Prevalence and Impact of the Relative Age Effect on Competition Performance in Swimming: A Systematic Review

Jorge Lorenzo-Calvo, Alfonso de la Rubia, Daniel Mon-López, Monica Hontoria-Galán, Moises Marquina and Santiago Veiga
Additional contact information
Jorge Lorenzo-Calvo: Departamento de Deportes, Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte—INEF, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C/Martín Fierro, 728040 Madrid, Spain
Alfonso de la Rubia: Departamento de Deportes, Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte—INEF, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C/Martín Fierro, 728040 Madrid, Spain
Daniel Mon-López: Departamento de Deportes, Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte—INEF, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C/Martín Fierro, 728040 Madrid, Spain
Monica Hontoria-Galán: Departamento de Deportes, Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte—INEF, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C/Martín Fierro, 728040 Madrid, Spain
Moises Marquina: Departamento de Deportes, Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte—INEF, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C/Martín Fierro, 728040 Madrid, Spain
Santiago Veiga: Departamento de Deportes, Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte—INEF, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C/Martín Fierro, 728040 Madrid, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-19

Abstract: This systematic review aimed to examine the prevalence of the relative age effect (RAE) in swimming and its impact on competition performance according to different types of interacting constraints. A systematic literature search, following the PRISMA guidelines for preparing systematic reviews, was performed through four electronic databases, and nine studies met the inclusion criteria. The quality of the selected studies was evaluated using STROBE, and an average score of 16.2 points was obtained. In these studies, the prevalence of the RAE in swimming was observed in more than half (58.65%) of the participants analysed, and the effect of the RAE was more accentuated in young categories (decreased as age increased and was inverted in older ones) and in male swimmers (double that in female swimmers).The impact of the RAE on competitive performance appeared to be related to the strength demands of the event, as the performance in simultaneous strokes, in shorter events, and of swimmers in the postadolescence period seems to be more affected by the RAE. These results indicate that the RAE in competitive swimming relies on individual and environmental (the swimmer’s age group and gender) but also task (the competitive events) determinants or limitations. This should serve as a guide for a more effective design of selection and development procedures for young athletes.

Keywords: young athletes; competition performance; sport talent; sport success; athlete development; talent identification; individual sport (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:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/20/10561/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/20/10561/ (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:20:p:10561-:d:652145

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 ().