Talent Identification: Time to Move Forward on Estimation of Potentials? Proposed Explanations and Promising Methods.

The scientific literature on talent identification is extensive, with significant advancements made over the past 30 years. However, as with any field, the translation of research into practice and its impact on the field have been slower than anticipated. Indeed, recent findings highlight a pervasive relative age effect, the effects of maturation being often overlooked, disparate populations between young and senior performers, and a necessity to embrace a holistic approach.

Exploring the effect of the menstrual cycle or oral contraception on elite athletes' training responses when workload is not objectively quantifiable: the MILS approach and findings from female Olympians.

Objectives: Develop the Markov Index Load State (MILS) model, based on hidden Markov chains, to assess athletes' workload responses and investigate the effects of menstrual cycle (MC)/oral contraception (OC), sex steroids hormones and wellness on elite athletes' training.

Methods: On a 7-month longitudinal follow-up, daily training (volume and perceived effort, n=2200) and wellness (reported sleep quality and quantity, fitness, mood, menstrual symptoms, n=2509) data were collected from 24 female rowers and skiers preparing for the Olympics. 51 MC and 54 OC full cycles relying on 214 salivary hormone samples were analysed.

Medical withdrawals in elite tennis in reference to playing standards, court surfaces and genders.

Objectives: To examine the relationships between medical withdrawals, playing standards, court surfaces and genders in tennis players participating in all elite tours.

Design: Descriptive epidemiology study.

Methods: Medical withdrawals of men and women tennis players from Association of Tennis Professionals, Women Tennis Association, Challengers and International Tennis Federation Futures tours' matches have been identified considering the court surfaces (fast vs.

Corrective adjustment methods for relative age effects on French young swimmers' performances.

Background: This study aimed to identify a Relative Age Effect (RAE) among French young swimmers and apply corrective adjustment procedures to rebalance performances according to categories and events.

Methods: 5,339,351 performances of French swimmers aged 10 to 18 were collected between 2000 and 2019. Birth quarters distribution was examined according to competitiveness level ('All', 'Top50%', 'Top25%' and 'Top10%'), event and age category.

Relative age effects in track-and-field: Identification and performance rebalancing.

Relative Age Effect (RAE) consists of a biased distribution of the dates of birth in a same-age group. This study aimed to investigate Relative Age Effect among French athletes in different track-and-field events, and propose a corrective adjustment method to highlight the true potential of an athlete with respect to his/her relative age. 358,610 performances from 2009 to 2019 of female and male athletes between 12 and 21 years old were collected.

Does maternity during sports career jeopardize future athletic success in elite marathon runners?

The impact of maternity (Mat) on subsequent athletic performance is not well known. This study aims to investigate the impact of maternity among elite marathoners on their overall performance progression. For each runner listed in the top 150 female marathoners, who had experienced a mid-career maternity, performance development was reconstituted throughout the career.

Multi-hosting UEFA European Football Championship: fair enough between participating teams?

Purpose: To describe the effects of travel distance and bio-meteorological conditions on the 2020 multi-hosting UEFA European Championship's match outcomes and progress in competition.

Methods: Teams' basecamps, distance from match venues, match outcomes (defeat, draw and win), bio-meteorological data (ambient air temperature, relative humidity and wet bulb globe temperature) and corresponding FIFA world ranking were extracted from the UEFA and FIFA websites; and analyzed through Chi-squared test (impact of basecamp location on match outcomes), Kruskal-Wallis test (distribution of travel distances carried out), ordinal regressions (with match outcomes and competition phases as variables of interest and FIFA ranking and venue distance as explanatory variables) and principal component analysis (with the bio-meteorological conditions and match outcomes for each match).

Results: Teams with basecamp near match venue improved their match outcomes.

Relative age effect in French alpine skiing: Problem and solution.

This study aims to identify the potential bias of the relative age effect (RAE) in French alpine skiers and to propose a mathematical correction adjustment for such a bias. All performances and birthdates of skiers on the national and international circuit were collected from the 2004 up to 2019. A goodness-of-fit chi-square test and the residuals were used to study the distribution of birth trimesters in youth competitors.

Is the visual impairment origin a performance factor? Analysis of international-level para swimmers and para athletes.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of congenital and acquired visual impairments on the international performance of Para swimmers and Para track and field athletes. We collected results from visually impaired Para athletes competing in Para swimming or Para athletic events at all IPC-labelled competitions between 2009 and 2019. The dataset contained 20,689 events results.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Away and Home Victories in Soccer and Rugby Union.

To measure the impact of restrictions due to COVID on the proportion of matches won at home, away and draw in professional soccer and rugby union. Two samples of professional soccer and rugby union matches were collected from 2012-13 to 2020-21 seasons. For soccer, data involved first and second division matches of the England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Scotland, Greece, Portugal, and Turkey championships.

