The primary purpose of my thesis is to analyze the factors having an impact on the performance of decathlon and compare with the Linden's(1977) empirical results. Reseach sample selected for the study are 103 athletes from nations who took part in Seo...
The primary purpose of my thesis is to analyze the factors having an impact on the performance of decathlon and compare with the Linden's(1977) empirical results. Reseach sample selected for the study are 103 athletes from nations who took part in Seoul Olympic Games of 1988.
The factor analysis is then used to identify the factors and test which factors are statistically singnificant in leading to good performance.
Major findings are as follows;
First, the performance of decathlon was found to be mainly determined by two factors: explosive arm strength and running speed. In terms of factor loadings first one are 0.523 and second one are 0.128.
Second, the performance of decathlon was not affected by individually specific factors, but by general factors such as running speed and explosive arm strength.
Third, major factors affecting the performance differ depending on the characteristics of selected sample.
Where as Linden concluded that four factors (running speed, explosive arm strength, explosive leg strength, running endurance) were all significant in achieving good performance. My empirical results show that only two factors are important: running speed and explosive arm strength.