Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, ISSN 1318-2269 31 Dražen Harasin * Dragan Milanović DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BEST OLYMPIC RESULTS AND THE WORLD’S BEST RESULTS ACHIEVED IN THE OLYMPIC YEARS IN THROWING EVENTS IN ATHLETICS RAZLIKE MED NAJBOLJŠIMI OLIMPIJSKIMI IN SVETOVNIMI REZULTATI V ATLETSKIH METALNIH DISCIPLINAH V OLIMPIJSKIH LETIH Abstract The aim of this study was to identify differences between arithmetic means of the best results in throwing events in athletics that were achieved in the finals of the Olympic Games on the one hand, and the world’s best eight results achieved in the Olympic years in other competitions in the 1976-2004 period, on the other hand. Participants were top-level athletes in throwing events who participated in the finals of the Olympic Games between the years 1976 and 2004 and ranked in the top eight in the world. The t-test for dependent samples was used to analyse the differences between arithmetic means of the best results achieved in the Olympic Games' finals and the world’s best results achieved in the same years in which the Olympic Games were held. The obtained t -values of differences between arithmetic means point to the statistically significant dif- ferences between the samples of results, namely, it was confirmed with a high level of certainty that the samples had been derived from two very different populations in terms of the analysed feature. The hypothesis that significant differences would be established between the results achieved in the Olympic Games' finals and the world’s best results achieved in other competitions in the Olympic years was confirmed. Key words: throwing events, Olympic Games, best results, trends of development Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, Croatia * Corresponding author: Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb Horvaćanski zavoj 15 10000 Zagreb, Croatia Tel.: +3851 3658662, Fax: +3851 3634146 E-mail: dharasin@kif.hr Izvleček Namen te študije je ugotoviti razlike med aritmetičnimi sredinami najboljših rezultatov v metalnih disciplinah v atletiki, ki so bili doseženi v finalu olimpijskih iger, ter aritmetičnimi sredinami najboljših svetovnih rezultatov, ki so bili doseženi v drugih tekmovanjih v olimpijskih letih med 1976 in 2004. Vzorec je zajemal športnike iz različnih držav, in sicer vrhunske metalce krogle, diska, kopja in kladiva, ki so tekmovali v finalu olimpijskih iger med letoma 1976 in 2004 in se uvrstili med prvih osem na svetovni lestvici atletov, ki tekmujejo v metalnih disciplinah. S t-testom za odvisne vzorce smo ugotavljali značilnost razlik med aritmetičnimi sredi- nami najboljših rezultatov iz finala olimpijskih iger in najboljših svetovnih rezultatov, ki so bili doseženi v letih, ko so potek a le ol i mpijske ig re. Dobljene t-vrednosti raz- lik med aritmetičnimi sredinami kažejo na statistično značilne razlike med vzorci rezultatov, saj smo z veliko ver jet nost jo pot rd i l i, d a so bi l i v z orci pr idobljen i i z dveh zelo različnih populacij glede na analizirano značilnost. Hipoteza, da obstajajo statistično značilne razlike med rezultati iz finala olimpijskih iger in najboljšimi sveto- vnimi rezultati, ki so bili doseženi na drugih tekmova- njih v olimpijskih letih, je bila potrjena. Ključne besede: metalne discipline, olimpijske igre, najboljši rezultati, razvojni trendi Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 31–42 (2005) 32 Olympic and world’ s best achivements in throwing events in athleticsKinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 31–42 (2005) Introduction Since ancient times various types of throwing different implements were a way people showed their strength in contests. It was for fun that they threw a stone, a blacksmith’s hammer, a cannonball, a javelin or the like. These types of throws later developed into athletic throwing events. Shot put and discus throw were part of the Olympic programmes already at the first Olympic Games, hammer throw was introduced during the second Olympic Games in 1990, and javelin throw may be found for the first time in the programme of the Jubilee Games in 1906. World records have been recorded since 1909 for the shot putting event, since 1912 for discus and javelin throw, and since 1913 for hammer throw. The furthest distances ever in the throwing events were achieved by the American Randy Barnes (shot put in 1990 in Los Angeles – 23.12 m), the German Jürgen Schult in discus throw (1986 in Neubrandeburg – 74.08 m), the Russian Juri Sedyh in hammer throw (1986 in Stuttgart – 86.74 m) and the Czech Jan Zelezny in javelin throw (1996 in Jena – 98.48 m). The mo der n Oly mpic G a me s were re s tore d i n 189 6 a nd have b e en held e ver si nc e (exc ept du r i ng the periods of two World Wars) following the example of the ancient Olympic Games in which the best athletes from the whole