Introduction

The tapering strategy used by many competitive athletes, and

particularly swimmers, to optimize competition performance
has been recently defined as a progressive nonlinear reduction
of the training load during a variable period of time, in an at-
tempt to reduce the physiological and psychological stress of dai-
ly training and optimize sports performance [15]. Indeed, a ta-
pering period before the main competitions of the season has
been shown to result in quite significant performance improve-
ments in swimming [15, 8,11,1618, 24, 25, 27]. These per-
formance gains have variously been attributed to increased lev-
els of muscular force and power [2, 3, 8,11, 24, 27], and improve-
ments in neuromuscular [24], hematological [20], and hormonal
function [1, 4,19] and psychological status of the athletes [8, 24].
A 34 week taper is a common practice among elite level swim-
mers. A few investigations have examined the influence of a ta-
per on swimming competition performance in both males and
females [5, 8, 9,16,17], with a small number of studies analysing
separately the performance change in different swimming com-
petition events [2, 3,11,16]. Of these, however, only the study by
Mujika et al. [16] reported performance results by event in na-
tional and international level male and female swimmers, but
the small number of subjects participating in each event limited
the results. The purpose of this investigation was to determine
Swimming Performance Changes During the
Final 3 Weeks of Training Leading to the Sydney 2000
Olympic Games
I. Mujika
1, 2
S. Padilla
1, 2
D. Pyne
3
Affiliation
1
Departamento de Investigacin y Desarrollo, Servicios Mdicos, Athletic Club de Bilbao,
Basque Country, Spain
2
Mediplan Sport, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, Spain
3
Department of Physiology, Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, Australia
Correspondence
I. Mujika, Ph. D. Mediplan Sport Obdulio Lpez de Uralde 4 01008 Vitoria Gasteiz Basque Country, Spain
Phone: +34-945245462 Fax: +34-945223562 E-Mail: imujika@grn.es
Accepted after revision: February 4, 2002
Bibliography
Int J Sports Med 2002; 23: 582587 Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart New York ISSN 0172-4622
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the magnitude of the
swimming performance change during the final 3 weeks of train-
ing (F3T) leading to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Olympic
swimmers who took part in the same event or events at the Tel-
stra 2000 Grand Prix Series in Melbourne, Australia, (2627 Au-
gust 2000), and 2128 d later at the Sydney 2000 Olympic
Games (1623 September 2000) were included in this analysis.
A total of 99 performances (50 male, 49 female) were analysed.
The overall performance improvement between pre- and post-
F3T conditions for all swimmers was 2.18  1.50% (p < 0.0001),
(range 1.14% to 6.02%). A total of 91 of the 99 analysed per-
formances were faster after the F3T and only 8 were slower. The
percentage improvement with F3T was significantly higher
(P < 0.01) in males (2.57  1.45%) than in females (1.78  1.45%).
In conclusion, the pre-Olympic F3T elicited a significant per-
formance improvement of 2.57% for male and 1.78% for female
swimmers at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The magnitude
was similar for all competition events, and was achieved by
swimmers from different countries and performance levels.
These data provide a quantitative framework for coaches and
swimmers to set realistic performance goals based on individual
performance levels before the final training phase leading to im-
portant competitions.
Key words
Taper reduced training competition gender training
T
r
a
i
n
i
n
g
&
T
e
s
t
i
n
g
582
the magnitude, if any, of performance change during the final 3
weeks of training (F3T) in male and female swimmers competing
at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Methods
Subjects
Olympic swimmers who took part in the same event or events at
the Telstra 2000 Grand Prix Series in Melbourne, Australia, (26
27 August 2000), and three weeks later at the Sydney 2000
Olympic Games (1623 September 2000) were included in this
analysis. This requirement was fulfilled on 99 occasions, 50
times by male and 49 times by female swimmers. There were
46 performances by Australian swimmers; 16 performances by
swimmers from South Africa; 10 for Great Britain; 4 each for Al-
geria, Fiji, Malaysia and Zimbabwe; 2 each for Nigeria, Papua
New Guinea, Russia and Swaziland; and 1 performance by a
swimmer from Angola, Guam and Singapore, respectively. Of all
99 performances included in the study, 12 were by swimmers
who subsequently won an Olympic medal (one gold, seven silver
and four bronze); 18 more swimmers performances attained the
Olympic final in that event; 23 made it to the semi-finals; and 46
performances only made the qualifying heats. Since this was a
retrospective analysis of data available in the public domain on
www.swimnews.com, there was no recruitment of subjects and
no experimental treatment or intervention, and no individuals
name is used or can be identified in the manuscript, the authors
did not seek informed consent.
