VARIATIONS IN THE PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE OF OLYMPIC BOXERS OVER A FOUR-DAY NATIONAL QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT

The aim of this study was to examine changes in body-mass (BM) and power-related measures in Olympic boxers during an official qualifying boxing tournament. Fourteen elite amateur boxers from the Brazilian National Team (8 men and 6 women) participated in this study. Athletes performed 3 fights in 4 days against the same opponent of the same weight-category. Before and immediately after every fight BM, countermovement jump (CMJ) height, and power production in the bench-press and half-squat exercises were assessed in the same order and time of the day. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc analysis was used to determine the variations between pre- and post-measures. The statistical significance was set as P< 0.05. The athletes were able to maintain their baseline weight and physical performance throughout the experimental period, as shown by the lack of significant changes in BM, CMJ height, and upper- and lower-limb power output. Throughout a 4-day qualifying tournament, the BM and power-related performance of Olympic boxers were not affected either by match execution or by successive matches. As scoring actions are highly dependent on power capacity, it is likely that these combat athletes are able to maintain optimal levels of performance across consecutive matches.