world participated. During the Olympic Games athletes from all countries in the world gather, without any racial, religious or other discrimination. The goal of the Olympic movement is the physical and spiritual strengthening of the young and the improvement of their moral qualities on the basis of the quality participation in sports. The last Olympic Games were held in the year 2004 in Athens. The Olympic Games were not held between 1912 and 1920, and between 1936 and 1948 because of the two World Wars, while in 1906 half-Olympics were held in Athens. The analysis of the trends in the development of results made it possible to identify certain cyclic oscillations (Bartonietz & Borgstom, 1995; Wazni, 1978). Theses were reflected in the more expressed improvement of results in the Olympic years and in a slow-down in development in the period between the Games. The oscillations were connected with the Olympic Games and the role they have in sport. Since the Olympic Games have become a contest that affects the tendencies in the development of results, it would be important to know whether the athletes achieve better results in the most important competitions in the Olympic years. Accordingly the aim of this study was to identify differences between the arithmetic means of the best results achieved in the finals of the Olympic Games and the world’s best eight results achieved in the Olympic years in the 1976-2004 period. Establishing these differences would actually help us determine the correlation between sporting achievements and the methods u s ed a s wel l a s t he soc iolog ic a l fac tors t hat a ffec t t he de velopment of resu lt s . Fu r t her, t h i s wou ld significantly broaden our knowledge about what may be expected in the future in top-level results in throwing events in athletics. The basic hypothesis that was tested in this study was that significant differences existed between the best Olympic results and the world’s best results achieved in other competitions in the four throwing events in the Olympic years. Olympic and world’ s best achivements in throwing events in athletics 33 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 31–42 (2005) Method Participants Participants were athletes – top-level shot putters, discus throwers, javelin throwers and hammer throwers – from different world countries. The sample was divided into two sub-samples. The first sub-sample consisted of athletes participating in the Olympic Games’ finals between 1976 in Montreal and 2004 in Athens. This means that the sample of subjects for each of the Olympics was d e fi ne d by t he s e t s , e a c h c on s i s t i n g of 8 at h le t e s for e a c h t h row i n g e ve nt . The s e c ond s u b - s a mple of subjects comprised of sets of 8 best throwers for each throwing event ranking among the top eight in the world classification of throwers in athletics in the Olympic years between 1976 in Montreal and 2004 in Athens. Many of these athletes were included in both sub-samples. Instruments The variables used in this study were the results achieved in the throwing events in athletics – shot put, discus throw, javelin throw and hammer throw. The data were collected from The Complete Book of the Olympics (Wallechinsky, 2004) and on this basis the series of results were defined. The results of the list of the International Association of Athletics Federations [IAAF] (2005), namely, the best eight results in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004, were also used and on this basis the series of the world’s best results achieved in the Olympic years were defined. Procedure The collected data were processed by the Statistica program package. The arithmetic means (AM), standard deviations (SD), the best (MAX) and the poorest (MIN) results, as well as the ranges (R) between the best and the poorest results were calculated. The analysis included the data on the statistical significance of differences between arithmetic means of the best results achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and the world’s best results achieved in the Olympic years. For this purpose the method and the program for the analysis of differences between arithmetic means were used with the help of the module ‘t-test for dependent samples’. Dependent t-test is a test of the significance of differences between means of two sets of scores that are related, such as when the same participants are measured on two occasions (Thomas & Nelson, 2001). In our investigation one or more athletes were to be found in both sub-samples – in the sub-sample of the Olympic Games’ finalists and in the sub-sample of the best ranked athletes in the world classifications. This, naturally, presented no limitation for the testing of differences between the sub-samples defined in such a way. Results Shot put Prior to identifying differences defined by the aim of this study, the following was determined: descriptive statistical parameters of the original results in shot put achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals between 1976 and 2004 and descriptive statistical parameters of the world’s best results in shot put in the 1976-2004 period. These parameters are presented in Table 1 and Figure 1. 