Analysis of the Olympic Games

Beijing 2008 Female Wrestling

FILA Competence Centre Prof. Dr. Harold Tünnemann

FILA Coaches Clinic October 2008 TokyoAnalysis of the Olympic Games Beijing and

the Olympic cycle 2004 - 2008

Female Wrestling

Contents0 Preliminary remarks1. International tendencies of the development of performance in wrestling

2. Analysis of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games2.1. State of performance and development of female wrestling2.1.1 Country-specific aspects2.1.2 Qualitative analysis of combat behaviour2.1.2.1 Combat behaviour of the nations 2.1.2. 2 Combat behaviour of the winner

3. Technical-tactical Highlights on a basis of video clips

0 Preliminary remarks

It has already become a good tradition to analyse the top event of the year on the occasion of the international coaches clinic and to draw conclusions for the next period of training. In this process the Olympic Games play an outstanding role and they have an extraordinary importance in the lives of female athletes. However, this does not only apply to the actors on the mats, but also to coaches, referees, officials, and spectators. The results of the Olympic Games reflect the work completed during one Olympic cycle, and an elaborate analysis furnishes the material for the training-methodical work during the next Olympic cycle.

In the following performance and development of performance in female wrestling shall be outlined, and attention shall be directed on progresses and deficiencies. In order to support in-depth analyses by coaches and athletes we place at your disposal videos with the best technical actions at the Olympic Games, a new edition of the DVD-ROM “Fascination Wrestling-special Olympic Edition” with the updated database and individual video sequences of the Olympic Games 1988 until 2008 as well as a DVD with highlights of the Beijing Olympic Games.

1. International tendencies of the development of performance in wrestling

As Mr. Jacques Rogge, the president of the IOC, closed the Olympic Games in Beijing with the words “These were truly exceptional Games!” the whole wrestling family could also be full of praise for the perfect organisation of the Chinese hosts. The Chinese responsible persons for our sport, the spectators and the nice volunteers especially made the Olympic Games to an unforgettable event for us. So we can support with all one's heart Mr. Rogge’s conclusion: “Through these Games, the world learned more about China, and China learned more about the world.”

Athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees came to these dazzling venues and particularly the athletes from Great Britain made great increases in efficiency (chart 1).

In Wrestling 60 countries took part in the Olympic Summer Games and the 71 medals have been won by 28 countries. The most three successful countries in Wrestling have been in Beijing Russia, Japan and Georgia while Georgia made the biggest leap since Athens (chart 2).

For the second time Olympic contests for women were held in 4 weight categories, in which the Japanese athletes again were dominating (chart 3).

In general we can note a further increase in female wrestling since the first participation in the Olympic Games 2004 concerning the quality of wrestling (fig. 1).

2004 20080

0,5

1

1,5

2[WQ] - [neg. WQ]

WQ

neg. WQ

index

WQ 1,38 1,71

neg. WQ 0,23 0,33

index 1,15 1,37

Winner Freestyle Women

Technical-tactical performance 2004 - 2008

FILA-Competence Centre

The tendency of increase of the female wrestling discipline becomes also clear if we have a look at the quality of points of all participants (fig 2).

Quality of Points (all participants)OG 2004 and OG 2008 FS Women

291324

12691

37 370 1

OG 2004 OG 20080%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%Pts.

1 Pt.

2 Pts.

3 Pts.

5 Pts.

bouts:82 Pts.: 654 bouts:78 Pts.: 622

FILA-Competence Centre

Pts./bout: 8,0 time/bout:4,8 min Pts./bout: 8,0 time/bout: 4,14 min

2. Analysis of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games2.1. State of performance and development of female wrestling2.1.1 Country-specific aspects

As already seen in figure 1 one can assume that women’s wrestling has experienced an enormous progress in performance after the Olympic recognition by the IOC and again since the first Olympic Games in Athens. The Japanese female wrestlers, who have dominated the Olympic female tournament in Beijing, have again contributed considerably to this positive development (fig. 3). With 4 medals, 2 of them being gold medals, and 37 nations’ points their training diligence has been rewarded, and they have impressively confirmed that the decision of the International Olympic Committee has been right.

JPN CAN USA CHN KAZ BUL RUS POL FRA AZE0

10

20

30

40Pts.

