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Journal of Sports Sciences Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjsp20
Psychological characteristics of male gymnasts: Differences between competitive levels Kevin S. Spink
a
a
College of Physical Education , University of Saskatchewan , Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 0W0, Canada Published online: 01 Feb 2008.
To cite this article: Kevin S. Spink (1990) Psychological characteristics of male gymnasts: Differences between competitive levels, Journal of Sports Sciences, 8:2, 149-157, DOI: 10.1080/02640419008732141 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640419008732141
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/ terms-and-conditions
Journal of Sports Sciences 1990, 8, 149-157
Psychological characteristics of male gymnasts: Differences between competitive levels KEVIN S. SPINK Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 08:23 18 December 2014
College of Physical Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 0W0, Canada
Accepted 8 November 1989
Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine whether any differences exist in the cognitive and behavioural strategies of gymnasts competing at different elite levels. Thirty-eight male gymnasts competing at different competitive levels in an Australian gymnastic championship completed a standardized questionnaire prior to the first day of the competition. The questionnaire focused on a number of psychological factors that may affect both training and competition. Using both t-tests and simple discriminant function analysis, it was revealed that gymnasts competing at different elite levels could be distinguished on the basis of two psychological factors, psychological recovery and self-confidence, as well as the behavioural measure, training hours. Specifically, gymnasts competing at higher elite levels versus those at lower elite levels, were better able to recover from their competitive mistakes, were more confident and trained longer per week. Keywords: Psychological factors, competitive levels, gymnastics.
Introduction
The role that psychological factors and cognitive strategies play in influencing an athlete's performance is a topic which has been receiving increased attention in the sport psychological literature (Hellstedt, 1987; Spink and Longhurst, 1986; Weinberg, Gould and Jackson, 1980). While there have been a number of studies (Feltz, 1982; Feltz, Landers and Raeder, 1979; Gould and Weiss, 1981; Nelson & Fürst, 1972; Spink, 1988; Weinberg, Gould and Jackson, 1979; Weinberg, Gould, Yukelson and Jackson, 1981; Weinberg, Yukelson and Jackson, 1980) which have examined the effects that cognitive factors have on motor performance, only a limited number (Gould, Weiss and Weinberg, 1981; Highlen and Bennett, 1979; Mahoney and Avener, 1977; Meyers, Cooke, Cullen and Liles, 1979; Morgan, 1978) have examined the psychological characteristics of athletes. Specifically, these studies have involved the investigation of psychological factors that differentiate successful from less successful elite athletes. In one of the first investigations, Mahoney and Avener (1977) found that a number of psychological factors distinguished male US Olympic Gymnastic Team qualifiers from non0264-0414/90 $03.00+.12 © 1990 E. & F.N. Spon Ltd.
Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 08:23 18 December 2014
150
Spink
qualifiers. In terms of differentiating factors, Olympic qualifiers tended to score higher than non-qualifiers on measures of self-confidence, frequency of gymnastic dreams and thought, self-talk and the use of internal imagery. Since that first study, the investigation of the cognitive strategies of successful and less successful elite athletes has been extended to include the sports of wrestling (Gould, Weiss and Weinberg, 1981; Highlen and Bennett, 1979) and racquetball (Meyers, Schleser, Cooke and Cuvillier, 1979). In the study on racquetball players by Meyers et al. (1979) the investigators reported that the more successful players tended to be more self-confident (as well as reporting less self-doubts), had more thoughts and dreams about their sport, coped more readily with performance mistakes, engaged in more self-talk and reported less anxiety during competition than less successful players. Highlen and Bennett (1979) examined elite wrestlers competing for positions on three Canadian World wrestling teams. Their main findings were that wrestlers who qualified for the teams as compared to those who did not qualify, were more self-confident and perceived they were closer to achieving their maximum potential. Gould and his colleagues (1981) attempted to replicate and extend this research by examining elite wrestlers participating in the Big Ten Conference wrestling championships. Using tournament placement and season win-loss records as performance measures, it was revealed that successful wrestlers were more self-confident, tended to perceive they were closer to achieving their wrestling potential, and were better able to focus their attention on wrestling-related thoughts prior to competition than less successful wrestlers. While the results of these investigations suggest that differences exist between successful and less successful athletes competing at one elite level, one wonders whether these differences in psychological strategies could be extended to athletes competing at different elite levels. Intuitively, it might be expected that individuals who progress through the hierarchy of sport participation to the elite level would not only develop and refine their physical skills, but also their psychological skills. One recent study that has addressed this issue was conducted by Mahoney, Gabriel and Perkins (1987). In this study, it was found that elite athletes (i.e. those who were placed fourth or above in the national championships) from a variety of sports did differ on a number of psychological skills from pre-elite athletes (i.e. those attending junior national championships in the same sports). Specifically, it was found that pre-elite athletes, relative to the elite group, reported that their anxiety more frequently interfered with their performance, that their concentration was focused less consistently on their performance and that they tendedto provide themselves with more self-instructions while performing. While these differences may have reflected the skill level attained by the athletes, alternative explanations may have also existed in the form of sport differences (athletes from 23 sports were tested) and/or sex differences (both male and female athletes were included in the sample). To eliminate these possible confounds, the present study examined athletes of one gender and from one sport. This was accomplished by using male gymnasts competing in a recent Australian National Gymnastic Championship. Gymnastics was selected because it has been shown previously that psychological skills are important at elite levels in this sport (cf. Mahoney and Avener, 1977). Furthermore, the organization of the sport lends itself to a welldefined differentiation between elite levels. Specifically, gymnasts compete in the National Championship at one of four levels (level 7, 8, 9 or 10). The difficulty requirements of the compulsory and optional exercises determine each individual's classification level. Level 7 is the least difficult of the elite classifications while level 10 is the most difficult.
Psychological factors
151
The present study was an exploratory attempt to determine the cognitive and behavioural factors which differentiate male gymnasts at an advanced elite level (levels 9 and 10) from gymnasts competing at a less advanced elite level (levels 7 and 8). Since this was an exploratory study no specific hypotheses were posited. Methods
Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 08:23 18 December 2014
Subjects The subjects for this study were 38 male gymnasts who participated in a recent Australian gymnastic championship. This championship is recognized as the top competition for gymnasts in Australia as individuals are competing for national titles. Male gymnasts compete in the championships in compulsory and optional exercises at one of four different levels. Individuals competing at levels 7 and 8 have easier compulsory exercises and fewer difficulty requirements in the optional exercises. While there is no age limit on participation at these levels, gymnasts competing at levels 7 and 8 tend to be younger and less experienced. The mean age of individuals participating at levels 7 and 8 in this study was 17.1 years. Individuals participating at level 9 are more advanced elite gymnasts who compete with more difficult compulsory exercises and greater difficulty requirements in the optional exercises. The level 10 gymnasts compete using Olympic compulsory exercises and have optional exercise difficulty requirements in accordance with competition IB of the International Federation of Gymnastics code of points (1979). Gymnasts competing at levels 9 and 10 are generally older and more experienced. The mean age of individuals participating in levels 9 and 10 in this study was 20.7 years. In addition, level 9 and 10 participants in these championships were competing not only for national titles, but also for selection on the next World Championship team. Procedures
