The Impact of COVID-19 on the Preparation for the Tokyo Olympics: A Comprehensive Performance Assessment of Top Swimmers

Emese Csulak, Árpád Petrov, Tímea Kováts, Márton Tokodi, Bálint Lakatos, Attila Kovács, Levente Staub, Ferenc Imre Suhai, Erzsébet Liliána Szabó, Zsófia Dohy, Hajnalka Vágó, Dávid Becker, Veronika Müller, Nóra Sydó and Béla Merkely
Additional contact information
Emese Csulak: Heart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, 1122 Budapest, Hungary
Árpád Petrov: Hungarian Coaches Association, 1146 Budapest, Hungary
Tímea Kováts: Heart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, 1122 Budapest, Hungary
Márton Tokodi: Heart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, 1122 Budapest, Hungary
Bálint Lakatos: Heart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, 1122 Budapest, Hungary
Attila Kovács: Heart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, 1122 Budapest, Hungary
Levente Staub: Argus Cognitive, Inc., Lebanon, NH 03766-1441, USA
Ferenc Imre Suhai: Heart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, 1122 Budapest, Hungary
Erzsébet Liliána Szabó: Heart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, 1122 Budapest, Hungary
Zsófia Dohy: Heart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, 1122 Budapest, Hungary
Hajnalka Vágó: Heart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, 1122 Budapest, Hungary
Dávid Becker: Heart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, 1122 Budapest, Hungary
Veronika Müller: Pulmonology Clinic, Semmelweis University, 1083 Budapest, Hungary
Nóra Sydó: Heart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, 1122 Budapest, Hungary
Béla Merkely: Heart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, 1122 Budapest, Hungary

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 18, 1-12

Abstract: Background: The Olympic preparation of athletes has been highly influenced by COVID and post-COVID syndrome. As the complex screening of athletes is essential for safe and successful sports, we aimed to repeat the 2019-year sports cardiology screening of the Olympic Swim Team before the Olympics and to compare the results of COVID and non-COVID athletes. Methods: Patient history, electrocardiogram, laboratory tests, body composition analysis, echocardiography, cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) were performed. We used time-ranking points to compare swimming performance. Results: From April 2019, we examined 46 elite swimmers (24 ± 4 years). Fourteen swimmers had COVID infection; all cases were mild. During CPET there was no difference in the performance of COVID (male: VO 2 max 55 ± 4 vs. 56.5 ± 5 mL/kg/min, p = 0.53; female: VO 2 max 54.6 ± 4 vs. 56 ± 5.5 mL/kg/min, p = 0.86) vs. non-COVID athletes (male VO 2 max 56.7 ± 5 vs. 55.5 ± 4.5 mL/kg/min, p = 0.50; female 49.6 ± 3 vs. 50.7 ± 2.6 mL/kg/min, p = 0.47) between 2019 and 2021. When comparing the time results of the National Championships, 54.8% of the athletes showed an improvement ( p = 0.75). Conclusions: COVID infection with short-term detraining did not affect the performance of well-trained swimmers. According to our results, the COVID pandemic did not impair the effectiveness of the preparation for the Tokyo Olympics.

Keywords: athlete; swimming; COVID-19; cardiopulmonary exercise test; performance assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9770/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9770/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:18:p:9770-:d:637111

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().