OG 2008 37 25 22 21 18 13 12 11 10 8

The best Nations Women

OG 2008

sorted by FILA - ranking ( 1. place - 10 Pts.;10. place - 1 Pt.)

The female athletes from Canada, the USA, China and Kazakhstan have also proved to be highly performing. The development of Kazakhstan is remarkable because they came from 0 points 2004 with 18 nation points 2008 to the 5th place. We can also congratulate the female athletes from Bulgaria and Columbia who showed an impressive development during the last Olympic Cycle. This leads us to a comparison of the nations’ performance from Athens and Beijing (fig. 4).

JPN CAN USA CHN KAZ BUL RUS FRA UKR COL GER0

10

20

30

40Pts.

OG 2008 37 25 22 21 18 13 12 10 8 8 4

OG 2004 37 21 25 19 0 0 19 23 19 0 14

The best Nations Women

comparison OG 2008 and OG 2004

FILA-Competence Centre

2.1.2 Qualitative analysis of combat behaviour2.1.2.1 Combat behaviour of the nations

With the Performance index you can very good describe the technical-tactical abilities of a given nation or athlete. In this case the realized points will be set into relation to the points given away to the opponent (fig 5).

This also becomes clear if we have a look at the comparison of the quality of wrestling 2004 and 2008.

JPN CHN CAN RUS USA KAZ

0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1

1,2

-0,2

[WQ] - [neg. WQ]

index 08 0,62 0,59 0,29 0,27 0,05 -0,04

index 04 1,03 0,16 0,14 0,4 0,07

The best Nations Women

comparison performance index OG 2008 and OG 2004

FILA-Competence Centre

If we take a deeper look into the quality we can see right now the reasons for the technical-tactical advantages and disadvantages of the various nations (fig. 7).

CHN USA JPN KAZ CAN RUS0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1

1,2

1,4

1,6[WQ]

WQ 08 1,45 1,06 1,02 0,87 0,87 0,83

Attack efficacy best nations

OG 2008 Women

Nat.Pts. 08 21 22 37 18 25 12

The comparison of the attacking efficacy between 2004 and 2008 underlines this position (fig. 8).

CHN USA JPN KAZ CAN RUS0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1

1,2

1,4

1,6[WQ]

WQ 08 1,45 1,06 1,02 0,87 0,87 0,83

WQ 04 1,01 0,98 1,28 0,82 1,12

Attack efficacy best nations

comparison OG 2008 and OG 2004 Women

Nat.Pts. 08 21 22 37 18 25 12

55 kg CHN - ROU

On the other hand there must be another winning factor if the Japanese wrestlers could have such a great success. And this becomes clear if we are looking at the defence abilities (fig. 9).

JPN RUS CAN CHN KAZ USA

0

-0,2

-0,4

-0,6

-0,8

-1

-1,2

[-WQ]

neg. WQ 08 -0,4 -0,56 -0,57 -0,87 -0,91 -1,03

OG 2008 Women

Defence efficacy best nations

FILA-Competence Centre

55 kg JPN - RUS

The comparison of the Olympic Games 2004 to 2008 gives another hint for the improvement of the female wrestling during the last Olympic cycle. A lot of countries improved their defence abilities (like Canada and Russia) and the defence abilities of China and Japan became a little bit worse (fig. 10).

JPN RUS CAN CHN KAZ USA

0

-0,2

-0,4

-0,6

-0,8

-1

-1,2

[-WQ]

neg. WQ 08 -0,4 -0,56 -0,57 -0,87 -0,91 -1,03

neg. WQ 04 -0,25 -0,72 -0,69 -0,85 -1,05

comparison OG 2008 and OG 2004 Women

Defence efficacy best nations

In the next figure (fig. 11) we summarized the technical-tactical quality of the best nations.

JPN CHN CAN RUS USA KAZ0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1

1,2

1,4

1,6[WQ] and [-WQ]

WQ 1,02 1,45 0,86 0,83 1,06 0,87

- WQ 0,4 0,87 0,57 0,56 1,03 0,91

OG 2008 Women

Fighting efficacy best nations

p.index. 0,62 0,59 0,29 0,27 0,05 -0,04

This may certainly be a consequence of the different strength abilities of both genders, however it has blessed the audience with highly attractive women’s competitions with the competitors demonstrating unquestioning courage of attack (video clip 3).