After receiving permission from the organizers, the coaches were asked to distribute the questionnaires to their gymnasts at a time convenient to the team, but prior to the first day of the competition. Gymnasts were told to complete the questionnaire independently and return it prior to the first day of the competition. They were also assured that their responses would remain confidential. Of the 66 gymnasts who were competing, 38 (57.6%) returned a completed questionnaire prior to the first day of the competition. It is worth noting that 13 completed questionnaires were returned after the competition had started and the gymnasts had already competed. When these responses are included, the return rate is 77.3%. However, these were not included in the analysis because of the possible confounding influence of the recent competitive experience on the responses provided (cf. Heyman, 1982). Of the 38 gymnasts who returned questionnaires on time, 15 of a total of 21 (71.4%) participated at levels 9 and 10, while 23 of a total of 45 (51.1%) participated at levels 7 and 8. Gymnastic questionnaire
The questionnaire designed to assess the cognitive and behavioural strategies that gymnasts typically employ prior to or during competition was a prototype of one previously utilized by
152
Spink
Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 08:23 18 December 2014
Mahoney and Avener (1977) for finalists on the 1976 US Olympic Gymnastics Team. Items in the present questionnaire assessed the following factors on 11-point Likert scales: 1. Self-confidence - Relative to all other Australian gymnasts, how self-confident would you rate yourself? 2. Lifestyle - How would you describe your overall lifestyle? 3. Dreams - How often do you dream about some aspect of gymnastics? 4. Potential - How close do you think you are at present to reaching your maximum athletic potential? 5. Mistakes - When you are competing, how often do you think about mistakes you made earlier in your routine? 6. Imagery - To what extent do you use visual imagery (mental pictures) in your training and competition? 7. Image control - How much difficulty do you have in getting the image to do what you want it to do? 8. Image clarity - How vivid or clear are your mental images? 9. Self-talk - To what extent do you 'talk to yourself (either silently or out loud) in your training and competition? 10. Blocking - How would you rate your ability to concentrate your attention on a specific movement or sensation (to the extent that you can block out everything else)? 11. Psychological recovery - When you make a mistake in a competitive routine, how difficult is it for you to recover psychologically during the remainder of the routine? In addition, an anxiety factor, consisting of nine individual items was assessed. For this factor, nine items assessing anxiety at various points in a competition (i.e. 1 week prior, 1 day prior, 1 hour prior, dressing at the competition, during warmup, chalking up before best event and worst event and performing best and worst event) were grouped together and tested for inter-item consistency using Cronbach's (1951) alpha coefficient. The results from this study for this multiple-item factor resulted in an alpha of 0.80, suggesting that the interitem reliability of the scale was high enough to enter the nine items as one factor in the analysis. Subjects, in an open-ended question, were also asked to indicate how many hours per week they spent in training. Results
In order to determine the factors which differentiated the individuals participating in levels 9 and 10 from those in levels 7 and 8 both univariate (i-tests for independent means) and multivariate (discriminant function analyses) tests were performed. The use of a multivariate technique was justified on the basis that it may provide additional information to that found through univariate i-tests (Finn, 1974). The means and standard deviations for the 13 factors outlined previously are presented in Table 1. Two-tailed i-tests for independent samples were performed on the 13 factors. Owing to the fact that the probability of increasing the Type 1 error becomes greater with multiple t-tests, a conservative alpha rate (P < 0.005) was selected to assess the univariate significance. Only two comparisons were found to be significant. Specifically, elite male gymnasts, as compared to less elite gymnasts, indicated that they trained longer per week (x elite = 19.4 h;
153
Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 08:23 18 December 2014
Psychological factors
x less elite = 10.9 h), and felt they were better able to recover psychologically from a mistake in a competitive routine (x elite=3.1; x less elite=5.1). Since f-tests do not take into account the intercorrelation between variables, discriminant analysis, which permits a simultaneous examination of variables, was conducted. As the subject to variable ratio in this study was within the guidelines established for discriminant analysis by statisticians (Cooley and Lohnes, 1971; Tatsuoka, 1970), all 13 factors were entered into the analysis. The criteria by which the variables were selected for inclusion in the discriminant analysis was Rao's V stepwise solution (Tatsuoka, 1971). The results of the stepwise discriminant analysis revealed a significant difference between elite and less elite gymnasts (x2 = 29.04, df=5, P
Journal of Sports Sciences Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjsp20
Psychological characteristics of male gymnasts: Differences between competitive levels Kevin S. Spink
a
a
College of Physical Education , University of Saskatchewan , Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 0W0, Canada Published online: 01 Feb 2008.
