Relative age effect in Olympic basketball athletes.

Abstract

Objective. — To investigate the relative age effect (RAE) in Olympic basketball athletes, related to sex, continent and country. Methods. — The sample was composed of 300 athletes who have competed in the London 2012 Olympic Games. Athletes’ date of birth was split into quartiles (trimester of born). For data analysis, Chi2 test was used with the level of significance set at 5%. Results. — The RAE was not observed by the analysis for sex and continent. However, the RAE was found in French athletes ( 2 = 11.333; P = 0.01), with more athletes born on the second quartile. We can conclude that the RAE is not present in Olympic basketball athletes, except on those French ones.