A rise in peak performance age in female athletes

Abstract

It was reported in 1980s that ages at which peak performance was observed had remained remarkably stable in the past century, although absolute levels of athletic performance increased dramatically for the same time span. The emergence of older (masters) athletes in the past few decades has changed the demographics and age-spectrum of Olympic athletes. The primary aim of the present study was to determine whether the ages at which peak performance was observed had increased in the recent decades. The data spanning 114 years from the first Olympics (1898) to the most recent Olympics (2014) were collected using the publically available data. In the present study, ages at which Olympic medals (gold, silver, and bronze) were won were used as the indicators of peak performance age. Track and field, swimming, rowing, and ice skating events were analyzed. In men, peak performance age did not change significantly in most of the sporting events (except in 100 m sprint running). In contrast, peak performance ages in women have increased significantly since 1980s and consistently in all the athletic events examined. Interestingly, as women’s peak performance age increased, they became similar to men’s peak ages in many events. In the last 20–30 years, ages at which peak athletic performance is observed have increased in women but not in men.

Introduction

As the Nobel laureate AV Hill elegantly summarized, the study of the records of athletic performance contains a vast store of accurate information for the physiology of muscular exercise and is simply amusing (Hill 1925). Athletic performance increases from birth to youth reaching at peak levels at some points in early adulthood and declines thereafter (Moore 1975; Tanaka and Seals 1997; Berthelot et al. 2012). The age at which peak performance is achieved is different depending upon sports disciplines and is typically in the range of 20–30 years old (Schulz and Curnow 1988; Allen et al. 2014; Konig et al. 2014). Average ages of peak performance for swimming are younger than those of running (Berthelot et al. 2012). Peak performance is achieved at younger age in short distance races (Schulz and Curnow 1988), and peak performance age increases gradually with longer racing distances (Schulz and Curnow 1988; Ericsson 1993). Women generally reach their peak performance at younger ages than men, especially for long distance swimming events (i.e., 800 and 1500 m) and gymnastics (Schulz and Curnow 1988).

Since the first Olympic games were held in Athens, Greek in 1896, performance of athletes competing in the Olympic games has improved dramatically and undergone substantial transformations. Yet it has been widely believed that peak performance age has remained stable over the years. This notion is primarily based on the landmark study that Schulz and Curnow published in 1988 (Schulz and Curnow 1988). Based on the analyses on peak performance age of Olympic gold medalists divided into pre-World War II (1896–1936) and post-World War II (1940–1980), they concluded that “the age of peak performance remained remarkably consistent over the last 90 years,” although no formal statistical evaluation was performed. Since 1980, last year that Schulz and Curnow examined (Schulz and Curnow 1988), there have been a variety of sociological and economical changes that would have impacted the landscape of competitive athletes in general and female athletes in particular (Wilson 1996). For example, there has been a substantial increase in participation of women in competitive sports due in part to the passing of Title IX (a federal civil right that prohibits gender-based discrimination in education that also covered club sports and varsity sports) in 1972 (Lopiano 2000). Additionally, with increased revenue and financial compensation, it has become more feasible for athletes to continue to compete until later in life (Tanaka 2012). Indeed, amazing athletic achievements of “old athletes” competing against younger competitors at some of the major sporting events have dominated the news coverage in recent years (Tanaka 2012). Given these sociocultural changes, it is plausible that ages of peak athletic performance may have increased in recent years especially in women. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to determine whether ages at which peak performance occurs have changed in recent years. We hypothesized that peak performance age had increased in both men and women since 1980s.

Methods

As an indicator of peak performance age, the ages of Olympic medalists (gold, silver, and bronze) were collected in six individual Olympic events, namely 100 and 400 m running, 100 and 400 m freestyle swimming, rowing single sculls, and short track speed skating. The running and swimming events of 100 m were chosen specifically, as they were some of the most popular events that would have attracted a large number of competitors and are the hallmark events for their discipline. The middle distance of 400 m events were also examined to determine if the results in 100 m events can be confirmed in other events. Short track speed skating was chosen as a Winter Olympic equivalent of 100 m sprint running/swimming. Data were collected through the international Olympic committee website, http://www.olympic.org/ioc and spanned 116 years of Summer Olympic Games, from the first games in Athens, Greece in 1896 until the most recent games in London, England in 2012, and 90 years of the Winter Olympic games, from the first games in Chamonix, France in 1924 until the most recent games in Sochi, Russia in 2014. A detailed description of the medal count data is presented in Table 1.

