Comments on: The ages of Olympic Grapplers (Judo and Freestyle Wrestling). http://judometrics.com/2009/12/the-ages-of-olympic-grapplers-judo-and-freestyle-wrestling/ A site devoted to developing metrics for Judo by Lance Wicks. Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:14:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: LanceW http://judometrics.com/2009/12/the-ages-of-olympic-grapplers-judo-and-freestyle-wrestling/comment-page-1/#comment-33 LanceW Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:14:35 +0000 http://judometrics.com/?p=106#comment-33 Hi, thanks for that analysis and the comments that go along with it. I'm the first to to say that I am not a statistician, so I really appreciate you taking the time and effort to look through the info. I think your point about "<em><strong>...when to retire older compeditors?</strong></em>" is very important. How many squads have players taking up spots (and resources including funding) that are "too old" to be viable medal prospects? Thanks so much for your analysis, if you have any research/analyses that poeple might find interesting, I'd love to be able to share them here on the website! Lance Hi,
thanks for that analysis and the comments that go along with it.
I’m the first to to say that I am not a statistician, so I really appreciate you taking the time and effort to look through the info.

I think your point about “…when to retire older compeditors?” is very important.
How many squads have players taking up spots (and resources including funding) that are “too old” to be viable medal prospects?

Thanks so much for your analysis, if you have any research/analyses that poeple might find interesting, I’d love to be able to share them here on the website!

Lance

]]> By: dakotajudo http://judometrics.com/2009/12/the-ages-of-olympic-grapplers-judo-and-freestyle-wrestling/comment-page-1/#comment-31 dakotajudo Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:52:31 +0000 http://judometrics.com/?p=106#comment-31 I ran an analysis of variance on your data, and it does not support a claim that the age gap between gold medalists and the remainder is changing. The summary AOV: Df Sum Sq Mean Sq F value Pr(>F) Year 3 362 120.7 8.06 2.5e-05 *** Gold 1 7 6.9 0.46 0.4977 Gender 1 123 122.8 8.21 0.0042 ** Year:Gold 3 36 11.9 0.79 0.4972 Year:Gender 3 9 2.9 0.19 0.9011 Gold:Gender 1 9 9.1 0.61 0.4365 Year:Gold:Gender 3 27 9.0 0.60 0.6146 Residuals 1537 23001 15.0 Note that this does not support the claim that average age has increased over years, and that the average age of women judoka is different than men, but there is no significance to the interaction of age by year. According to my analysis, average age of gold medalist (men) ranged from 24.14 to 26.00; this is large compared to difference between gold medalists and the rest (ranging from 24.96-26.19), so a comparison of age of gold medalists to the average age of competitors is somewhat meaningless. Note that the average age of male gold medalists was highest in 2000 at 26.0. The average age of women medalists is more variable than men, but 1996 was an unusual year for that. This might be confounding the entire analysis. Perhaps the more interesting question here is not how to develop young athletes for success, but when to retire older competitors? I ran an analysis of variance on your data, and it does not support a claim that the age gap between gold medalists and the remainder is changing. The summary AOV:
Df Sum Sq Mean Sq F value Pr(>F)
Year 3 362 120.7 8.06 2.5e-05 ***
Gold 1 7 6.9 0.46 0.4977
Gender 1 123 122.8 8.21 0.0042 **
Year:Gold 3 36 11.9 0.79 0.4972
Year:Gender 3 9 2.9 0.19 0.9011
Gold:Gender 1 9 9.1 0.61 0.4365
Year:Gold:Gender 3 27 9.0 0.60 0.6146
Residuals 1537 23001 15.0

Note that this does not support the claim that average age has increased over years, and that the average age of women judoka is different than men, but there is no significance to the interaction of age by year.

According to my analysis, average age of gold medalist (men) ranged from 24.14 to 26.00; this is large compared to difference between gold medalists and the rest (ranging from 24.96-26.19), so a comparison of age of gold medalists to the average age of competitors is somewhat meaningless. Note that the average age of male gold medalists was highest in 2000 at 26.0.

The average age of women medalists is more variable than men, but 1996 was an unusual year for that. This might be confounding the entire analysis.

Perhaps the more interesting question here is not how to develop young athletes for success, but when to retire older competitors?

]]>