Regular training and pre-Olympic training
The Telstra 2000 Grand Prix Series, some 21d before the start of
the swimming competition at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games,
typically represented the completion of the specific preparatory
cycle and the start of the taper leading to the Olympic Games for
the Australian Olympic Swimming Team. Fig. 1 (top) shows a
typical 16wk training cycle prior to the Olympic Games consist-
ing of approximately 800 km of swimming (mean 55 km per wk;
range 4080 km per wk). During the 3-wk taper that preceded
the Olympic Games, the training volume was reduced systemati-
cally fromabout 10 km to 2 km of swimming per day (Fig. 1 [bot-
tom]).
It was found out from discussions with coaches and swimmers
fromother national teams that the Telstra 2000 Grand Prix Series
meeting generally coincided with the commencement of the ta-
per for the Olympic Games. However, given the observational na-
ture of this investigation [6], the precise training strategies un-
dertaken by individual swimmers during F3T, as well as the pos-
sible influence on performance of variables such as shaving, diet
or motivational factors could not be assessed.
Performance data
Official electronic times recorded at the Telstra 2000 Grand Prix
Series were used as pre-F3T performance values. This competi-
tion was swum in a long course (50 m) pool, where all of the in-
dividual events on the Olympic program were held. The compe-
tition format consisted of preliminary heats in the morning and
finals in the evening, except for the mens and womens 400 m
individual medley, womens 800 m freestyle and mens 1500 m
freestyle, which consisted only of an evening final based on pre-
vious seed times. When a swimmer participated in both the
heats and the final of an event, only the best time was retained
for the study.
Official competition times at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games
were used as post-F3T performance values. All events were also
swumin a 50-mpool. The competition format for the 50, 100 and
200 m events consisted of qualifying heats, semi-finals and fi-
nals, but only qualifying heats and finals were held for the 400,
800 and 1500 m events. However, none of the male swimmers
participated in the 1500m freestyle event at both the Telstra
2000 Grand Prix Series and the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games
(i. e. pre- and post-F3T). Again the best time recorded for the
heat, semi-final and/or the final was retained as the criterion
post-F3T performance value for the study. The percentage differ-
ence in performance time from 1st to 4th place (gold medal win-
ner to first swimmer out of the medals) and from3rd to 8th place
(bronze medal winner to last finalist) were calculated for all
male and female events of the Olympic finals.
Statistical analysis
Values are expressed as mean  SD unless otherwise stated. Giv-
en that all performance data showed a normal distribution,
parametric statistical procedures were used. A one-way ANOVA
for repeated measures was used to compare pre-F3T versus post-
F3T performance data. In an attempt to analyse whether per-
formance changes followed general trends in different popula-
tions of swimmers, differences between males and females, and
among swimmers from different countries, competition events
and performance levels were assessed with a factorial ANOVA
followed by Scheffs post hoc procedure. The level of statistical
significance was set at p < 0.05.
Fig. 1 Weekly training volume (km) for a typical Australian swimmer
in the 16-week preparation for the 2000 Olympic Games; (bottom) dai-
ly training volume (km) for a typical Australian swimmer in the 18 days
prior to the 2000 Olympic Games.
Mujika I et al. Olympic Swimming Performance Int J Sports Med 2002; 23: 582587
T
r
a
i
n
i
n
g
&
T
e
s
t
i
n
g
583
Results
The overall performance improvement between pre- and post-
F3T conditions for all swimmers was 2.18  1.50% (p < 0.0001),
with a minimumvalue of 1.14% and a maximum of 6.02%. A to-
tal of 91 of the 99 analysed performances were faster after the
F3T and only 8 performances were slower. The percentage im-
provement with F3T was significantly higher (p < 0.01) in males
(2.57  1.45%) than in females (1.78  1.45%).
