OBJECTIVE: To assess the mortality risk in subsequent years (adjusted for year 
of birth, nationality, and sex) of former Olympic athletes from disciplines with 
different levels of exercise intensity.
DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study.
SETTING: Former Olympic athletes.
PARTICIPANTS: 9889 athletes (with a known age at death) who participated in the 
Olympic Games between 1896 and 1936, representing 43 types of disciplines with 
different levels of cardiovascular, static, and dynamic intensity exercise; high 
or low risk of bodily collision; and different levels of physical contact.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: All cause mortality.
RESULTS: Hazard ratios for mortality among athletes from disciplines with 
moderate cardiovascular intensity (1.01, 95% confidence interval 0.96 to 1.07) 
or high cardiovascular intensity (0.98, 0.92 to 1.04) were similar to those in 
athletes from disciplines with low cardiovascular intensity. The underlying 
static and dynamic components in exercise intensity showed similar 
non-significant results. Increased mortality was seen among athletes from 
disciplines with a high risk of bodily collision (hazard ratio 1.11, 1.06 to 
1.15) and with high levels of physical contact (1.16, 1.11 to 1.22). In a 
multivariate analysis, the effect of high cardiovascular intensity remained 
similar (hazard ratio 1.05, 0.89 to 1.25); the increased mortality associated 
with high physical contact persisted (hazard ratio 1.13, 1.06 to 1.21), but that 
for bodily collision became non-significant (1.03, 0.98 to 1.09) as a 
consequence of its close relation with physical contact.
CONCLUSIONS: Among former Olympic athletes, engagement in disciplines with high 
intensity exercise did not bring a survival benefit compared with disciplines 
with low intensity exercise. Those who engaged in disciplines with high levels 
of physical contact had higher mortality than other Olympians later in life.