Table 1.

Details of Olympic medalist data collected

Olympic events	Men		Women
	Years	Medal counts	Years	Medal counts
100 m running	1896–2012	82 (27, 27, 28)	1928–2012	60 (19, 22, 19)
400 m running	1896–2012	79 (27, 26, 26)	1964–2012	39 (13, 13, 13)
100 m swimminga	1896–2012	78 (26, 26, 26)	1912–2012	70 (24, 22, 24)
400 m swimminga	1904–2012	75 (25, 25, 25)	1924–2012	63 (21, 21 ,21)
Rowing single sculls	1900–2012	79 (26, 26, 27)	1976–2012	30 (10, 10, 10)
500 m speed skating	1924–2012	72 (23, 26, 23)	1960–2012	46 (15, 17, 14)

^aDistances in the 1904 Summer Olympic games were measured in yards

After pooling all gold, silver, and bronze medal data together for each event, data were analyzed using multiple linear regression analyses with SPSS software (Chicago, IL) to determine age × year interactions. Data were analyzed separately for men and women. Simple univariate correlational analyses were performed to determine the association between peak performance age and year of the Olympic events. In order to compare performance levels and ages over time, the data was divided in to three segments (1896–1936, 1942–1980, and 1984–2014). The first two time segments were separated using World War II as a dividing point, as previously done by Schulz and Curnow (1988). A third segment was added (1984–2014) to compare ages of medal winners in the modern era. A one-way ANOVA was performed to determine differences in mean age between time segments. When significance was found, unpaired, two-tailed t tests were performed to determine group differences. Statistical significance was set a priori at P < 0.05 for all analyses. Data are reported as mean ± SD.

Results

The data included 773 medalists (465 men and 308 women) for the 6 selected events in Summer and Winter Olympic games combined (Table 1). In men, a significant year × age interaction was observed for the 100 m running (P < 0.01), but not for other events (Fig. 1). Ages of medalists increased significantly with Olympic years in 100 m running (r = 0.38; P < 0.01). No such significant relations were present in the other Olympic events for men. In women, there were significant year × age interactions in all six Olympic events examined (P < 0.05 for all). Ages of female medalists increased significantly with the Olympic years in all six events (r = 0.27–0.67; P < 0.05) (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.

Ages of male Olympic gold, silver, and bronze medalists and years of Olympic game events

To compare peak performance ages at different eras in the Modern Olympic game history, the data were divided into three different segments (pre-World War II 1896–1936, post-World War II 1948–1980, and modern era 1984–2014). As illustrated in Fig. 2, Olympic medal winning ages in 1948–1980 and 1984–2014 segments were significantly older than those in the 1896–1936 segment in the 100 m running event in men (P < 0.05). Men who won medals in 100 m swimming and rowing single sculls events in the modern era were significantly older than medal winners in the 1948–1980 segment (P < 0.05). In women, there were no differences in ages of Olympic medalists between 1896 and 1936 and 1948–1980 for the events that women were allowed to compete (Figs. 3 and 4). Olympic female medalists in the modern era were significantly older than those in the previous two eras in all six sporting events examined (P < 0.05).

Fig. 2.

Ages of female Olympic gold, silver, and bronze medalists and years of Olympic game events

Fig. 3.

Ages of male Olympic medalists divided into 1896–1936, 1948–1980, and 1984–2014 time segments. *P < 0.05 vs. 1896–1936; †P < 0.06 vs. 1948–1980

Fig. 4.