55 kg ROU - COL

2.1.2. 2 Combat behaviour of the winner

We consider a different picture concerning the performance index, which describes the technical-tactical abilities of the winner (fig. 12).

48 kg 55 kg 63 kg 72 kg0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3[WQ] -[neg.WQ]

index 0,93 1,77 1,01 1,97

OG 2008 Women

Performance index winner

FILA-Competence Centre

It has to be mentioned that in comparison to the Olympic tournament 2004 in three female Olympic weight categories the winner could improve their technical-tactical performance (fig. 13)

48 kg 55 kg 63 kg 72 kg0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3[WQ] - [neg WQ]

index 08 0,93 1,77 1,01 1,97

index 04 2,04 1,29 0,82 0,63

comparison OG 2008 and OG 2004 Women

Performance index winner

FILA-Competence Centre

If we have a look at the attack efficacy the dominating role of Wang and Yoshida becomes evident (fig. 14).

48 kg 55 kg 63 kg 72 kg0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3[WQ]

WQ 08 1,18 1,9 1,13 2,95

OG 2008 Women

p.index. 0,93 1,77 1,01 1,97

Attack efficacy winner

72 kg SWE - CHN

Jiao Wang could show a better attack performance as her namesake of the Olympic Games 2004 with 0.96 2004 to 2.95 2008 (fig. 15). Also the Japanese Olympia champions Saori Yoshida and Kaori Icho improved their attack performance since 2004.

48 kg 55 kg 63 kg 72 kg0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3[WQ]

WQ 08 1,18 1,9 1,13 2,95

WQ 04 2,14 1,56 0,99 0,96

comparison OG 2008 and OG 2004 Women

p.index. 0,93 1,77 1,01 1,97

Attack efficacy winner

The unbelievable defence stability of the both Japanese Olympic Champions in 55 and 63 kg shows a look at the fig. 16. They let their opponents only about 0.1 points per minute!!

48 kg 55 kg 63 kg 72 kg

0

-0,2

-0,4

-0,6

-0,8

-1

[neg.WQ]

neg. WQ -0,25 -0,14 -0,12 -0,98

OG 2008 Women

p.index. 0,93 1,77 1,01 1,97

Defence efficacy winner

Her namesake Xu Wang has had 2004 with -0.33 much better values (fig. 17) and it is impressive that the two Japanese Olympic champions still improved their defence efficacy since 2004.

48 kg 55 kg 63 kg 72 kg

0

-0,2

-0,4

-0,6

-0,8

-1

[neg.WQ]

neg. WQ 08 -0,25 -0,14 -0,12 -0,98

neg. WQ 04 -0,1 -0,28 -0,17 -0,33

comparison OG 2008 and OG 2004 Women

p.index. 0,93 1,77 1,01 1,97

Defence efficacy winner

Summarizing the wrestling efficacy, all female Olympic champions have realized excellent performances with Jiao Wang and Saori Yoshida being clearly ahead (fig. 18). This figure also demonstrates the well known fact of the high quality of wrestling efficacy and attack performance in the Olympic female wrestling.

48 kg 55 kg 63 kg 72 kg0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3[WQ] and [-WQ]

WQ 1,18 1,9 1,13 2,95

neg. WQ 0,25 0,14 0,12 0,98

OG 2008 Women

p.index. 0,93 1,77 1,01 1,97

Fighting efficacy winner

3. Technical-tactical Highlights on a basis of video clips

Of course we moved into centre stage in our analysis the combat behaviour of the best nations and the best athletes. But we could see in Beijing a lot of spectacular technical-tactical actions from athletes of various countries. We want to present in the end some additional technical-tactical actions to underline the great development of female wrestling.

48 kg KOR - AUS

55 kg UKR - USA

48 kg JPN - UKR

48 kg SWE - USA

48 kg AZE - KAZ

55 kg JPN - RUS

48 kg UKR - MGL

63 kg JPN - USA

63 kg CHN - MGL

72 kg JPN - CHN

72 kg CHN - BUL

55 kg JPN - CHN

72 kg JPN - CHN