Explaining the Performance Differences of Olympic Male and Female Champions in Running, Jumping, and Swimming

• Activity Number: 1
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Sunday, August 3, 2014 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports
• Author(s): Ray Stefani*+
• Companies: California State University, Long Beach
• Keywords: Olympics ; running ; jumping ; swimming ; gender differences ; sports

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to understand, in a fundamental manner, the differential performance of male and female athletes in running, jumping and swimming. Olympic winning performances are analyzed in contrast to world records since men and women compete at regular four-year intervals under similar conditions. Using kinesiology and physics, assuming equal training and efficiency, the ratio of female/male running velocities should equal relative lean body mass/total body mass (LBM/m). For jumping, the performance ratio should equal the second power of relative LBM/m. For swimming, the velocity ratio should equal the 1/3 power of a relationship among LBM, m, and drag coefficient. The performance ratios of female and male Olympic champions were compared; beginning with the first women's swimming events in 1912 and the first women's track and field events in 1928. Both genders appear to improve training and efficiency at about the same rate, preserving performance ratios driven only by physiology: about 90% for running, 81% for jumping and 90% for swimming.