Performance improvements were not significantly different
among events, and they ranged between 0.64  1.48% in 400 m
freestyle (event with the smallest mean improvement) and
2.96  1.08% in 200m butterfly (event with the largest mean im-
provement) (Table 1). This similarity in the magnitude of im-
provement in performance for all swimmers was also evident
for males and females separately. Pre- and post-F3T performance
times in each event are reported in Table 1. Male swimmers im-
proved more than females (2.91  1.38% vs 1.80  1.35%, p < 0.05)
in the 200-m events (Fig. 2). Also, the comparison between free-
style and form(backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and individual
medley) events showed no differences in the magnitude of per-
formance improvement, but as shown in Fig. 3, males improved
more than females in the freestyle events (2.54  1.50% vs
1.60  1.33%, p < 0.05).
Table 2 shows that performance change with the F3T was not
significantly different among swimmers from different coun-
tries, ranging from 0.13  0.28% for Nigerian swimmers to
3.98  2.18% for swimmers representing Swaziland. No signifi-
cant differences were observed among countries when male
and female results were analysed separately (Table 2).
Percentage performance improvement with the F3T was similar
in Olympic medal winners, finalists, semi-finalists and qualifying
heat swimmers. This was true for males, females and for all
swimmers taken as a single group. However, among those ath-
letes who swamonly the qualifying heats, performance improve-
ment with the F3T was significantly higher (p < 0.01) in males
(2.84  1.67%) than in females (1.23  1.44%) (Fig. 4). The per-
Table 1 Performance times (s) before and after the final 3 weeks of training (F3T)
Male Female Total
Event N Pre-F3T Post-F3T % change N Pre-F3T Post-F3T % change N % change
50 Freestyle 4 22.89  0.40 22.49  0.33 1.73  1.60 6 26.87  0.74 26.33  1.01* 2.06  1.53 10 1.93  1.48
100 Freestyle 8 52.01  1.65 50.66  1.72** 2.59  1.49 5 57.94  1.82 56.58  1.42** 2.33  0.69 13 2.49  1.21
200 Freestyle 6 114.83  5.57 111.05  4.20** 3.25  1.56 4 121.96  0.78 120.14  1.38 1.49  1.13 10 2.55  1.61
400 Freestyle 2 239.17  11.35 234.78  9.28 1.82  0.78 2 255.44  0.00 256.80  1.78 0.53  0.70 4 0.64  1.48
800 Freestyle 3 525.22  1.84 519.64  3.23 1.06  0.89 3 1.06  0.89
100 Backstroke 4 57.89  3.42 56.20  2.11 2.82  2.18 4 63.34  0.84 62.63  0.75 1.09  2.06 8 1.96  2.17
200 Backstroke 2 121.09  2.19 118.60  1.43 2.05  0.59 4 136.39  2.68 134.81  1.70 1.15  0.77 6 1.45  0.80
100 Breaststroke 5 67.17  5.19 65.24  4.66* 2.84  1.73 5 73.93  6.70 72.50  6.49* 1.92  1.26 10 2.38  1.51
200 Breaststroke 3 136.47  2.54 133.08  0.71 2.45  2.35 3 148.78  0.98 147.13  1.41 1.11  1.59 6 1.78  1.94
100 Butterfly 6 55.45  1.65 54.24  1.85** 2.19  1.01 5 62.61  3.24 60.96  3.41* 2.64  2.06 11 2.39  1.50
200 Butterfly 5 122.13  2.12 118.59  1.91*** 2.90  0.58 4 132.71  2.76 128.65  2.10* 3.04  1.63 9 2.96  1.08
200 Individual Medley 4 127.02  2.81 122.92  0.74* 3.20  1.63 2 140.76  1.86 137.59  2.62 2.25  0.57 6 2.88  1.38
400 Individual Medley 1 261.40 260.31 0.42 2 288.91  3.08 283.77  3.19 1.78  0.06 3 1.33  0.79
Values are means  SD. *, **, ***, significantly different from pre-F3T (p < 0.05, p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively).
Fig. 2 Percentage performance improvement with the F3T in male
and female 50-m (freestyle only), 100-m(freestyle, backstroke, breast-
stroke and butterfly), 200-m (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, but-
terfly and individual medley) and 400-m (freestyle and individual med-
ley) events. *denotes a significant difference (p<0.05) between males
and females. Values are means  SE.
