The World's Toughest Sport

USA GymClub:

The World's Toughest Sport By Michael S. Yessis - Men's Fitness
[3(f+s) + 2b] (v+c+i) * � 3p = TOTAL SCORE Deciding which sport is the world's toughest is difficult. It requires knowledge and research. Time and patience. Science and the kind of math skills rarely seen outside a ninth-grade algebra class. Well, we have all of that, and we did our homework. We logged hours playing in the field. We interviewed elite athletes from former Soviet-bloc nations. We spent countless hours watching ESPN2. Eventually, we developed an exclusive formula - the formula - to determine the planet's toughest sport.
Now, on to the chalkboard. First, we ranked 40 sports in seven categories on a scale of one to 10 (10 is the highest possible score, with the "contact" category ranked from one to five). The categories are:

FITNESS (f). - The level of physical fitness you must have to participate.
SKILLS (s). - The complexity of the athletic skills necessary to compete.
BRAINS (b). - The mental toughness and intelligence needed, as well as the complexity of the sport.
PAIN (p). - Injury rate, plus or minus the potential for death.
CONTACT (c). - The chances of getting smacked by other participants (takes into account padding worn, too).
VENUE (v). - Where you play it. Climbing up a sheer rock face is tougher than playing table tennis in a rec room.
INTANGIBLES (i). - The little things. For instance, bull riders have no idea what the bull's temperament is that day. Or, the measure of how scared your significant other gets when you say you're going to play a particular sport.

Finally, we plugged the numbers into our special formula (see above), which gives each category its own level of importance. From there, we dusted off our slide rule. In a matter of hours, the results were in. Here they are:
1. GYMNASTICS (567.6 OUT OF 1,095.4)
Why? Male gymnasts may wear tights, but they score perfect 10's for fitness and athletic skills, and near-perfect marks for injury potential, mental toughness and difficult conditions. Let's see you spin in circles on the high bar, release, do a few flips and grab the bar again. Extra toughness points were awarded for the guy who survived a full-speed, chest-first plunge into the horse and for the Japanese Olympic medalist who dismounted from the rings with a broken leg.

Hat tip:  Turn Gymnastics Apparel