Heads-Up: Risk-Specific Neurodegenerative Mortality and Years-Saved Analysis on the US Olympian Cohort.

This study aimed to identify the risk of neurodegenerative death (ND) that former Olympians endure due to their participation in sports grouped based on presumed repeated shocks to the head, and to understand the impact of their participation in such elite sports on their total longevity. The cohort included all former US Olympians, who participated in the Olympic Games (OG) between 1948 and 1972, and whose vital status and causes of death were verified ( = 2,193). Olympic sports were classified into three categories of exposure: Collision (the highest presumed risk of repeated shocks to the head), Contact, and No-Contact.

The Relationships Between Training Load, Type of Sport, and Sleep Among High-Level Adolescent Athletes.

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of sporting activities, training loads, and athletes' characteristics on sleep among high-level adolescent athletes, in a controlled training and academic environment.

Methods: A total of 128 high-level adolescent athletes (age = 15.2 [2.

Body and Boat: Significance of Morphology on Elite Rowing Performance.

The purpose of this study was to determine and weigh the anthropometric indicators that were associated with pacing performances for each Olympic rowing category. Between 2010 and 2015, 1,148 rowers (650 men and 498 women) participated in the finals of World Championships in each heavyweight Olympic event. They were categorized into four morphological clusters according to their height and body mass index (BMI): tall and thin (TT), tall and robust (TR), small and thin (ST), and small and robust (SR).

The Impact of Recovery Practices Adopted by Professional Tennis Players on Fatigue Markers According to Training Type Clusters.

Modern tennis players face congested schedules that force the adoption of various recovery strategies. Thus, recovery must be fine-tuned with an accurate quantification of its impacts, especially with regards to training-induced fatigue. The present study aimed to examine the training type clusters and recovery practices adopted by elite tennis players under ecological training conditions.

Covid-19 Mortality: A Matter of Vulnerability Among Nations Facing Limited Margins of Adaptation.

The human development territories have been severely constrained under the Covid-19 pandemic. A common dynamics has been observed, but its propagation has not been homogeneous over each continent. We aimed at characterizing the non-viral parameters that were most associated with death rate.

High hopes: lower risk of death due to mental disorders and self-harm in a century-long US Olympian cohort compared with the general population.

Objective: To determine the risk of death due to prominent mental disorders, substance abuse, and self-harm among US Olympians compared with the general population.

Methods: All female (n=2301) and male (n=5823) US Olympians who participated in the summer or winter Games between 1912 and 2012 were followed until 2016. The National Death Index certified their vital statuses and causes of death.

Influence of environmental factors on Olympic cross-country mountain bike performance.

Unlabelled: Olympic distance cross-country cycling (XCO) is a discipline subject to wide performance variability due to uncontrollable environmental factors such as altitude, ambient temperature and/or humidity. This study therefore aimed to investigate the impact of environmental factors on XCO performance in under-23 and elite female and male categories.Individual data were collected from Continental Cup, World Cup, World Championship, and Olympics Games for U23 and elite female and male categories from 2009 to 2018.

Does an Optimal Relationship Between Injury Risk and Workload Represented by the "Sweet Spot" Really Exist? An Example From Elite French Soccer Players and Pentathletes.

Objective: To examine the relationships between the occurrence and severity of injuries using three workload ratios (ACWR, EWMA, REDI) in elite female soccer players and international male and female pentathletes.

Materials And Methods: Female soccer players in the U16 to U18 national French teams ( = 24) and international athletes ( = 12, 4 women and 8 men) in the French modern pentathlon team were monitored throughout an entire season. The Acute Chronic Workload Ratio (ACWR), the Exponentially Weighted Moving Averages (EWMA), and the Robust Exponential Decreasing Index (REDI) were calculated for internal load by the ROE method in soccer and external load in pentathlon.

Female and male US Olympic athletes live 5 years longer than their general population counterparts: a study of 8124 former US Olympians.

Objective: To quantify US female and male Olympic athletes' longevity and the years of life lost or saved due to multiple causes of death as compared with the US general population.

Methods: Former US athletes who had participated in the summer or winter Olympic Games at least once between 1912 and 2012 were included. Olympians' date of birth, death and the underlying causes of death were certified by the National Death Index.

Importance of dimensional changes on glycolytic metabolism during growth.

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to investigate (i) how glycolytic metabolism assessed by accumulated oxygen deficit (AOD) and blood metabolic responses (lactate and pH) resulting from high-intensity exercise change during growth, and (ii) how lean body mass (LBM) influences AOD and its relationship with blood markers.

Methods: Thirty-six 11- to 17-year olds performed a 60-s all-out test on a rowing ergometer. Allometric modelling was used to investigate the influence of LBM and LBM + maturity offset (MO) on AOD and its relationship with the extreme post-exercise blood values of lactate ([La]) and pH (pH) obtained during the recovery period.