34 Olympic and world’ s best achivements in throwing events in athleticsKinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 31–42 (2005) Table 1: Descriptive statistical parameters of the best results in shot put achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and the world’s best results in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004 Yea r The best Olympic results The world’s best results M SD MIN MAX R M SD MIN MAX R 1976 20.61 0.36 20.17 21.05 0.88 21.57 0.32 21.12 22.00 0.88 1980 20.81 0.54 20.07 21.50 1.43 21.54 0.27 21.23 21.98 0.75 1984 20.50 0.64 19.65 21.26 1.61 21.85 0.19 21.64 22.19 0.55 1988 21.24 0.94 20.36 22.47 2.11 22.09 0.62 21.39 23.06 1.67 1992 20.75 0.48 20.23 21.70 1.47 21.43 0.42 20.99 21.98 0.99 1996 20.67 0.45 20.07 21.62 1.55 21.33 0.45 20.90 22.40 1.50 2000 20.81 0.42 20.18 21.29 1.11 21.64 0.27 21.34 22.12 0.78 2004 20.71 0.39 20.26 21.16 0.9 21.58 0.44 21.16 22.54 1.38 Legend (for Tables 1, 3, 5 & 7) M – arithmetic mean SD - standard deviation MIN – the poorest result MAX – the best result R – range between the best and the poorest result Legend: KUGTOP8 – the average of the world’s best results KUGFINOI – the average of the best Olympic results Figure 1: Graphical presentation of the average of the best Olympic results and the world’s best results in shot put achieved in the Olympic years Olympic and world’ s best achivements in throwing events in athletics 35 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 31–42 (2005) The Olympic results in shot put are poorer than those achieved in the Olympic years in other competitions. This difference in results is particularly evident in the year 1984 at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles when some of the world’s best shot putters boycotted the Olympics. After determining the descriptive parameters, the statistical procedures were applied to identify differences between arithmetic means of the best results in shot put achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and the world’s best results achieved in the same years. This analysis will provide the answer to the main hypothesis in this study about the differences between the two series of results in throwing events in athletics. The results of this part of the analysis are presented in Table 2. Table 2: Differences between arithmetic means of results in shot put realized in the Olympic Games’ finals and the average of the world’s eight best results achieved in throwing events in athletics in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004 MS DNtd fp KUGFINOI 20.76 0.21 KUGTOP8 21.62 0.24 8 -11.11 7 0.00 Legend: KUGFINOI – the average of results of the Olympic Games’ finalists KUGTOP8 – the average of the world’s best results achieved in the Olympic years M – arithmetic mean SD – standard deviation N – number of results t - t-test df – degrees of freedom p – significance of differences Discus throw The descriptive statistical parameters of the original results in discus throw achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals between 1976 and 2004 and the descriptive statistical parameters of the best results in discus throw between 1976 and 2004 are presented in Table 3 (see also Figure 2). Table 3: Descriptive statistical parameters of the best results in discus throw achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and the world’s best results achieved in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004 Yea r The best Olympic results The world’s best results M SD MIN MAX R M SD MIN MAX R 1976 64.52 1.85 61.98 67.50 5.52 67.47 1.64 66.04 70.86 4.82 1980 65.10 1.47 63.04 66.64 3.60 68.84 1.01 68.04 70.98 2.94 1984 65.01 1.20 63.22 66.60 3.38 70.31 0.86 68.82 71.26 2.44 1988 66.25 1.70 63.28 68.82 5.54 69.19 0.94 68.22 70.46 2.24 1992 63.29 1.28 61.78 65.12 3.34 68.29 1.24 67.16 70.84 3.68 1996 65.46 1.99 62.78 69.40 6.62 68.33 1.75 66.92 71.14 4.22 2000 66.87 1.76 64.41 69.30 4.89 69.44 1.94 67.59 73.88 6.29 2004 65.34 2.43 65.34 69.89 4.55 68.92 1.27 67.66 70.97 3.31 36 Olympic and world’ s best achivements in throwing events in athleticsKinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 31–42 (2005) DISFINOI DISTOP8 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 Legend: DISTOP8 - the average of the world’s best results DISFINOI – the average of the best Olympic Games’ results Figure 2: Graphical presentation of the average of the best Olympic results and the world’s best results achieved in discus throw in the Olympic years Big differences between the results are particularly