THE SINCLAIR COEFFICIENTS FOR THE OLYMPIAD

ALBERTA WEIGHTLIFTING ASSOCIATION AFFILIATED WITH THE C.W.F.H.C. AND I.W.F.

The Sinclair Coefficients for the Olympiad

January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2004 For Men’s and Women’s Olympic Weightlifting

The Sinclair coefficients are calculated in the Spring of each Olympic year. They are derived statistically and are based on the World Record Totals in the various bodyweight classes as of December 31 of the previous several years. The Answer to the question "What would be the total of an athlete weighing x kg if he/she were an athlete in the heaviest class of the same level of ability?" is given by the formula:

Comments

"An Olympic medal makes me walking on all four!" - Ruth Ogbeifo (NGR)

I. The forms given above are suitable for a calculator. As an example, suppose a male athlete weighing 83.5 kg has a total of 390 kg. For him: X = log10(83.5/157.141) = -0.274603037059 AX 2 = 0.070774874047 S.C. = 1.17699569414 Sinclair Total = 459.028 kg

II. In addition to the above, two tables are given, one for men and one for women. In each table, the athlete’s bodyweight, x kg, appears in the first column and the Sinclair coefficient in the Second. As noted above, the Sinclair coefficients are derived statistically and are based on the World Record Totals of mature athletes. This implies that the athlete’s bodyweight, x kg, should not be too far below the upper limit for the lightest bodyweight class. Nevertheless, as a guideline for very young athletes who often are very light, the analytic curve 10 AX2 is extended to x = 32.0 for males and x = 28.0 for females.

III. Two graphs are appended, one for Men and one for Women. The curves are generated by averaging the data over several years while the plotted points show how the World Record Totals (or World Standards) compare to this average at a particular point in time. To illustrate how this can change over the course of an Olympiad, consider the 48 kg class for the Senior Women. On December 31, 1999 the World Record Total is 195 kg and is held by Li Zhuo of China. From the graph this seems rather low. But World Weightlifting, 1999/4, reports that Donka Mincheva of Bulgaria has already done 92.5 + 120 = 212.5 kg in training. If performed in a recognized competition, this result would yield a point much above the curve for the 48 kg class. Note, however, that the curve itself would be affected, but only to a slight degree due to the averaging process in the statistical approach.

IV. The Sinclair coefficient for an athlete with a bodyweight of x kg is the ratio of the World Record Totals of the heaviest athletes, averaged over time, to the World Record Totals of the athletes with bodyweights of x kg, averaged over time. The statistical approach tends to damp out the influence of exceptionally high, or low, results.