2022 Volume 67 Pages 303-317
The purpose of this study was to compare the age at which elite athletes started competition, and the age range for advanced athletic activities. The study included 914 athletes and candidate athletes (451 men aged 15-51 years and 463 women aged 14-55 years) who participated in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. In addition, the study investigated the ages of 1,971 athletes and candidate athletes (992 men, 979 women) at previous Olympic Games (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016).
The main results of the study were as follows. 1) There were significant differences among sports event categories in the age at which both male and female athletes started competition: scoring events (boys 6.8 ± 3.0 years, girls 7.3 ± 2.4 years), racket events (boys 7.2 ± 2.1 years, girls 6.4 ± 1.9 years), fighting events (boys 9.2 ± 4.9 years, girls 9.0 ± 4.0 years), ball games (boys 9.2 ± 4.9 years, girls 10.2 ± 4.1 years), record events (boys 12.3 ± 5.2 years, girls 13.5 ± 6.9 years), target events (boys 12.6 ± 6.4 years, girls 14.5 ± 7.7 years) and water events (boys 13.4 ± 3.9 years, girls 12.1 ± 3.9 years) (P <0.05). 2) There were significant differences among competition events in the period from the start of competition until participation in international competition and reaching a winning level in national competition: record events (6.7 ± 5.0 years) vs. ball games (9.6 ± 4.4 years) and scoring events (9.9 ± 4.2 years) for girls, target events (4.9 ± 2.2 years) and record events (6.7 ± 4.6 years old) showed lower values than scoring events (7.5 ± 3.9 years), fighting events (7.7 ± 4.1 years), racket events (8.2 ± 3.5 years) and ball games (8.7 ± 4.0 years) (P <0.05). 3) For both men and women, there were significant differences between competition systems in the age of participation in the Olympics: water events 28.4 ± 4.6 years, target events 30.3 ± 7.1 years and scoring events 31.1 ± 11.6 years for girls, scoring events 20.7 ± 3.3 years, racket events 23.6 ± 4.4 years, record events 24.2 ± 4.5 years. Compared with age, ball games 25.4 ± 4.4 years, fighting events 25.8 ± 3.6 years, water events 26.5 ± 4.8 years and target events 28.1 ± 6.3 years (P <0.05). The findings suggested that the age at which athletes started competition, the period from the start of competition until reaching top level, and the timing of participation in the Olympic Games may be affected by differences in competition type and gender.
