Analysis of Male and Female Olympic Swimmers in the 100-Meter Events

Abstract

The performance of male and female swimmers (N = 397) competing in the preliminary heats of the four 100-meter swimming events during the Seoul Olympic Games was videotaped and later analyzed to determine stroke rate (SR) and stroke length (SL). These data were combined with age, height, and final time (FT) values for statistical analyses which included the relationships among these variables, comparison of male and female performance, and assessment of differences in the four events. The results revealed the following ranges of correlations between SR and SL (rs from −0.65 to −0.90), SL and FT (rs from −0.32 to −0.80), height and SL (0.19 to 0.58), and age and FT (-0.16 to −.051). The factor of SL was identified as the dominant feature of successful swimming performance. The men were older and taller, had longer stroke lengths and higher stroke rates (two of four events), and swam faster than the women. The differences in final times across the four events (freestyle fastest, breaststroke slowest) were due to specific combinations of SR and SL, with neither parameter being consistently dominant.

The influence of stroke mechanics into energy cost of elite swimmers

“…It is reported that several biophysical variables (such as, energy expenditure or SL) are influenced by the swimmer's gender. Female swimmers are more economical (Onodera et al 1999) and present a lower SL (Kennedy et al 1990;Chengalur and Brown 1992) than male swimmers for a given v. These differences are related to anthropometrical characteristics. Female swimmers can adopt a better horizontal body alignment and are affected by a lower underwater torque (Zamparo et al 1996;Yanai 2001).…”

Fatores intrínsecos do custo energético da locomoção durante a natação

“…Some studies have observed alterations in the anthropometrical characteristics of swimmers and the performance improvement in the last decades. From 1964 to 1992, data demonstrated that Olympic swimmers increased their height without corresponding increase in weight (40)(41)(42) . Although some anthropometrical variables could not determine a better performance, the arms, hands, legs and feet size influence the arm-stroke length (Asl) and the arm-stroke frequency (Asf) which one swimmer combines to reach a given velocity (43) .…”

Arm coordination in elite backstroke swimmers

“…Cyclic activities and, more specifically, swimming performance (Hay, 2002) have traditionally been assessed via the speed, stroke rate, and distance per stroke (Chengalur & Brown, 1992;Chollet, Pelayo, Tourny, & Sidney, 1996;Craig & Pendergast, 1979;Kennedy, Brown, Chengalur, & Nelson, 1990;Pai, Hay, & Wilson, 1984). Stroke rate in the backstroke technique was lower than in the butterfly, front crawl, and breaststroke, and distance per stroke was highest in the backstroke and front crawl techniques, suggesting that it is one of the most discriminative variables of performance.…”