On Fri, 12 Sep 1997, Tanya Wood wrote:
> deformation (although I have noticed the same trend in other women). When
> I was at school, I asked my (female) gym teacher what the cross-over
> between less hearty males and fit women was in terms of running: and she
> answered 3%: i.e. only the top 3% of women are faster than the the bottom
> 3% of men: is this not a major under-estimation? I was quite depressed
> about this. It seemed wrong (not to mention unjust) to me, looking over my
Granted swimming isn't the best example because it relys heavily on upper
body strength, but here's what I came up with when I compared national
time standards. Time standards are based on 500,000 reported times in all
age groups and events. A C time implies you're in the 10th percentile, B
time 40th percentile, A time=70th percentile, NN (implies one of the
national level time standards) is the 96.5th percentile.
17-18 year old age group times for short course yards:
1650 free women NN-17:00.69 A-18:04.89 B-19:04.39 C 21:04.59
1650 free men NN 16:08.49 A- 17:02.09 B-17:54.79 C-19:52.19
500 free women NN 5:03.69 A-5:22.29 B-5:41.89 C 6:14.69
500 free men NN-4:40.69 A-4:58.19 B-5:14.19 C-5:54.09
100 free women NN-53.79 A-57.49 B-1:00.89 C-1:07.89
100 free men NN-47.89 A-50.99 B-53.59 C-59.19
200 breaststroke women NN 2:22.79 A 2:34.99 B-2:41.99 C 2:56.89
200 breaststroke men NN-2:08.89 A 2:19.69 B-2:27.99 C 2:44.09
Okay, in the long distance 1650, women's NN times (upper 3.5%) are roughly
comprable to Men's A standards. In the 500 free, the women are behind A
standards (roughly BBB on the chart) In the sprint 100 free the NN women
are about equal to men's B standards (40th percentile)
There is a gap, but nothing to suggest the 3% and 3% suggested to the
fitness coach. The times also grow more equal as the distances grow
longer, which is something that's consistent with popular theory that
women compratively improve as distances go longer.
Jill Gillham jilkey@grfn.org http://members.aol.com/~ferndock2
\|/ \|/ D=|[[] "All-arm'd I ride, whate'er betide,
=0: + =0: = \O/ Until I find the Holy Grail."
/|\ /|\ |*| -- Alfred, Lord Tennyson [Go WINGS!]
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