Fig. 3 Percentage performance improvement with the F3T in male
and female freestyle and form (backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and
individual medley) events. *denotes a significant difference (p < 0.05)
between males and females. Values are means  SE.
Mujika I et al. Olympic Swimming Performance Int J Sports Med 2002; 23: 582587
T
r
a
i
n
i
n
g
&
T
e
s
t
i
n
g
584
centage difference in performance time between 1st and 4th
place was 1.62  0.80% overall (males 1.48  0.67%, females
1.77  0.90%), and 2.02  0.81% between 3rd and 8th place (males
1.69  0.56%, females 2.35  0.91%).
Discussion
The main findings of the present investigation were that 1) the
pre-Olympic F3T resulted in a significant 2.2% performance im-
provement, which was larger in male than female swimmers;
and 2) this improvement was similar in all competition events,
and for swimmers fromdifferent countries and performance lev-
els. These findings suggest that the final training phase, along
with other possible factors contributing to performance gains
(e. g. motivational factors, shaving, use of different swimming
suits, diet), is important in the preparation of Olympic-level
swimmers. The magnitude of the F3T is significant in perform-
ance terms, as the difference between the gold medallist and
4th place (1.62%), and between 3rd and 8th place (2.02%) at the
Olympics were similar to the mean improvement in performance
obtained with the F3T.
The highly significant 2.57% performance improvement attained
during the F3T by the male swimmers in this study was some-
what lower than some values previously published in the taper-
ing literature. Costill et al. [3] reported a mean performance im-
provement of 3.1% as a result of a 2-wk taper in a group of 17 col-
legiate male swimmers. This performance gain was paralleled by
a 17.7% increase in muscular power as measured on a biokinetic
bench, and correlated significantly (r = 0.68) with a 24.6% in-
crease in swimming power. Studying a similar population of 24
college male swimmers tapering for 23wk, the same group ob-
served a 3.2% gain in performance, along with indicators of re-
duced physiological stress, such as lower blood creatine kinase
and cortisol concentrations on the one hand, and increased tes-
tosterone levels on the other hand [4]. Johns and colleagues [11]
also reported an average performance improvement of 2.8  0.3%
with a 1014 d taper, which they related to the observed 5% gain
in tethered swimming power.
Differences in the performance improvement observed in the
present study may be related to the higher performance level of
the swimmers analysed in this investigation. Some of the highest
mean performance gains with taper (7.96% and 5.00% in 100 m
and 400 m, respectively) have been reported in high school
swimmers [4], whereas values of 2.6% [2] and 2.32  1.69% [18]
have been observed in national and international level male
swimmers during tapers lasting 4 wk. The latter authors report-
ed that performance gain correlated with changes in the testos-
terone/cortisol ratio [19] and post-taper red cell count of the
swimmers [20]. Also, in a recent investigation, Bonifazi et al. [1]
analysed the effects of a 23-wk taper in international level
male swimmers during two consecutive seasons. Performance
improved by 1.48  0.87% during the first season. This improve-
ment correlated with a 49.2% increase in peak blood lactate con-
centration, and was also accompanied by a 19.3% reduction in
pre-competition plasma cortisol concentration. During the sec-
ond season, the 2.07% performance improvement correlated
with a 29.3% decrease in plasma cortisol, and peak blood lactate
also increased by 21.7%. Taken together, the results of these in-
vestigations, with the present data, indicate that the taper in in-
Table 2 Performance change with the final 3 weeks of training (F3T)
Male Female Total
Country N % change N % change N % change
Algeria 4 2.57  2.46 4 2.57  2.46
Angola 1 3.68 1 3.68
Australia 21 2.31  1.22 25 1.89  1.65 46 2.08  1.47
Fiji 2 5.16  1.05 2 2.06  2.07 4 3.61  2.23
Great Britain 4 1.87  0.59 6 1.35  1.00 10 1.55  0.86
Guam 1 0.29 1 0.29
Malaysia 4 3.27  0.62 4 3.27  0.62
Nigeria 1 0.32 1 0.07 2 0.13  0.28
Papua New Guinea 1 2.85 1 0.18 2 1.51  1.89
Russia 2 1.33  0.68 2 1.33  0.68
Singapore 1 2.37 1 2.37
South Africa 6 3.52  0.86 10 1.65  1.19 16 2.35  1.40
Swaziland 1 5.53 1 2.44 2 3.98  2.18
Zimbabwe 2 1.85  0.81 2 2.59  0.59 4 2.22  0.72
Fig. 4 Percentage performance improvement with the F3T in male
and female Olympic medal winners, finalists, semi-finalists and qualify-
ing heat swimmers. **denotes a significant difference (p < 0.01) be-
tween males and females. Values are means  SE.
