Age-associated Performance Decline and Sex Differences in Olympic Weightlifting.

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Gerontology
• Human Performance

Background:

• Masters weightlifting performance decline is often presumed faster in women than men.
• Previous studies may not accurately reflect current female athletic capabilities due to performance improvements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify age-associated performance decline in Olympic weightlifting separately for men and women.
• To investigate the potential impact of perimenopausal years on female performance decline.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 10,225 performance results from Masters Weightlifting competitions (1993-2018).
• Estimation of quantile curves for age-related performance decline and calculation of confidence intervals.
• Examination of performance changes across different time periods.

Main Results:

• At age 40, fractional performance was 0.947 for men and 0.952 for women (vs. age 35).
• At age 60, fractional performance decreased to 0.723 for men and 0.604 for women.
• Female performance has stabilized since 2013, improving from earlier periods.

Conclusions:

• Female weightlifters' performance has improved significantly over the past 25 years.
• The age-related performance decline in women parallels men's, with an accelerated phase during the late 40s to late 50s, coinciding with menopause.