The growing problem of comparing elite sport performances: The Olympic speed skating case

Authors

  • Bertus Talsma ORTEC Sports, Netherlands
  • Gerard Sierksma University of Groningen, Netherlands
  • Marcel Turkensteen Aarhus University, Denmark

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14198/jhse.2017.12.Proc3.13

Keywords:

SPORT STATISTICS, OLYMPIC GAMES, PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS, GOULD'S HYPOTHESIS, SPEED SKATING

Abstract

The increased performance densities in the top of elite sports, sometimes mutual contest results are within the error margins of the measuring sys- tems, has caused major problems in comparing performances and deciding on winners. In case of Dutch speed skating, the pool of highly competitive athletes is large, and, since there is a limit on the number of Olympic participators per country, the Olympic selection procedure is obviously a precarious affair. Because more than 100 years of data is available, we are able to study in this respect the well-known Gould hypothesis: When the sport matures, the variation in performance, especially at the top, decreases, and extreme events, where one athlete outperforms all his competitors, be- come rarer. Since Gould’s hypothesis only holds with ‘unchanged rules of the game’, several data corrections, for example on the introduction of the klap skate, are needed. A major goal of this paper is to analyze the possible role of Gould’s hypothesis concerning the growing performance densities for top speed skating.

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Published

2017-11-20

How to Cite

Talsma, B., Sierksma, G., & Turkensteen, M. (2017). The growing problem of comparing elite sport performances: The Olympic speed skating case. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 12(3proc), S892-S907. https://doi.org/10.14198/jhse.2017.12.Proc3.13