evident in the year 1984 when some of the best discus throwers boycotted the Los Angeles Olympic Games. After determining the descriptive parameters, the statistical procedures were applied to identify differences between arithmetic means of the best results in discus throw achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and the world’s best results achieved in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004. This analysis will provide the answer to the main hypothesis of this study about the differences between the two series of results in throwing events in athletics. The results of this part of the analysis are presented in Table 4. Table 4: Differences between arithmetic means of results in discus throw achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and the average of the world’s eight best results achieved in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004 MS DNtd fp DISFINOI 65.23 1.07 DISTOP8 68.84 0.85 8 -10.01 7 0.00 Legend: DISKFINOI – the average of results of the Olympic Games’ finalists DISKTOP8 – the average of the world’s best results in the Olympic years M – arithmetic mean SD - standard deviation N – number of results t - t-test df – degrees of freedom p – significance of differences Olympic and world’ s best achivements in throwing events in athletics 37 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 31–42 (2005) Hammer throw The descriptive statistical parameters of the original results in hammer throw achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals between 1976 and 2004 and the descriptive statistical parameters of the world’s best results in hammer throw between 1976 and 2004 are presented in Table 5 (see also Figure 3). Table 5: Descriptive statistical parameters of the best results in hammer throw achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and the world’s best results achieved in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004 Yea r The best Olympic results The world’s best results M SD MIN MAX R M SD MIN MAX R 1976 74.76 1.88 71.34 77.52 6.18 77.75 0.89 76.40 78.86 2.46 1980 76.90 3.28 73.74 81.80 8.06 80.38 1.14 78.58 81.80 3.22 1984 75.71 1.95 72.62 78.08 5.46 82.92 2.12 80.68 86.34 5.66 1988 80.10 3.07 76.08 84.80 8.72 83.68 1.03 82.16 85.14 2.98 1992 78.89 2.61 76.16 82.54 6.38 82.39 1.20 81.02 84.62 3.60 1996 79.55 1.36 77.38 81.24 3.86 81.22 0.82 80.02 82.52 2.50 2000 78.72 0.95 77.32 80.02 2.70 81.85 0.43 81.42 82.58 1.16 2004 79.02 1.92 76.30 82.91 6.61 82.83 1.04 81.33 84.46 3.13 KLAFINOI KLATOP8 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 Legend: KLATOP8 – the average of the world’s best results KLAFINOI – the average of the best Olympic results Figure 3: Graphical presentation of the average of the best Olympic results and the world’s best results achieved in hammer throw in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004 38 Olympic and world’ s best achivements in throwing events in athleticsKinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 31–42 (2005) The results achieved in hammer throw in the Olympic Games’ finals are poorer than the results achieved in other competitions in the Olympic years. An expressed difference may be seen in the year 1984 again when the world’s three best hammer throwers (Sedyh, Tamm and Litvinov) did not participate at the Los Angeles Olympic Games due to the boycott of the Games by the erstwhile Eastern block. Having identified the descriptive parameters, the statistical procedures for determination of differences between arithmetic means of the world’s best results achieved in the analysed Olympic years were applied. This analysis will give the answer to the main hypothesis of this study about the differences between the two series of results in throwing events in athletics. The results of this part of the analysis are presented in Table 6. Table 6: Differences between arithmetic means of results in hammer throw achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and the average of the world’s eight best results achieved in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004 MS DNtd fp KLAFINOI 77.95 1.93 KLATOP8 81.62 1.87 8 -6.59 7 0.00 Legend: KLAOI – the average of results of the Olympic Games’ finalists KLATOP8 – the average of the world’ s best results in the Olympic years M – arithmetic mean SD - standard deviation N - number of results t - t-test df – degrees of freedom p – significance of differences Javelin throw The descriptive statistical parameters of original results in javelin throw achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals in the years between 1976 and 2004, as well as the descriptive statistical parameters of the world’s best results in javelin throw achieved between 1976 and 2004 are presented in Table 7 and Figure 4. Table 7: Descriptive statistical parameters of the best results in javelin throw achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and