According to the Athletics European Team Championships new regulations, which are to be introduced in June 2009, each high jump event competitor shall be entitled to a maximum of 4 fouls only throughout the whole event. The purpose of the present study was to examine the possible effects that the implementation of the new regulations, would have had on the conduction of the event for males and females. Methods: Male and female high jump finals official results in Olympic Games, IAAF Outdoor World Athletics Championships and European Outdoor Athletics from 2000 onwards, were analysed. Results: Male high jumpers (N=102), start the competition at a mean height of 218.63cm (SD±2.70) and conclude at 228.07cm (SD±4.93), with a mean height difference of 9.44cm (SD±4.83). During the event they perform a mean of 7.28 attempts (SD±1.91), classified as either successful (M=3.15, SD±1.40) or failed (M=4.10, SD±1.17). Following the fourth foul 37.25% of them perform failed attempts (M=1.39, SD±0.59 attempts) and 1.96% successful ones (M=1.50, SD±0.70 attempts). If the new regulations were applied, athletes would achieve a mean height difference of 9.34cm (SD±4.82) between start and finish. Female high jumpers (N=105), start the competition at a mean height of 184.11cm (SD±2.38) and conclude at 195.02cm (SD±5.19), with a mean height difference of 10.90cm (SD±5.00). During the event they perform a mean of 8.21 attempts (SD±2.34), classified as either successful (M=3.90, SD±1.76) or failed (M=4.30, SD±1.14). Following the fourth foul 37.14% of them perform failed attempts (M=1.54, SD±0.75 attempts) and 5.71% successful ones (M=1.17, SD±0.40 attempts). If the new regulations were applied, female athletes would achieve a mean height difference of 10.71cm (SD±4.82) between start and finish. Discussion: Data demonstrate that the new rules would have resulted in a decrease in the event final performance (1.05% and 1.74% for males and females respectively), due to a mean attempt restrain of 7.00±4.00 and 8.50±3.85, in each final, for males and females respectively. No data however was available for variables such as the time duration of the event and our statistical analyses were based exclusively on the results recorded with the current regulations. Therefore, further research is required before drawing permanent conclusions regarding possible effects on the high jump event duration and athletes` tactics.
© Copyright 2009 14th annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, Oslo/Norway, June 24-27, 2009, Book of Abstracts. Veröffentlicht von The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.