Mujika I et al. Olympic Swimming Performance Int J Sports Med 2002; 23: 582587
T
r
a
i
n
i
n
g
&
T
e
s
t
i
n
g
585
ternational level swimmers can produce an average improve-
ment in performance in the range of 1.52.5%.
Given that this investigation was purely observational, and the
influence of factors such as motivation, shaving, use of different
swimming suits or diet could not be controlled for, there is no
apparent explanation for the significantly smaller performance
improvement achieved by the female swimmers (1.78%), espe-
cially in the absence of any accompanying biological or psycho-
metric measurements. In a study on national and international
level swimmers, performance improvements of 2.58  1.96%,
2.95  0.93% and 2.56  2.19% were reported for the females, con-
secutive to each of the three tapers carried out during a competi-
tive season, lasting respectively 3, 4 and 6wk. These values were
not significantly different fromthose of 3.12  1.15%, 3.42  2.19%
and 1.60  0.92% attained by the males [16]. Hooper and col-
leagues consistently observed small non-significant perform-
ance gains of 0.10.7% in international level males and females,
but separate values for each gender were not reported [810].
Millard et al. [13] found no differences between males and fe-
males in resting or post-training serum CPK after a 4-wk taper.
On the other hand, it has been suggested that the optimumtaper
duration for female swimmers should be 2wk, as performance
indices begin to deteriorate with longer taper durations [12],
and that the relatively small 1.3% performance gains attained by
female swimmers during taper could be related with a deteriora-
tion of their mood state [23, 25]. The above results, however, are
in contrast with those of Mujika et al. [16], who did not observe
gender differences in the optimal duration of taper as deter-
mined by mathematical modelling, and with those of Morgan et
al. [14] and Raglin et al. [23] reporting similar changes in percep-
tion of effort, global mood score, and total mood disturbance in
male and female swimmers during tapering periods. Additional
studies are required to clarify the interactions between tapering,
gender, mood state and competitive athletic performance.
Eight of the swimmers did not improve performance during the
Olympic Games as compared with the Telstra 2000 Grand Prix
Series. Unchanged performance [8, 9], tethered swimming and
muscular force [10, 22], swimming economy curves [28], hema-
tological and hormonal status [7, 9,10, 21, 26], and psychometric
indices [14, 23] have been previously reported during periods of
taper. Again, whether this lack of performance gain was the re-
sult of a poorly planned F3T, an individually determined lack of
physiological and/or psychological response to the reduced
training period, or a combination of both cannot be ascertained
due to the descriptive nature of the observational experimental
design of the present study.
Performance improvements as a result of taper have been pre-
viously reported regardless of the specific swimming event. In
male swimmers, Costill et al. [3] observed gains ranging between
2.2% in 100 yd freestyle (N= 2) and 200 yd butterfly (N= 3), and
4.6% in 200 yd individual medley (N= 5). Johns et al. [11] indicat-
ed a minimum gain of 2.0% in 100 yd breaststroke (N= 1) and a
maximum of 3.7% in 100yd (N= 5) and 200 yd freestyle (N= 2).
Similar values between 2.0% (N= 6) and 3.8% (N= 4) were re-
ported by Cavanaugh and Musch [2] for 50 yd freestyle and
200 yd breaststroke, respectively. All of these were quite similar
to the 1.73 and 3.25% respectively observed in 50m (N= 4) and
200 m freestyle (N= 6) for males in the present study. The only
available report concerning female swimmers [16] indicated a
performance gain range between 0.47% in 100m breaststroke
(N= 1) and 5.42 in 100m butterfly (N= 1), in contrast to the per-
formance loss of 0.53% observed in 400m freestyle (N= 2) and a
maximumgain of 3.04% in 200 mbutterfly (N= 4) observed here.
