Joyner Patrick Wakefield, Lewis John, Mallon William J, Kirkendall Don, Dawood Rehan, Fagerberg Austin, Mills Frederic Baker, Garrett William
Orthopaedic Surgery, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Virginia, USA.
Duke University Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2020 Oct 2;6(1):e000857. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2020-000857. eCollection 2020.
Initially described in a sports context in ice hockey in 1985, the relative age effect (RAE) refers to the performance advantages of youth born in the first quarter of the birth year when trying-out for select, age-restricted sports. The competitive advantage bestowed to the relatively older athlete in their age band is the result of the older athlete being more physically and emotionally mature. These more mature players will likely go on to be exposed to better coaching, competition, teammates and facilities in their respective sport.
Our study sought to characterise the ubiquity of this effect by examining the birth distribution of some of the world's most elite athletes, Olympians.
We extended the exploration of the RAE beyond specific sports by examining the birth quarter of over 44 000 Olympic athlete's birthdates, born between 1964 and 1996. Our hypothesis was that the RAE would be prominent in both Olympic athletes as a whole and in selected subcategories of athletes.
The fractions of births in the first versus the fourth quarter were significantly different (p<0.001) from each other for the summer and winter Olympians, ball and non-ball sports, and team as well as individual sports. This significant difference was not gender specific. We found the general existence of the RAE in Olympic athletes regardless of global classification. Our findings suggest that coaching staff should be cognisant of the RAE when working with young athletes and should take relative age into consideration when evaluating a burgeoning athlete's abilities.
相对年龄效应（RAE）最初于1985年在冰球运动背景下被描述，它指的是出生年份第一季度出生的青少年在参加特定的、有年龄限制的体育选拔时所具有的表现优势。在同一年龄段中，相对年长的运动员所具有的竞争优势是其身体和情感更为成熟的结果。这些更为成熟的运动员在各自的运动项目中可能会接触到更好的教练、比赛、队友和设施。
我们的研究旨在通过考察一些世界最优秀运动员（奥运会选手）的出生分布情况来描述这种效应的普遍性。
我们通过考察超过44000名出生于1964年至1996年的奥运会运动员出生日期的季度分布，将对相对年龄效应的探索扩展到特定体育项目之外。我们的假设是，相对年龄效应在全体奥运会运动员以及特定运动员子类别中都将很显著。
夏季和冬季奥运会选手、球类和非球类运动、团体及个人运动中，第一季度与第四季度出生的比例彼此间存在显著差异（p<0.001）。这种显著差异并非性别特异性的。我们发现，无论全球分类如何，奥运会运动员中普遍存在相对年龄效应。我们的研究结果表明，教练团队在与年轻运动员合作时应认识到相对年龄效应，并在评估一名崭露头角的运动员的能力时应考虑相对年龄因素。
