Men generally outperform women in most sports, but women have an advantage in marathon swimming. The smaller body size and density, shorter legs and higher body fat ratios in women contribute to their lesser performance in most sports when compared to men, but help them to excel in swimming. A review of competitive swimming times published in 2002 in the journal "The Lancet," reported that gender differences in swimming decrease with distance. A woman set Guinness record for the longest continual ocean swim in 2004.
Speed
Men swim faster than women for the most part because males have greater upper body muscle mass. Muscle power contributes to men's success in sprint swimming reported Hiforfumi Tanaka and Douglas Seals in their study of aging and swimming in men and women, published in 1996 in the "Journal of Applied Physiology." Upper body muscle mass declines less rapidly over time than other musculature, but women experience faster muscle decline as they age than do men.
Endurance
The higher body fat percentages that women have contribute to better swimming economy. They float better and use 30 percent less energy than men. This economy increases their endurance and long-term performance. Gender differences in performance times diminish as swim distances increase, Tanaka and Seals reported. Researchers from the University of New Mexico found that women's greater resistance to muscle fatigue allow them to maintain low to moderate muscle use longer than men.
Energy Use
Metabolism differences exist between men and women that contribute to swimming performance disparities. Men tend to break down carbohydrates for energy and women rely more on fat. Higher estrogen levels in women seem to lessen use of glycogen, the energy stores in muscles according to University of New Mexico scientists. This helps women to avoid the muscle fatigue that often plagues men during a continuous cardiovascular exercise such as swimming.
Aging
Tanaka and Seals have found that while gender differences are smallest during endurance swimming events, women's swimming performance declines more rapidly than men as they age. While it isn't clear if women's better economy and lesser drag help them to perform better in distance swimming as they age, Tanaka and Seals noted that a woman once held the English Channel swimming record.
References
- Curtin University; Swimming Testing Assignment: Swimming; Beate Lokken
- "Journal of Applied Physiology:" Age and Gender Interactions in Physiological Functional Capacity: Insight from Swimming Performance; Hirofumi Tanaka and Douglas R. Seals; 1996
- The Lancet; The Battle of the Sexes in Sports; Hirofumi Tanaka; 2002
Member Comments