GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Round and round the short-track speedskaters go, crouched low on the ice as they carve counterclockwise ovals, over and over.

They lean so hard to the left that their fingers glide on the ice at the turns. The straightaways are so short that there is room for only one or two strides before the skaters lean hard into the next 180-degree curve, again and again.

They spend their training hours in that position, their torsos torqued to the left, their weight on their left legs as their right legs sweep powerful strides.

It is no wonder, then, that short-track skaters have lopsided bodies.

Perhaps the bodies of no other athletes in sports, and certainly none at the Winter Olympics, are so asymmetrical.