Career Development Of International Top Level Swimmers Versus National Level Swimmers

It has been hypothesised that a too early start of training, too early specialisation or too much training at an early age may hinder the optimal development of a sporting career. PURPOSE: The aim of this investigation was to investigate international top performance level swimmers' (TOP) temporal career development compared to a control group of national performance level swimmers (NAT). METHODS: A retrospective questionnaire was administered to medallists at the Olympic Games or world championship between 1968 and 1998. (n=123) and a control group consisting of Norwegian and Danish championship participants, who were not at an international level (n=36). Questions were asked about the ages when the athletes started to train, debut of different types of competition, time of specialisation, when learning to swim, and age of stopping the competitive career. Analysis of their training volumes was also obtained. RESULTS: The age when the TOP swimmers learned to swim did not significantly differ from the NAT swimmers (5.5±1.9 vs 6.5±1.8 years old respectively, p=0.07). However, for the starting age of training (9.0±2.6 vs 10.1±1.7years, p=0.02), the age at the first competition (8.7±2.2 vs 10.9±1.6 years, p=0.01) and the age by first participation in nationals (14.7±1.7 vs 15.8±1.6 years, p=0.01) TOP showed lower age compared to NAT. There were no statistical differences in the age when the two groups specialised for an event (14.4±2.7 vs 14.9±1.7 years) and the age when they stopped competing (22.8±3.9 vs 21.7±5.5 years) for TOP vs NAT respectively. The TOP swimmers showed a 40% higher number of training sessions per week, and a 70% higher total yearly training volume in the ages from 12 until 20 years compared to the NAT(p<0.01). CONCLUSION: Although TOP swimmers do not learn to swim at an earlier age than NAT swimmers, they do start to train regularly, start to compete and participate in their first nationals about one year earlier than the NAT swimmers. This early debut may be important for their performance development, but do not to contribute to a shorter career. Nor seems the considerably higher training doses administered to TOP contribute to a shorter swimming career. It is concluded that the development of a successful swimming career may require an early start, and certain level of high volume of specialised training.