To cite this article: Kevin S. Spink (1990) Psychological characteristics of male gymnasts: Differences between competitive levels, Journal of Sports Sciences, 8:2, 149-157, DOI: 10.1080/02640419008732141 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640419008732141
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/ terms-and-conditions
Journal of Sports Sciences 1990, 8, 149-157
Psychological characteristics of male gymnasts: Differences between competitive levels KEVIN S. SPINK Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 08:23 18 December 2014
College of Physical Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 0W0, Canada
Accepted 8 November 1989
Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine whether any differences exist in the cognitive and behavioural strategies of gymnasts competing at different elite levels. Thirty-eight male gymnasts competing at different competitive levels in an Australian gymnastic championship completed a standardized questionnaire prior to the first day of the competition. The questionnaire focused on a number of psychological factors that may affect both training and competition. Using both t-tests and simple discriminant function analysis, it was revealed that gymnasts competing at different elite levels could be distinguished on the basis of two psychological factors, psychological recovery and self-confidence, as well as the behavioural measure, training hours. Specifically, gymnasts competing at higher elite levels versus those at lower elite levels, were better able to recover from their competitive mistakes, were more confident and trained longer per week. Keywords: Psychological factors, competitive levels, gymnastics.
Introduction
The role that psychological factors and cognitive strategies play in influencing an athlete's performance is a topic which has been receiving increased attention in the sport psychological literature (Hellstedt, 1987; Spink and Longhurst, 1986; Weinberg, Gould and Jackson, 1980). While there have been a number of studies (Feltz, 1982; Feltz, Landers and Raeder, 1979; Gould and Weiss, 1981; Nelson & Fürst, 1972; Spink, 1988; Weinberg, Gould and Jackson, 1979; Weinberg, Gould, Yukelson and Jackson, 1981; Weinberg, Yukelson and Jackson, 1980) which have examined the effects that cognitive factors have on motor performance, only a limited number (Gould, Weiss and Weinberg, 1981; Highlen and Bennett, 1979; Mahoney and Avener, 1977; Meyers, Cooke, Cullen and Liles, 1979; Morgan, 1978) have examined the psychological characteristics of athletes. Specifically, these studies have involved the investigation of psychological factors that differentiate successful from less successful elite athletes. In one of the first investigations, Mahoney and Avener (1977) found that a number of psychological factors distinguished male US Olympic Gymnastic Team qualifiers from non0264-0414/90 $03.00+.12 © 1990 E. & F.N. Spon Ltd.
Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 08:23 18 December 2014
150
Spink
qualifiers. In terms of differentiating factors, Olympic qualifiers tended to score higher than non-qualifiers on measures of self-confidence, frequency of gymnastic dreams and thought, self-talk and the use of internal imagery. Since that first study, the investigation of the cognitive strategies of successful and less successful elite athletes has been extended to include the sports of wrestling (Gould, Weiss and Weinberg, 1981; Highlen and Bennett, 1979) and racquetball (Meyers, Schleser, Cooke and Cuvillier, 1979). In the study on racquetball players by Meyers et al. (1979) the investigators reported that the more successful players tended to be more self-confident (as well as reporting less self-doubts), had more thoughts and dreams about their sport, coped more readily with performance mistakes, engaged in more self-talk and reported less anxiety during competition than less successful players. Highlen and Bennett (1979) examined elite wrestlers competing for positions on three Canadian World wrestling teams. Their main findings were that wrestlers who qualified for the teams as compared to those who did not qualify, were more self-confident and perceived they were closer to achieving their maximum potential. Gould and his colleagues (1981) attempted to replicate and extend this research by examining elite wrestlers participating in the Big Ten Conference wrestling championships. Using tournament placement and season win-loss records as performance measures, it was revealed that successful wrestlers were more self-confident, tended to perceive they were closer to achieving their wrestling potential, and were better able to focus their attention on wrestling-related thoughts prior to competition than less successful wrestlers. While the