Identification of Elite Swimmers' Race Patterns Using Cluster Analysis

Abstract

The identification of elite swimmers' race patterns at the same time is an important unresolved problem. This problem appears to be of fundamental importance for coaches in training promising elite swimmers. To address this problem, a system of cluster analysis for studying group structures on the basis of elite swimmers' race results and various available race components, such as lengths, speeds and times, is described that uses standard statistical algorithms to arrange elite swimmers according to similarity in their race patterns. The outputs are displayed graphically using tree-like dendrograms, conveying elite swimmers' race patterns in a form intuitive for coaches. As an illustration of this, we have used this method to uncover a number of key race components in connection with Ian Thorpe's race results in the men's 400m freestyle final at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics