Choreography Strategies in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Floor Routines across Five Olympic Games

Routine compositions are an indicator of an exercising trend in a particular Olympic cycle in artistic gymnastics. The pri- mary aim of the current study was to identify which acrobatic and dance elements significantly influence specific scores throughout five different Olympic Games (OG) in elite female artistic gymnasts: finalists of OG 2000-2016. A total of 40 female competitors, participants of floor apparatus finals competitions, were subjects of this study. The results identi- fied the following: 1) at OG 2000, an under-sensitive scoring system did not allow the extraction of individual elements that significantly contributed to a specific score; 2) the performance of acrobatic elements from the highest difficulty groups had a significant impact in OG 2004; 3) At OG 2008, exercises comprising slightly easier elements, performed technically and aesthetically correctly, scored better than exercises comprising elements of higher difficulty values per- formed with specific technical and/or aesthetic errors; 4) at OG 2012, the performance of the most difficult acrobatic el- ements without technical errors was the key to a better result; 5) quality performance of the greatest difficulty acrobatic elements, as well as the performance of the highest bonuses between the acrobatic and dance elements was the key to success at OG 2016. The results of this research are possible indicators of future floor compositions in OG 2020 and provide guidance to everyone involved in the long-term planning and programming process of future floor finalists

Maturity Status and Relative Age of Elite Taekwondo Youth Competitors—Case Study on Croatian National Team

This study examines the maturity status and relative age effect in elite youth taekwondo Croatian National Team athletes. Measurements of biological age, maturity offset, and body composition were taken from a sample of 17 junior athletes. Differences in maturity status were observed among athletes of the same chronological age, with variations in sitting height and age at peak height velocity. Male athletes generally exhibited higher values in body height, percentage of body fat, muscle mass, and total body water. No significant relative age effect was found. These findings highlight the importance of considering individual biological age and maturity status for talent development and training program adjustments. Further research involving athletes from different countries is recommended to validate these results and enhance the understanding of youth taekwondo athlete development