results of these investigations suggest that differences exist between successful and less successful athletes competing at one elite level, one wonders whether these differences in psychological strategies could be extended to athletes competing at different elite levels. Intuitively, it might be expected that individuals who progress through the hierarchy of sport participation to the elite level would not only develop and refine their physical skills, but also their psychological skills. One recent study that has addressed this issue was conducted by Mahoney, Gabriel and Perkins (1987). In this study, it was found that elite athletes (i.e. those who were placed fourth or above in the national championships) from a variety of sports did differ on a number of psychological skills from pre-elite athletes (i.e. those attending junior national championships in the same sports). Specifically, it was found that pre-elite athletes, relative to the elite group, reported that their anxiety more frequently interfered with their performance, that their concentration was focused less consistently on their performance and that they tendedto provide themselves with more self-instructions while performing. While these differences may have reflected the skill level attained by the athletes, alternative explanations may have also existed in the form of sport differences (athletes from 23 sports were tested) and/or sex differences (both male and female athletes were included in the sample). To eliminate these possible confounds, the present study examined athletes of one gender and from one sport. This was accomplished by using male gymnasts competing in a recent Australian National Gymnastic Championship. Gymnastics was selected because it has been shown previously that psychological skills are important at elite levels in this sport (cf. Mahoney and Avener, 1977). Furthermore, the organization of the sport lends itself to a welldefined differentiation between elite levels. Specifically, gymnasts compete in the National Championship at one of four levels (level 7, 8, 9 or 10). The difficulty requirements of the compulsory and optional exercises determine each individual's classification level. Level 7 is the least difficult of the elite classifications while level 10 is the most difficult.
Psychological factors
151
The present study was an exploratory attempt to determine the cognitive and behavioural factors which differentiate male gymnasts at an advanced elite level (levels 9 and 10) from gymnasts competing at a less advanced elite level (levels 7 and 8). Since this was an exploratory study no specific hypotheses were posited. Methods
Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 08:23 18 December 2014
Subjects The subjects for this study were 38 male gymnasts who participated in a recent Australian gymnastic championship. This championship is recognized as the top competition for gymnasts in Australia as individuals are competing for national titles. Male gymnasts compete in the championships in compulsory and optional exercises at one of four different levels. Individuals competing at levels 7 and 8 have easier compulsory exercises and fewer difficulty requirements in the optional exercises. While there is no age limit on participation at these levels, gymnasts competing at levels 7 and 8 tend to be younger and less experienced. The mean age of individuals participating at levels 7 and 8 in this study was 17.1 years. Individuals participating at level 9 are more advanced elite gymnasts who compete with more difficult compulsory exercises and greater difficulty requirements in the optional exercises. The level 10 gymnasts compete using Olympic compulsory exercises and have optional exercise difficulty requirements in accordance with competition IB of the International Federation of Gymnastics code of points (1979). Gymnasts competing at levels 9 and 10 are generally older and more experienced. The mean age of individuals participating in levels 9 and 10 in this study was 20.7 years. In addition, level 9 and 10 participants in these championships were competing not only for national titles, but also for selection on the next World Championship team. Procedures
After receiving permission from the organizers, the coaches were asked to distribute the questionnaires to their gymnasts at a time convenient to the team, but prior to the first day of the competition. Gymnasts were told to complete the questionnaire independently and return it prior to the first day of the competition. They were also assured that their responses would remain confidential. Of the 66 gymnasts who were competing, 38 (57.6%) returned a completed questionnaire prior to the first day of the competition. It is worth noting that 13 completed questionnaires were returned after the competition had started and the gymnasts had already competed. When these responses are included, the return rate is 77.3%. However, these were not included in the analysis because of the possible confounding influence of the recent competitive experience on the responses provided (cf. Heyman, 1982). Of the 38 gymnasts who returned questionnaires on time, 15 of a total of 21 (71.4%) participated at levels 9 and 10, while 23 of a total of 45 (51.1%) participated at levels 7 and 8. Gymnastic questionnaire
