Moderate exercise and intense physical training are associated with increased 
life expectancy (LE). Boxing is characterized by intentional and repetitive head 
blows, sometimes causing brain injury, possibly reducing LE. We examined a 
sample of male athletes born between 1860 and 1930 selected from the 
international "hall of fame" inductees in baseball (n = 154), ice hockey (n = 
130), tennis (n = 83), football (n = 81), boxing (n = 81), track and field (n = 
59), basketball (n = 58), swimming (n = 37) and wrestling (n = 32). In boxing, 
we analyzed the number of disputed bouts/rounds and career records. Sports were 
also analyzed according to physiological demand and occurrence and kind of 
contact (intentional, unintentional). The Kaplan-Meier product limit method was 
used to compare survival curves (significance: p <or= 0.05). Median LE of the 
samples was 76.0 yrs and no differences were observed in different sports, 
although it was lower in boxers (73.0 yrs) and higher in tennis players (79.0 
yrs). Sports of different physiological demand were similar in respect to LE. No 
differences in LE were found related to occurrence and kind of impact. Similar 
LE was found in boxers of different weight or career records. In conclusion, 
this study indicates that LE in top-level athletes is unaffected by the type of 
discipline, and not related to physiological demand and intentional contact.