Keenan Kevin G, Senefeld Jonathon W, Hunter Sandra K
Department of Kinesiology University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, United States of America.
Center for Aging and Translational Research University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2018 Jan 19;13(1):e0191504. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191504. eCollection 2018.
Men outperform women in many athletic endeavors due to physiological and anatomical differences (e.g. larger and faster muscle); however, the observed sex differences in elite athletic performance are typically larger than expected, and may reflect sex-related differences in opportunity or incentives. As collegiate rowing in the United States has been largely incentivized for women over the last 20 years, but not men, the purpose of this study was to examine sex differences in elite rowing performance over that timeframe. Finishing times from grand finale races for collegiate championship on-water performances (n = 480) and junior indoor performances (n = 1,280) were compared between men and women across 20 years (1997-2016), weight classes (heavy vs. lightweight) and finishing place. Participation of the numbers of men and women rowers were also quantified across years. Men were faster than women across all finishing places, weight classes and years of competition and performance declined across finishing place for both men and women (P<0.001). Interestingly, the reduction in performance time across finishing place was greater (P<0.001) for collegiate men compared to women in the heavyweight division. This result is opposite to other sports (e.g. running and swimming), and to lightweight rowing in this study, which provides women fewer incentives than in heavyweight rowing. Correspondingly, participation in collegiate rowing has increased by ~113 women per year (P<0.001), with no change (P = 0.899) for collegiate men. These results indicate that increased participation and incentives within collegiate rowing for women vs. men contribute to sex differences in athletic performance.
由于生理和解剖学上的差异（例如肌肉更大、速度更快），男性在许多体育项目中表现优于女性；然而，精英运动表现中观察到的性别差异通常比预期的要大，这可能反映了机会或激励方面与性别相关的差异。在美国，过去20年里大学赛艇运动在很大程度上对女性给予了激励，而对男性则不然，本研究的目的是考察在这一时期精英赛艇表现中的性别差异。比较了20年（1997 - 2016年）间男女在大学锦标赛水上比赛（n = 480）和青少年室内比赛（n = 1280）决赛中的完赛时间，涉及体重级别（重量级与轻量级）和完赛名次。还对各年份男女赛艇运动员的参赛人数进行了量化。在所有完赛名次、体重级别和比赛年份中，男性都比女性快，并且男性和女性的表现都随着完赛名次的降低而下降（P<0.001）。有趣的是，在重量级比赛中，大学男子赛艇选手完赛时间随完赛名次的减少幅度比女子更大（P<0.001）。这一结果与其他运动项目（如跑步和游泳）以及本研究中的轻量级赛艇运动相反，在轻量级赛艇运动中给予女性的激励比重量级赛艇运动少。相应地，大学赛艇运动中女性的参赛人数每年增加约113人（P<0.001），而大学男性的参赛人数没有变化（P = 0.899）。这些结果表明大学赛艇运动中女性与男性在参与度和激励方面的差异导致了运动表现的性别差异。