The results of the current study also support the notion that ta-
pering elicits a relatively consistent improvement across differ-
ent competitive swimming events.
Even though the magnitude of improvement with the taper ap-
pears to be inversely related to the performance level of the
swimmers, with the biggest average gains being reported in
high school swimmers [5] and the smallest in international level
competitors [1, 8], this does not seem to be the case within a
more homogeneous group of swimmers. Indeed, in this study
no differences were observed in the magnitude of performance
improvement during F3T among qualifiers, semi-finalists, final-
ists and medal winners. Moreover, the latter showed the biggest
mean improvement of all Olympic competitors. This suggests
that the medal winners are likely to be faster pre-taper than
other swimmers, with a larger improvement in performance
with the taper, likely to increase their chances of success.
The observational nature of this investigation [6] imposes sever-
al limitations on the interpretation of results and inferences that
can be applied to the population of competitive swimmers from
this small study sample. First of all, no systematic or consistent
biological or psychometric measurements were undertaken at
the time of the two analysed competitions. The proximity to the
Olympic Games and the large number of nations represented
precluded any detailed examination of factors influencing the
F3T and subsequent performance. Therefore, all discussed
mechanisms possibly contributing to the observed performance
improvements are somewhat speculative, although considered
in the light of data reported in previously published swimming
tapering studies. Secondly, we did not have a precise knowledge
of the exact F3T strategy adopted by participating swimmers
from countries other than Australia. Nonetheless, we aimed to
characterise the magnitude of performance changes during the
F3Tof the Olympic preparation, and the above described changes
certainly took place. Other investigations will be needed to ad-
dress the underlying mechanisms responsible for these changes.
In conclusion, the analysis of the pre-Olympic and Olympic
swimming performance results indicated that the pre-Olympic
F3T brought about a significant performance improvement of
2.57% for the males and 1.78% for the females. These values,
which were similar in all competition events and were achieved
by swimmers from different countries and performance levels,
provide a quantitative framework for coaches and swimmers to
set realistic performance goals based on individual performance
levels previous to the final training phase before important com-
petitions.
Mujika I et al. Olympic Swimming Performance Int J Sports Med 2002; 23: 582587
T
r
a
i
n
i
n
g
&
T
e
s
t
i
n
g
586
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge Dr. Louise Burke of the Austra-
lian Institute of Sport for her assistance with the data collection
in this study.
References
1
Bonifazi M, Sardella F, Luppo C. Preparatory versus main competi-
tions: differences in performances, lactate responses and pre-compe-
tition plasma cortisol concentrations in elite male swimmers. Eur J
Appl Physiol 2000; 82: 368373
2
Cavanaugh DJ, Musch KI. Arm and leg power of elite swimmers in-
crease after taper as measured by biokinetic variable resistance ma-
chines. J Swimming Research 1989; 5: 710
3
Costill DL, King DS, Thomas R, Hargreaves M. Effects of reduced train-
ing on muscular power in swimmers. Physician Sportsmed 1985; 13:
94101
4
Costill DL, Thomas R, Robergs A, Pascoe D, Lambert C, Barr S, Fink WJ.