Ages of female Olympic medalists divided into 1896–1936, 1948–1980, and 1984–2014 time segments. *P < 0.05 vs. 1896–1936; †P < 0.06 vs. 1948–1980

Discussion

In the present study, we determined whether the ages at which peak athletic performance was achieved increased in the modern era. To address this hypothesis, we collected ages of Olympic medalists spanning from 1896 to 2014 and used two different but complimentary statistical approaches. First, correlational analyses indicated that in men, ages of peak performance did not increase over time with the exception of 100 m running. In women, however, ages of Olympic medalists increased significantly over the years, and this was observed in all six Olympic events evaluated. Second, when we divided medal winners into three different time eras: pre-World War II (1896–1936), post-World War II (1948–1980), and the modern Olympic era (1980–2014), the overall results are generally consistent with the correlational analyses. Specifically, we observed that ages of male Olympic medalists in the modern era were significantly older in 100 m running, 100 m swimming, and rowing than those in the previous two eras. But for other sporting events, ages of male medalists were not different among the three periods. In women, ages of Olympic medalists from the modern era were significantly and consistently older than women in either pre- or post-World War II eras. Taken together, these findings indicate that there is a consistent trend for increasing peak performance ages of Olympic medalists in women, but not in men.

With some exceptions, peak performance age appears to be invariant over the years in men. The trend was similar for women prior to 1980s. For the events that are open to women during the pre- and post-World War II eras (100 m running, 100 m swimming, and 400 m swimming), we found that the ages of Olympic medalists did not change much. The increasing age of Olympic medal winners in women appears to be a modern or recent phenomenon. Traditionally, men and women were supposed to fulfill different roles in the house and in the society. In the past, far more female athletes terminated their athletic career prematurely because of a variety of reasons, including family commitment, loss of motivation, injury, and financial reasons. Changes in societal expectations and climates toward women in the past 40–50 years may have allowed female athletes to continue to compete to older ages when previous athletes would have quit competing upon marriage and/or childbirth in the past. Another major factor that may have impacted female athletes is the passing of Title IX in 1972 that required schools and colleges received federal funding to provide equal benefits to men and women alike. As a result, participation of women increased exponentially in high school and college sports after Title IX (Lopiano 2000). While the legislature of Title IX opened the door for female athletes in the USA, it also promoted similar changes around the world in order for female athletes of other countries to compete and keep up with the rise of more competitive female athletes in the USA. Evidence of this can be observed in the increased inclusion and participation of women in the Olympic games (Wilson 1996). In 1976 summer Olympics, female athletes accounted for very small portion (only 20 %) of all Olympians. In the 2012 summer Olympics, the proportion has more than doubled reaching 44 % of all Olympians being women.

It is interesting to note that increases in peak performance ages in women in modern era seem to have brought them closer to men’s peak performance ages. The ages of peak performance in the modern era were very similar between male and female medalists. These results indicate that there might be a true or biological peak performance ages that are applicable to both men and women. Physiological factors to determine the athletic success can be drastically different depending upon sporting events (Tanaka and Seals 2008). For example, maximal oxygen consumption, lactate threshold, and exercise economy are primary determinants of endurance performance, whereas explosive muscle strength/power is an important determinant of sprint or anaerobic performance (Tanaka and Seals 2003). But these physiological factors should be common to men and women and the changes in these anaerobic and aerobic functional measures are fairly similar between the sexes (Tanaka and Seals 2003). It is possible that a combination of these physiological as well as psychological factors (e.g., motivation, drive, resilience, etc.) (Sarkar and Fletcher 2014) may reach optimum levels at the ages that are common to both men and women.

In the present study, we used Olympic medalists’ ages as an index of peak athletic performance. There are several advantages using such approaches. The Olympic games are the world’s premier sporting events for elite athletes in a various disciplines. Unlike other sporting events that predominantly feature men (e.g., Super Bowl for American football, NBA for basketball, Tour de France for cycling), women compete at the same world stage as men in the Olympic games (Wilson 1996). However, the Olympic games are held only once every 4 years and the timing of the Olympic games may not coincide with peak performance age for a number of athletes. Many elite athletes have failed to perform in the Olympic games because of the excessive pressure and demands placed on them. Thus, Olympic medalists’ ages might not be a good indicator of peak performance.

In summary, we found that the age of Olympic medal winners increased significantly and consistently in all six events evaluated in women, while in men this trend was observed only in 100 m running. Undoubtedly, modernized changes in sociocultural and political landscapes have influenced and supported the surge of older female athletes. Maturation in peak performance age in women brought them closer to the peak performance ages of male athletes. The present findings may have practical implications for female athletes and their coaches who tend to terminate their athletic career prematurely.