Privalova for Beijing 100

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Super-Vets say bring on Beijing!
17 October 2007

Slovenian Super-Vet Merlene Ottey has not ruled out
competing in Beijing.

38-year-old Russian Sprint star, Irina Privalova, has announced her plan to qualify for Beijing next year.

The World Indoor 60m and 300m record holder plans to focus on the 100m distance for Beijing, while also competing in indoor races at 60m. Privalova took the 100m bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and now, 16 years on, she is fairly confident that she is in good enough condition to be a challenge again,

“I’m in full preparation, no health problems, but we will see depending on my results how realistic my plans are.”

At 39-years-old, Privalova would still have a nine year advantage over Slovenia’s Sprinting Super-Vet, Merlene Ottey, who has also not ruled out an appearance in Beijing, a feat that would mark the incredible Slovenian’s 8th Olympic Games!

After a disappointing run in Osaka that saw Ottey narrowly miss out on qualification from the first round heats of the 100m, Ottey is not planning an indoor season, but this living testament to the endurance and strength of the human body is still talking positively about her Summer race prospects.

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That’s awesome

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Interesting she has skipped the hurdles. She was 400m H gold medallist at Sydney 2000.

Maybe at that age the 100m power is still there but not the power endurance? Ottey has also dropped the 200m, the only event in which she was ever a world champion.

Anyone got the physiological background to make a call on this - debunk or support the suggestion that as a Sprinter gets much older, they can hang onto international class easier at the shortest distance?

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I was also wondering why the move back down. Maybe physical problems with hurdleing. Of course this would leave the open 400 as an option.

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don’t have a physiological background, but distance runners almost always move up when they get older, so since short sprints and distance are generally seen as opposites, moving down with age might be a decent idea.

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I think you’re correct; both “types” of athlete avoid that which they are weakest at and gravitate perhaps towards their main asset, toward that which comes naturally.

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in a way it would make sense, strength is the last to go. im not sure though.

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Anthony J. Donato, Kathleen Tench, Deborah H. Glueck, Douglas R. Seals, Iratxe Eskurza, and Hirofumi Tanaka

Declines in physiological functional capacity with age: a longitudinal study in peak swimming performance

J Appl Physiol 94: 764-769, 2003.

ABSTRACT
We followed up swimming performance times of 321 women and 319 men who participated in the US Masters Swimming Championships over a 12-yr period. All swimmers placed in the top 10 in their age group over 3 yr (mean = 5 yr). A random coefficients model for repeated measures was used to derive a line of best fit from a group of regression lines for each subject. Both 50- and 1,500-m swimming performance declined modestly until ~70 yr of age, where a more rapid decline was observed in both men and women. Compared with 1,500-m swimming, the 50-m freestyle declined more modestly and slowly with age. The rate and magnitude of declines in swimming performance with age were greater in women than in men in 50-m freestyle; such sex-related differences were not observed in 1,500-m freestyle. Overall, the variability along a population regression line increased markedly with advancing age. The present longitudinal findings indicate that 1) swimming performance declines progressively until age 70, where the decrease becomes quadratic; 2) the rates of the decline in swimming performance with age are greater in a long-duration than in a short-duration event, suggesting a relatively smaller loss of anaerobic muscular power with age compared with cardiovascular endurance; 3) the age-related rates of decline are greater in women than in men only in a short-duration event; and 4) the variability of the age-related decline in performance increases markedly with advancing age.

Joseph A. Houmard, Melinda L. Weidner, Karen E. Gavigan, Gilian L. Tyndall, Matthew S. Hickey, and Aymen Alshami

Fiber type and citrate synthase activity in the human gastrocnemius and vastus lateralis with aging

J Appl Physiol 85: 1337-1341, 1998;

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to determine whether enzymatic and histochemical characteristics of human skeletal muscle are altered with aging. Tissues from the vastus lateralis (VL) and gastrocnemius were analyzed for citrate synthase (CS) activity and fiber type in 55 sedentary men (age range 18-80 yr). In this population, CS activity in the gastrocnemius was negatively related to age (r = 0.32, P < 0.05); there was no relationship in the VL. Treadmill-determined maximal oxygen consumption was positively related (r = 0.40, P < 0.05) to CS in the gastrocnemius but not in the VL. CS activity in the gastrocnemius was 24% lower in the oldest (60 yr, n = 10) vs. the youngest (30 yr; n = 12) men; there was no change in CS activity in the VL with aging. No changes in fiber type were evident with age in either muscle. These data suggest a reduction in oxidative enzyme activity in human skeletal muscle with the aging process; this relationship may be muscle-group specific.

ANTON Maria M, SPIRDUSO Waneen W, TANAKA Hirofumi

Age-related Declines in Anaerobic Muscular Performance: Weightlifting and powerlifting

Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004 Jan;36(1):143-7.

ABSTRACT
Purpose: One approach to studying the effects of aging on physiological functional capacity (PFC) in humans is to analyze the peak physical performance of trained athletes with increasing age. The primary aim of the present study was to determine weightlifting and powerlifting performance with increasing age in both men and women. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of top age-group weightlifting and powerlifting records compiled from the U.S. Weightlifting and U.S. Powerlifting Organizations. Results: Regression analyses showed that in both men and women weightlifting and powerlifting performance declined curvilinearly and linearly, respectively. The rate and the overall magnitude of declines in performance with age were markedly greater (P < 0.05) in weightlifting than in powerlifting. The rates of age-related decline in muscular power were not different between upper body (bench press) and lower body (squat). Similarly, the age-related declines were not different between snatch and clean &jerk in weightlifting events. The magnitude of the declines with age was greater (P < 0.05) in women than in men in weightlifting; no such sex-related differences were observed in powerlifting performance. Conclusions: The findings in this cross-sectional study indicate that I) peak anaerobic muscular power, as assessed by peak lifting performance, decreases progressively even from earlier ages than previously thought; 2) the overall magnitude of decline in peak muscular power appears to be greater in tasks requiring more complex and powerful movements; 3) the age-related rates of decline are greater in women than in men only in the events that require more complex and explosive power; and 4) upper- and lower-body muscular power demonstrate similar rate of decline with age.