What do all victorious Olympians have in common? The victorious gestures that vary from fist-pumping and chest-puffing to raising their arms in a victory salute.

A new study has found that all these victory gestures are innate and biological rather than learned responses to success and failure. So is the reaction to defeat and failure that is marked by slumped shoulders.

According to a study comparing the reactions of blind and sighted competitors in the Olympics and Paralympics, the expressions of pride and shame may have evolved to be programmed into human behavior. Blind athletes use the very same gestures as their sighted peers, even though they have never seen anyone else do it, researchers say.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia and San Francisco State University analyzed photographs taken during judo competitions in the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The researchers compared the non-verbal expressions and body language of sighted, blind, and congenitally blind judo competitors representing more than 30 countries, among them Algeria, Taiwan, North Korea, the Ukraine and the United States.

To celebrate victory, all the subjects tended to tilt their heads back, smile, raise their arms and push out their chests regardless of gender or whether they came from nations that emphasize individual or group values.

The results indicated that the individuals displayed pride and shame behaviors in response to the same success and failure situations. The same held true for blind and sighted competitors from different nations who also tended to narrow their chests and slump their shoulders after losing bouts, the study showed.

The findings suggest humans may have evolved with certain behaviors linked to defeat and winning to ensure their status and acceptance within social groups.