engleski

Chronological age among olympic women's artistic gymnastics. Does it really matter?

Chronological age and its contribution to the performance quality of female gymnasts have been the subject of discussion for years. The aim of the study was to determine did the chronological age had an impact on the success of female gymnasts at the Olympic Games, in the period from 1964 to 2016. Results determined how the average age of all female Olympians was significantly higher than the minimum age prescribed by International Gymnastics Federation. The youngest gymnasts were mostly All-Around qualifiers, while the competitors in the Apparatus Finals had a slightly higher average age. Significant differences were found between the age of All-Around qualifiers and participants of the vault finals. There were no significant differences in the average age of the medal winners and non-medal winners among the participants of the different Apparatus Finals. Since predominantly older gymnasts reached the highest levels of competition, it was assumed that cognitive maturity and a greater amount of deliberate practice, which predominantly characterize older gymnast, is likely to have a greater impact on the maximum score at the Olympic Games compared to better anthropometric characteristics, mainly attributed to younger gymnasts.

female gymnast, chronological age, historical review, ANOVA

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