women |
|---|---|---|
| Atlanta 1996 Olympians | 151.76 cm | −9.5 cm |
| London 2012 Olympians | 155.39 cm | −5.9 cm |
| Rio 2016 Olympians | 154.64 cm | −6.7 cm |
| Paris 2024 Olympians (partial) | 155.38 cm | −5.9 cm |
| U.S. women aged 20+ | 161.3 cm | — |
The comparison is only a reference point. Olympic fields include athletes from dozens of countries, while the CDC figure describes U.S. adults.
The bigger change is age, not height
Over the same two decades, the average age of female Olympic gymnasts rose far more than their height.
| Olympics | Average age |
|---|---|
| Atlanta 1996 | 16.77 years |
| Sydney 2000 | 17.65 years |
| Athens 2004 | 18.73 years |
| Beijing 2008 | 19.01 years |
| London 2012 | 20.43 years |
| Rio 2016 | 20.79 years |
That is four more years in 20 years. The shift continued in Paris, where women’s gymnastics medalists averaged 22.7 years old, the highest in 60 years, according to a Washington Post analysis. Minimum-age rules also shape Olympic fields; our guide to Olympic gymnastics age rules explains the current limits.
Does height decide who succeeds?
No single height is required. An Olympic average describes athletes who have already been selected; it is not a standard for beginners. Height is also only one measurement. Arm and leg length, strength and technique all matter, and a height table cannot say which event suits which gymnast. Our article on whether there is a typical gymnast body type looks at what the research can and cannot show.
Olympic averages also cannot show whether training affects growth, because they compare selected adults rather than following children over time. For that evidence, see Does Gymnastics Stunt Growth? A parent with questions about a child’s growth should talk with the child’s doctor rather than compare the child with an Olympic average.
Common questions
Is 5′5″ too tall to be a gymnast?
No. Elite artistic gymnastics has age rules, but no height requirement. Taller gymnasts are less common at the Olympics, but they compete at every level of the sport.
How tall is Simone Biles?
Team USA lists Simone Biles at 4′8″ (142 cm), well below the Olympic average of about 155 cm.
What is the average height of a male gymnast?
Male Olympic gymnasts averaged about 167 cm (5′6″) at the 1996–2016 Games. See our male gymnast height guide for details.
Final Takeaway
A typical female Olympic gymnast today is about 155 cm (5′1″) tall: a few centimeters taller than in 1996 and roughly 6 cm shorter than the average U.S. woman.
The average has changed much less than the athletes’ ages, and individual heights vary widely around it. It describes who reached the Olympics, not who can do gymnastics.