Adaptations to swimming training: influence of training volume. Med
Sci Sports Exerc 1991; 23: 371377
5
DAcquisto LJ, Bone M, Takahashi S, Langhans G, Barzdukas AP, Troup
JP. Changes in aerobic power and swimming economy as a result of re-
duced training volume. In: Swimming Science VI. London: E & FN
Spon, 1992: 201205
6
Eston RG, Rowlands AV. Stages in the development of a research pro-
ject: putting the idea together. Br J Sports Med 2000; 34: 5964
7
Flynn MG, Pizza FX, Boone JB Jr, Andres FF, Michaud TA, Rodriguez-
Zayas JR. Indices of training stress during competitive running and
swimming seasons. Int J Sports Med 1997; 15: 2126
8
Hooper SL, Mackinnon LT, Ginn EM. Effects of three tapering tech-
niques on the performance, forces and psychometric measures of
competitive swimmers. Eur J Appl Physiol 1998; 78: 258263
9
Hooper SL, Mackinnon LT, Gordon RD, Bachmann AW. Hormonal re-
sponses of elite swimmers to overtraining. Med Sci Sports Exerc
1993; 25: 741747
10
Hooper SL, Mackinnon LT, Howard A. Physiological and psychometric
variables for monitoring recovery during tapering for major competi-
tion. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1999; 31: 12051210
11
Johns RA, Houmard JA, Kobe RW, Hortobgyi T, Bruno NJ, Wells JM,
Shinebarger MH. Effects of taper on swim power, stroke distance and
performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1992; 24: 11411146
12
Kenitzer RF Jr. Optimal taper period in female swimmers. J Swimming
Res 1998; 3: 3136
13
Millard M, Zauner C, Cade R, Reese R. Serum CPK levels in male and fe-
male world class swimmers during a season of training. J Swim Res
1985; 1: 1216
14
Morgan WP, Brown DR, Raglin JS, OConnor PJ, Ellickson KA. Psycholog
monitoring of overtraining and staleness. Br J Sports Med 1987; 21:
107114
15
Mujika I, Padilla S. Detraining: loss of training-induced physiological
and performance adaptations. Part I. Short-term insufficient training
stimulus. Sports Med 2000; 30: 7987
16
Mujika I, Busso T, Geyssant A, Barale F, Lacoste L, Chatard JC. Modeled
responses to training and taper in competitive swimmers. Med Sci
Sports Exerc 1996; 28: 251258
17
Mujika I, Chatard JC, Busso T, Geyssant A, Barale F, Lacoste L. Effects of
training on performance in competitive swimming. Can J Appl Physiol
1995; 20: 395406
18
Mujika I, Chatard JC, Geyssant A. Effects of training and taper on blood
leucocyte populations in competitive swimmers: relationships with
cortisol and performance. Int J Sports Med 1996; 17: 213217
19
Mujika I, Chatard JC, Padilla S, Guezennec CY, Geyssant A. Hormonal
responses to training and its tapering off in competitive swimmers:
relationships with performance. Eur J Appl Physiol 1996; 74: 361366
20
Mujika I, Padilla S, Geyssant A, Chatard JC. Hematological responses to
training and taper in competitive swimmers: relationships with per-
formance. Arch Physiol Biochem 1997; 105: 379385
21
Pizza FX, Flynn MG, Boone JB, Rodriguez-Zayas JR, Andres FF. Serum
haptoglobin and ferritin during a competitive running and swimming
season. Int J Sports Med 1997; 18: 233237
22
Prins JH, Lally DA, Maes KE, Uno J, Hartung GH. Changes in peak force
and work in competitive swimmers during training and taper as test-
ed on a biokinetic swimming bench. In: Cameron JM (ed). Aquatic
Sports Medicine 1991. London: Farrand Press, 1991: 8088
23
Raglin JS, Morgan WP, OConnor PJ. Changes in mood states during
training in female and male college swimmers. Int J Sports Med
1991; 12: 585589
24
Raglin JS, Koceja DM, Stager JM, Harms CA. Mood, neuromuscular
function, and performance during training in female swimmers. Med
Sci Sports Exerc 1996; 28: 372377
25
Taylor SR, Rogers GG, Driver HS. Effects of training volume on sleep,
psychological, and selected physiological profiles of elite female
swimmers. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1997; 29: 688693
26
Tharp GD, Barnes MW. Reduction of saliva immunoglobulin levels by
swim training. Eur J Appl Physiol 1990; 60: 6164
27
Trappe S, Costill D, Thomas R. Effect of swim taper on whole muscle
and single fiber contractile properties. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2001;
32: 4856
28
van Handel PJ, Katz A, Troup JP, Daniels JT, Bradley PW. Oxygen con-
sumption and blood lactic acid response to training and taper. In:
Swimming Science V. Champaign, IL.: Human Kinetics, 1988: 269
275
Mujika I et al. Olympic Swimming Performance Int J Sports Med 2002; 23: 582587
T
r
a
i
n
i
n
g
&
T
e
s
t
i
n
g
587