Bezuglov Eduard, Morgans Ryland, Kapralova Elizaveta, Achkasov Evgeny, Telyshev Danila, Sadkovaya Olga, Malyakin Georgiy
Department of Sports Medicine and Medical Rehabilitation, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
High performance sports laboratory, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
J Hum Kinet. 2025 May 29;98:231-241. doi: 10.5114/jhk/194499. eCollection 2025 Jul.
The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of the relative age effect (RAE) among elite Olympic weightlifters in different age groups. The prevalence of RAE was studied among top 10 participants from the World Weightlifting championships for youth, junior and senior age groups and from the Olympic Games from 2009 to 2022. Birth dates of 3886 athletes were analyzed and further divided into four groups according to the birth quartile. Weight categories were grouped as lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight. The effect was found among lightweight and heavyweight girls, boys of all weight groups, lightweight and middleweight junior females and juniors of all weight groups. In the senior group, RAE was only present among heavyweight males. Differences in the prevalence of RAE between male and female weightlifters were statistically significant (p = 0.009). Differences in effect between youth and junior age groups were not significant (p = 0.24). The findings of this study demonstrate that RAE tends to be widespread among the best weightlifters of both sexes in youth and junior age groups, but disappears in most weight groups at the elite senior level.
该研究的目的是调查不同年龄组的精英奥林匹克举重运动员中相对年龄效应（RAE）的发生率。在2009年至2022年世界青年、少年和成年组举重锦标赛以及奥运会的前10名参与者中研究了RAE的发生率。分析了3886名运动员的出生日期，并根据出生四分位数进一步分为四组。体重类别分为轻量级、中量级和重量级。在轻量级和重量级女孩、所有体重组的男孩、轻量级和中量级少年女性以及所有体重组的少年中发现了这种效应。在成年组中，RAE仅出现在重量级男性中。男女举重运动员之间RAE发生率的差异具有统计学意义（p = 0.009）。青年组和少年组之间效应的差异不显著（p = 0.24）。本研究结果表明，RAE在青年组和少年组的男女最佳举重运动员中往往普遍存在，但在精英成年水平的大多数体重组中消失。
