Rapid weight gain in wrestling athletes during the Panamerican Championship, Lima, 2018

Introduction: To avoid rapid bodyweight fluctuations and the associated effects on health and performance, some combat sports federations have made changes to regulations. Objective: the objective of this study was to analyze the impact of the Rapid Weight Gain on sporting success in elite Olympic Wrestling athletes under the new weighing modality. Methods: the bodyweight of 75 athletes was recorded during the Pan-American Olympic Wrestling Championship (Lima, 2018), corresponding to 29 % of the total universe of competitors (n = 255). Of these, 29 were Greco-Roman style, eight Freestyle, and 38 Women´s Wrestling. The official weighing was carried out between 8:00 and 8:30 hours. As for the second weighing, this was done with the same official weighing scale, immediately before the first match (between 10:00 and 11:00 hours). Rapid Weight Gain after weigh-in was compared between medalist and non-medalist athletes. Results: when analyzing the difference between medalists and non-medalists, no significant differences were found in Greco-Roman athletes (t = 0.114; p = 0.910; r = 0.022), in Freestyle (Mann-Whitney U = 5,500; p = 0.486; r = 0.000), in Women´s Wrestling (Mann-Whitney U = 163.0; p = 0.774; r = 0.124), and in all competitors (Mann-Whitney U = 641.5; p = 0.855; r = 0.037). Conclusions: no significant differences were found between medalist and non-medalist athletes in any of the Olympic Wrestling styles.