The questionnaire designed to assess the cognitive and behavioural strategies that gymnasts typically employ prior to or during competition was a prototype of one previously utilized by
152
Spink
Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 08:23 18 December 2014
Mahoney and Avener (1977) for finalists on the 1976 US Olympic Gymnastics Team. Items in the present questionnaire assessed the following factors on 11-point Likert scales: 1. Self-confidence - Relative to all other Australian gymnasts, how self-confident would you rate yourself? 2. Lifestyle - How would you describe your overall lifestyle? 3. Dreams - How often do you dream about some aspect of gymnastics? 4. Potential - How close do you think you are at present to reaching your maximum athletic potential? 5. Mistakes - When you are competing, how often do you think about mistakes you made earlier in your routine? 6. Imagery - To what extent do you use visual imagery (mental pictures) in your training and competition? 7. Image control - How much difficulty do you have in getting the image to do what you want it to do? 8. Image clarity - How vivid or clear are your mental images? 9. Self-talk - To what extent do you 'talk to yourself (either silently or out loud) in your training and competition? 10. Blocking - How would you rate your ability to concentrate your attention on a specific movement or sensation (to the extent that you can block out everything else)? 11. Psychological recovery - When you make a mistake in a competitive routine, how difficult is it for you to recover psychologically during the remainder of the routine? In addition, an anxiety factor, consisting of nine individual items was assessed. For this factor, nine items assessing anxiety at various points in a competition (i.e. 1 week prior, 1 day prior, 1 hour prior, dressing at the competition, during warmup, chalking up before best event and worst event and performing best and worst event) were grouped together and tested for inter-item consistency using Cronbach's (1951) alpha coefficient. The results from this study for this multiple-item factor resulted in an alpha of 0.80, suggesting that the interitem reliability of the scale was high enough to enter the nine items as one factor in the analysis. Subjects, in an open-ended question, were also asked to indicate how many hours per week they spent in training. Results
In order to determine the factors which differentiated the individuals participating in levels 9 and 10 from those in levels 7 and 8 both univariate (i-tests for independent means) and multivariate (discriminant function analyses) tests were performed. The use of a multivariate technique was justified on the basis that it may provide additional information to that found through univariate i-tests (Finn, 1974). The means and standard deviations for the 13 factors outlined previously are presented in Table 1. Two-tailed i-tests for independent samples were performed on the 13 factors. Owing to the fact that the probability of increasing the Type 1 error becomes greater with multiple t-tests, a conservative alpha rate (P < 0.005) was selected to assess the univariate significance. Only two comparisons were found to be significant. Specifically, elite male gymnasts, as compared to less elite gymnasts, indicated that they trained longer per week (x elite = 19.4 h;
153
Downloaded by [McGill University Library] at 08:23 18 December 2014
Psychological factors
x less elite = 10.9 h), and felt they were better able to recover psychologically from a mistake in a competitive routine (x elite=3.1; x less elite=5.1). Since f-tests do not take into account the intercorrelation between variables, discriminant analysis, which permits a simultaneous examination of variables, was conducted. As the subject to variable ratio in this study was within the guidelines established for discriminant analysis by statisticians (Cooley and Lohnes, 1971; Tatsuoka, 1970), all 13 factors were entered into the analysis. The criteria by which the variables were selected for inclusion in the discriminant analysis was Rao's V stepwise solution (Tatsuoka, 1971). The results of the stepwise discriminant analysis revealed a significant difference between elite and less elite gymnasts (x2 = 29.04, df=5, P
