GIRLS with the potential to become the next Paula Radcliffe or Dame Kelly Holmes could be identified at a young age by examining the length of their fingers, researchers say.

The most athletically gifted women are more likely to have ring fingers longer than their index fingers, according to a study that could add a new element to talent spotting in sport.

The findings, by researchers at King’s College London, add to growing evidence that shows the relative lengths of the two fingers can offer important clues to the biological influences that shape an individual’s body and mind.

On a typical female hand, the index finger is longer than the ring finger or about the same size, whereas men usually have a longer ring finger. This is widely thought to reflect differences in the body’s exposure and response to the male hormone testosterone.

Such an effect could explain why the King’s team found that as women’s sporting achievements increased, so did the average length of their ring fingers in relation to their index fingers.

Testosterone, which is found in female as well as male bodies, is linked to greater aggression and competitiveness, bigger and stronger muscles and increased spatial reasoning ability, which may be important in ball sports such as tennis.

Although finger length in no way determines athletic talent, the work does suggest that both traits are influenced by the same biological effect, probably a genetic or environmental difference in testosterone.

The study, which is published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, is the latest in a series of papers that have linked finger ratio to other aspects of physiology or behaviour. Men with shorter ring fingers, for example, are more likely to be homosexual, while much longer ring fingers are associated with greater aggression, higher sperm counts and an increased risk of heart disease.

John Manning, of the University of Central Lancashire, has also found evidence that men with long ring fingers are likely to be better sportsmen. Professional footballers tended to have longer ring fingers than other men, and international players had longer ring fingers than club journeymen.

The King’s research was started when Tim Spector, director of the Twin Research Unit, read Professor Manning’s work with scepticism and realised that he had an existing set of data with which he could easily seek to test the effect.

Professor Spector had already X-rayed the hands of hundreds of female twins for a study of osteoarthritis. He asked his volunteers to grade their sporting achievements from one to five, where one signified casual involvement and five competition at a national level. A longer ring finger was significantly correlated with greater achievement, with the strongest effects seen in football, golf and running.

The effect was reversed in cricket, martial arts and gymnastics, in which a longer index finger predicted success.

“There does seem to be a link, though what explains it is not certain,” Professor Spector said.

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