the world’s best results achieved in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004 Yea r The best Olympic results The world’s best results M SD MIN MAX R M SD MIN MAX R 1976 86.51 4.02 80.26 94.58 14.32 90.39 2.53 87.98 94.58 6.60 1980 86.13 3.01 82.40 91.20 8.80 91.60 2.32 89.64 96.72 7.08 1984 85.27 6.33 80.68 100.00 19.32 94.14 4.39 91.12 104.80 13.68 1988 81.93 2.21 78.30 84.28 5.98 84.85 1.42 83.26 86.88 3.62 1992 82.27 4.17 77.74 89.66 11.92 89.06 2.96 86.16 94.74 8.58 1996 86.01 1.64 83.58 88.16 4.58 89.85 3.82 87.44 98.48 11.04 2000 87.34 2.27 83.33 90.17 6.84 89.38 1.79 87.12 91.69 4.57 2004 84.14 1.22 83.01 86.50 87.04 0.58 86.19 87.73 1.54 Olympic and world’ s best achivements in throwing events in athletics 39 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 31–42 (2005) KOPFINOI KOPTOP8 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 Legend: KOPTOP8 – the average of the world’s best results KOPFINOI – the average of the best Olympic results Figure 4: Graphical presentation of the average of the best Olympic results and the world’s best results in javelin throw in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004 The results in hammer throw achieved at the Olympic Games are poorer than the results achieved in other competitions in the Olympic years. This difference is particularly large in the year 1984, due to the boycott of the Los Angeles Olympic Games by the countries of the erstwhile Eastern block, and in the year 1992, due to the increased climate stress (high humidity and high temperatures) (V erdaguer-Codina, Martin, Pujol-AMat, Ruiz, & Prat, 1993). After identifying the descriptive parameters, the statistical procedures were applied to determine differences between arithmetic means of the best results in javelin throw achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and the world’s best results achieved in the analysed Olympic years. This analysis will provide the answer to the main hypothesis of this study about the differences between the two series of results in throwing events in athletics. The results of this part of the analysis are presented in Table 8. Table 8: Differences between arithmetic means of the average of results in javelin throw achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and the average of the world’s eight best results achieved in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004 AM SD N t df p KOPFINOI 84.95 1.99 KOPTOP8 89.53 2.79 8 -5.63 7 0.00 Legend: KOPFINOI – the average of the results of the Olympic Games’ finalists KOPTOP8 – the average of the world’s best results achieved in the Olympic years between 1976 and 2004 M – arithmetic mean SD - standard deviation N - number of results t - t-test df – degrees of freedom p – significance of differences 40 Olympic and world’ s best achivements in throwing events in athleticsKinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 31–42 (2005) Discussion The tables as well as the graphical presentations and the descriptive parameters make it possible to conclude that the results achieved at the Olympic Games are poorer than the results achieved in the same Olympic years at other competitions. This is particularly evident in the case of two Olympic Games which were boycotted, first by the athletes from the Western countries who boycotted the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980, and then by the athletes from the Eastern countries who boycotted the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, as the results were poorer – in some events even substantially poorer. The samples i.e. the series of results were analysed at 7 time points. The samples were of a limited size and were determined by the possibilities of the methodological procedure. On the basis of the obtained differences between arithmetic means of the samples the t-value was calculated and, in fact, it is different for each throwing event. The biggest differences between the results achieved at the Olympic Games and the world’s results achieved in other competitions were established in shot put (-11.11), followed by discus throw (-10.01), hammer throw (-6.59), and javelin throw (-5.63). All of these values are statistically significant at the level of 99%. The obtained t-values of differences between arithmetic means with six degrees of freedom point to the statistically significant differences between the results of samples, that is, it was confirmed with great certainty that the samples had been derived from two very different populations in terms of the analysed feature. The hypothesis that significant differences will be established between the results achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and the world’s best results achieved in the Olympic years in other competitions may be accepted with a 99% certainty. If the dif- ference is not accidental the differentiation