SPECIFIC STRATEGY FOR THE MEDALISTS VERSUS FINALISTS AND SEMI-FINALISTS IN THE MEN'S 200 M BACKSTROKE AT THE SYDNEY OLYMPIC GAMES

The performances of the men's 200 m backstroke at the Sydney Olympic games (final and semi-final) were studied using 12 video cameras. The four 50 m velocities, stroke frequency, stroke length, and turn velocities were calculated using a specific competition analysis computer program. The medallists swam faster than the non-medallists finalist in the three first 50 m laps of the race. However, these differences were not statistically significant. For the whole group (n = 16), the 200 backstroke velocity was mainly related to the second 50 m (r = 0.93,

SPECIFIC STRATEGY FOR THE MEDALLISTS VERSUS FINALISTS AND SEMI FINALISTS IN THE MEN'S 200 M FREESTYLE AT THE SYDNEY OLYMPIC GAMES

The performances of the men's 200 m freestyle at the Sydney Olympic games (final and semi-final) were studied using 12 video cameras. The four 50 m velocities, stroke frequency, stroke length, and turn velocities were calculated using a competition analysis computer program. The medallists swam faster than the non-medallist finalists in the Znd, 3rd and 4th 50 m. They also swam faster in the 2nd and 3rd turns. For the 16 swimmers. the 200 m freestyle velocity was mainly related to the velocity of the 2nd 50 m (r = 0.95;

SPECIFIC STRATEGY FOR THE MEDALLISTS VERSUS FINALISTS AND SEM-FINALISTS IN THE WOMEN'S 200 M FREESTYLE AT THE SYDNEY OLYMPIC GAMES

The performances of the women's 200 m freestyle at the Sydney Olympic games (final and semi-final) were studied using 12 video cameras. The four 50 m velocities, stroke frequency, stroke length, and turn velocities were calculated using a specific competition analysis computer program. The medallists swam faster than the non-medallist finalists only in the first 50 m. There was no other statistical difference for the start or turns velocities. For the 16 swimmers, the 200 m freestyle velocity was mainly related to the velocity of the third 50 m lap (r = 0.83;

SPECIFIC STRATEGY FOR THE MEDALLISTS VERSUS FINALISTS AND SEMI-FINALISTS IN THE WOMEN'S 200 M IM INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY AT THE SYDNEY OLYMPIC GAMES

The performances of the women's 200 m individual medley (IM) at the Sydney Olympic games (final and semi-final) were studied using 12 video cameras. The four strokes velocities, stoke frequency, stroke length, and turn velocities were calculated using a specific competition analysis computer program. The medallists had a higher crawl velocity, turn 2 and 3 velocities than the non-medallist finalists. For the 16 swimmers, the final performance was mainly related to the second part of the race, breaststroke velocity (r = 0.83; p< 0.01), crawl velocity (r = 0.68; p < 0.01) and turn 3 velocity (r = 0.73; p < 0.01). From the stroke frequency and stroke length perspective, two different strategies were observed. However. they were not related to the final result

SPECIFIC STRATEGY FOR THE MEDALLISTS VERSUS FINALISTS AND SEMI-FINALISTS IN THE WOMEN'S 200 M BREASTSTROKE AT THE SYDNEY OLYMPIC GAMES

The performances of the women's 200 m breaststroke at the Sydney Olympic games (final and semi-final) were studied using 12 video cameras. For each of the four 50 m laps, stroke velocities, stroke frequency, stroke length, and turn velocities were calculated using a specific competition analysis computer program. The medallists swam faster than the nonmedallist finalists in the four 50 m laps of the race. However, the difference was not statistically significant. In contrast, the medallists had a longer stroke length than the two other groups. For the 16 swimmers, the 200 m breaststroke velocity was mainly related to the velocity of the third and fourth 50 m laps (r = 0.88 and 0.86; p < 0.01). From the stroke frequency and stroke length perspective, three different technique strategies were observed. However, they were not related to the final result

SPECIFIC STRATEGY FOR THE MEDALISTS VERSUS FINALISTS AND SEMI FINALISTS IN THE WOMEN'S 200 M BACKSTROKE AT THE SYDNEY OLYMPIC GAMES

The performances of the women's 200 m backstroke at the Sydney Olympic games (final and semi-final) were studied using 12 video cameras. For each 50 m lap, the velocities, stroke frequency, strokc length, and turn velocities were calculated using a specific competition analysis computer program. The medallists swam faster than the non-medallists finalist in all four laps. They had a higher stroke frequency and longer stroke length throughout the race. For the whole group (n = 16), the 200 m backstroke velocity was mainly related to the third lap (r = 0.95,