engleski

Relationship between reaction time, sprint race result and age for male sprinters at 2004 Olimpic Games in Athens

Introduction There are not many available research studies dealing with the characteristics of reaction time, or its influence on sprint race performance (Slater-Hammel & Stumpner, 1952 ; Fairclough, 1952 ; Ozolin, 1986 ; Brueggemann & Glad, 1988 ; Mero & Komi, 1990 ; Martin & Buonchristiani, 1995 ; Collet, 2000). Most of them were not able to establish the correlation between the reaction time and the result in sprint. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the age of the sprinters and their reaction time as well as between reaction time and the sprint result in every sprint event for male sprinters who performed at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Methods The sample of entities consists of all male athletes (sprinters and decathlon athletes, N=357) who performed at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The recorded values of the attained result at the competition (R), values of reaction time (RT) and values of the age (YRS) of the sprinters accomplished at higher competitive level were taken for the analyses of this research study. The sample of variables is presented by 8 sprint events (100 m flat, 110 m hurdles (110 m H), 200 m flat, 400 m flat, 400 m hurdles (400 m H), 100 m as a decathlon event (100 m D), 110 m hurdles as a decathlon event (110 m H D) and 400 m as a decathlon event (400 m D). All data collected were analyzed by program package Statistica for Windows version 7 ; consequently, general univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the differences between the arithmetic means of 8 sprint events in the variable reaction time as well as to determine the differences between competitive levels within every sprint event in the variable reaction time. Correlation analysis between reaction time and race result and reaction time and age of sprinters was calculated. Results The results showed existence of statistically significant differences in average reaction time values between longer and shorter sprint events but however, there were no statistically significant differences in reaction time between different competitive levels within analyzed sprint events, except of sprint event 100 m flat. Correlation analysees yielded results that there was a tendency that older sprinters reacted faster at start while statistically significant (positive) correlation between reaction time and sprint result was found for the sprint events 100 m flat and 110 m hurdles. Discussion It can be said that reaction time has significant influence on sprint result but only in short sprint events. When it comes to reaction time, it is interesting how top-level sprinters do not show significantly better values of reaction time than sprinters who managed to perform in qualification and semifinals rounds. It was found that older sprinters tend to react faster at the start. That means that in training preparation with younger sprinters more attention should be devoted to psychological preparation.

athletics ; reaction time ; sprint race result ; age ; Olimpic Games ; male

nije evidentirano