between the populations of throwers who did not achieve results at large competitions was influenced by certain factors. The main question is which factors contributed to the fact that the throwers failed to achieve their best results in the most important competition, namely, at the Olympic Games. The reasons may be found in the social, method-related, psychological and pharmacological factors (Dyer, 1989; Milanović, 1989; Mizera & Horvath, 2002; Wazni, 1978; Zatsiorsky, 1973; Zatsiorsky, Lanka, & Shalmanov, 1981). Among the social factors it is the professionalisation in sport that has to be emphasized as wel l a s t he i ncrea si ng ly bet ter cond it ions i n wh ich t he proces s of spor t s cond it ion i ng is c a r r ied out (Muller, 1991). These factors affected the constant improvement or elevation of the level of results in throwing events. What affected the differences between the Olympic results and the results achieved in the world in other competitions may be the fact that the prizes for top-level results at the non-Olympic competitions are significantly higher, which is why the competitors took pa r t i n too ma ny of such compet it ions , wh ich cou ld have i n fluenced negat ively t he t i m i ng of achieving top-level results at the Olympic Games (Egger, 1994). Outside the methods-related factors is the issue of timing the sports fitness that should be emphasized as well as the impos- sibility of maintaining the high level of results at competitions throughout a longer time period (Ueya, 1992). Outside the factors belonging to the mental training it should be emphasized that strong stress, i.e. the psychological strain when competing at the Olympic Games could have negatively influenced the achievement level in some athletes. Indeed, it happened often that athletes achieved their best results in the year immediately after the Olympic Games at some athletic meeting in the world series (Scheibe & Dickwach, 1993). It is not easy to list the substantiated facts about the pharmacological factors that could have affected significantly the differences between the results. Due to the stricter doping control at the Olympic Games, it could be assumed that the level of results was somewhat lower. The findings of the doping control have Olympic and world’ s best achivements in throwing events in athletics 41 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 31–42 (2005) confirmed the presence of stimulants at some lower-level competitions in which athletes achieved the top-level athletic results (Dolle, 1995). It is precisely because of the high complex- ity of the trends in development of the sports result in throwing events in athletics that it would be very complicated to determine the size of the influence of any of the factors listed. Statistically significant differences between the results achieved in the Olympic Games’ finals and world’s best results achieved in other competitions prove that the throwers in athletics did not achieve their best results at the most important competition, namely, at the Olympic Games. Taking into account numerous factors that affect the result one cannot be sure whether it was the social or the methods-related factors that affected such dynamics of the sports result. The considerations about such a tendency raise a question: Are the medals and the awards for the achieved results not enough anymore? It was the professionalisation of the sport that attributes the overriding importance to the competitions which generate large profits to athletes, while this is not possible at the Olympic Games. Maybe that is why the athletes try to get to peak fitness for the competitions at which good money can be earned? In view of the above it would be interesting to launch a new study to investigate into the issue of what is the worth of a sports result in throwing events. Although for the Olympic winners sport is no longer a secondary occ upat ion t hat br i ngs t hem a l most no mater ia l benefit a nd a lt houg h it is i mpos sible to qu a l i f y for the finals of the Olympic Games without making a significant investment, we hope that the main principles of the Olympic Games are not forgotten. Thus, the results of this study have set new hypotheses and raised new questions to be answered in the future, which is why they are a good foundation for further research. References Bartonietz, K., & Borgstom, A. (1995). The throwing events at the world championships in athletics. New Studies in Athletics, 10 (4), 43-63. Dolle, G. (1995). Doping control procedures: Past and present. New Studies in Athletics, 10 (3), 29-30. Dyer, K. (1989). Prediction of records and elite performances. New Studies in Athletics, 3, 11-24. Egger, J. (1994). Reflections on the evolution of performances in the shot put. New Studies in Athletics, 9 (1), 9-13. Gemer, G.V. (1990). 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