Olympic medalists live longer than the general population, regardless of country of origin, medal won, or type of sport played, finds a study in the Christmas issue published on bmj.com today. A second study comparing athletes who trained at different physical intensities, found that those from high or moderate intensity sports have no added survival benefit over athletes from low intensity sports. But those who engage in disciplines with high levels of physical contact, such as boxing, rugby and ice hockey, are at an increased risk of death in later life, the data show. So exercise is good as in sports but not all exercise is good.