The Development And Performance Trends In Olympic Track And Field: 1972 - 2008

Introduction
The Olympic Games are multi sport and multi cultural event, which takes place on a regular basis at different locations.
Because the Olympic Games represent the highest level of competition, particularly in track and field, they became the
largest international sport event for competitors as well as spectators. For the past few years we have analyzed the
performance trends in sport as a basis for prediction of future development. We believe that the prediction of future
performances is a very important tool for management and leadership in the area of sport training and competition
(Wazny, 1981; Digel, 1995; Pfützner, 2001).

Methods
Olympic Track and Field events were analyzed from 1972 to 2000 in performance trends, relationship between politics
and sport, development of organizational structures, rules development, trends in sport training, development of
technique, development of equipment and material support for Track and Field. The research methods included
statistical analysis of performances at Olympic Games, analysis of literature, interviews and questionnaires
administered to athletes and coaches.

Results
The long-term research in the Olympic track and field makes it possible to predict the level of performances, which may
be expected in future years. (Table 1) Common characteristics for all disciplines:
- sharp increments in performance before 1988 was somewhat affected by the Olympic boycott in 1980 and 1984;
- minimal or no increments in performance during the nineties;
- each discipline has its own star who contributed to a substantial advancement of performance
(Grifit, Lewis, Johnson, African middle and long distance runners etc.)

Discussion/Conclusions
The results of our study suggest that sport will continue to play a very important role in publicity and promotion of
overall development of many countries. The performance levels will continue to grow because of the development of
new knowledge, which contributes to a higher quality of practice, improvement of technique, and above all, because of
improved material support for athletics. The coaches and athletes believe that the trend toward increase frequency of
competition among the top world athletes will continue because of its attractiveness for sponsors and media.

References
[1]. Digel, H. (1995) Sport in a changing society. Schorndorf : Hofmann.
[2]. Pfützner, A. (2001) Leistungssport, 1, 20-25.
[3]. Wažny, Z. (1981) Wspólczesny systém szkolenia w sporcie wyczynowym. Warszawa : Sport i turystyka.

NOTA: O texto com a iconografia está no anexo.

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