Analysis of age models of weightlifters of 
participants of Olympic Games

 V. Mochernjuk and V. Draga
Kyiv, Ukraine

Rational construction of sportsmen-weightlifters? preparation that lasted many years provides achievement of the greatest results in an optimum age range. Forming of long-term adaptation in of many years preparation of sportsmen in practice means the reliable age borders of zone of maximal achievements for the concrete sport and age limits of the stage of achievements saving.

Sportsmen at the age of both 18-20 years and 26-35-years-old become world champions and winners of Olympiads. Lately the specialists marked the tendency of continuation of sporting career on finishing stages in Olympic sport. One of primary directions of the system of perfection of sporting preparation is development of methods of continuation of successful presentation of prominent sportsmen. A lot of examples of demonstration of prominent results of sportsmen by age 35-40 years appeared in the sporting games, track-and-field athletics, cycle racing and other sports.

If to consider history of weightlifting during all periods of its development within the framework of the Olympic program, it is possible to mark the definite periods of changes in age models of participants. The sportsmen under aged 40 and more took part in competitions rather successfully in the late sixties. The greatest numbers of record age champions and prizewinners took in Olympiads at exactly that period.

The end of the twentieth century was marked by the considerable changes in the public life of planet and it affected the development of Olympic motion. Leadership in weightlifting passed to such countries as Greece, Turkey, China. Potential of many countries of Europe grew substantially. World tendencies of improvement of life quality in the developed countries, the increase of duration of life and continuation of period of active work capacity were represented on Olympic motion too. The participants of games in different sports have higher age-old indexes in comparison with predecessors and quite often achieve considerable success.

Our research is directed to the manifestation of regularities connected with age depending upon the ethnic belonging, qualification, effectiveness of appearance of sportsmen-weightlifters, the participants of Olympiad 2004. The protocol data placed on the official site of international federation of weightlifting, where the complete date of birth was given in a format the day-month-year, were used to determine the age of sportsmen. After that the age of sportsman at the moment of competitions was determined in years in decimal notation within one hundredth one. The following formula was used for this purpose: (date of competitions minus the date of birth in the format of date Excel), divided 365,25. For example: (14.07.1973-15.08.2004)/365,25=31,09. Data of weightlifters of men (164 persons) and women were separately analysed (85 persons). The distribution of quantity of weightlifters depending on age and model parameters of champions and prizewinners were explored. The dependence between the place of participants and the concerned place, age-old models of the separate combined teams were fixed.

Most sportsmen were placed in an age interval from 22 to 30 years (64%), and more detailed age distribution with an interval in 2 years is presented on fig.1.

Fig. 1 The distribution of men-weightlifters participants of Olympic games for age.

The average of participants who became champions is 26,12±3,8 and prizewinners, makes 26,93±4,36. This index fluctuates between 19,4 (the champion in category of 77 kg Sagir Taner (Turkey) and silver prizewinner champion in category of 94 kg Akkaev Khadjimourad (Russia) and 31,09 (Mutlu Halil (Turkey) who third time successifully became a champion) and 34,42 (Igor Razoronov, from Ukraine, the silver prizewinner of (the first Olympic reward). Athletes got younger further from a pedestal insignificantly. The average age of sportsmen, that supplanted from the fourth to the sixth, was 26,43 From the seventh to the ninth was 25,82, tenth-twelfth was 24,94, thirteenth-fifteenth was 24,17. However among sportsmen whose names where at the bottom of the protocol as a result of zero estimations (40 participants or every fourth!) or disqualification (4), the average age was 27,03 The prominent titled sportsmen Olympic champions and prizewinners of previous games, world championships who had ambitious plans on these Games got into this heterogeneous group.

Women?s weightlifting was presented in Olympic Games only the second time. Certainly possibility to do some comparisons is limited by a short range. The average age of all participants was 24,52±4,34 The average age of champions was 23,2±2,37, silver medalists was 22,64±2,16, and in the group of bronze prizewinners there was a considerable variation (26,78±6,88) The youngest medalist Kasaeva Zarema (Russia) was only 17,48, and the most experienced Mosquera Mabel (Colombia) was 35,12 The quantity of sportswomen who were disqualified (2) and got zero estimations (7), is considerably less in comparison with men and their average age was 25,74±3,67.

The same as men, the most of participants are in the range from 22 to 24 years, but after 28 years, unlike men, the quantity of participants diminishes sharply. 67% participants are at the age from 18 to 26 that is 4 years quicker than men. The reason of such difference is relatively insignificant experience of womanish weightlifting as an Olympic kind, and in the physiology sexual differences of rates of development.

Fig. 2 The distribution of women-weightlifters participants of Olympic games on age.