Careful, or Your Face Will Stay That Way

By Melissa August, Val Castronovo, Matthew Cooper, Daren Fonda, Ling Minhua, Belinda Luscombe, Ellin Martens, Benjamin Nugent, Gary Roberts and Julie Rawe

Orlando Vasquez, left, of Nicaragua, looks oddly relaxed for a man hoisting hundreds of pounds of steel overhead. The calm demeanor turned out to be no reflection of success: he placed 18th in his weight class. An in-depth review of other athletes' methods seems to prove there is no correlation between facial elastics and medal prospects.