Study of older athletes at the World Championships in Málaga – successful athletes show an overwhelming response to the MAFS study

The first few days of the MAFS study of ageing athletes at the World Championships in Málaga are over, and the team remains amazed by the overwhelming response. Some subjects have already scheduled tests for the second week, as the examination appointments at the stadium are almost completely booked for the first six days of the world championships and the athletes need to compete in their events as well. In the early hours the team is already assembled at the venue to set up the measurement stations, start up the equipment and drink a welcome cup of coffee before the first highly motivated and extremely athletic subjects start knocking on the door to complete the tests. Breakfast is also prepared for athletes who are scheduled for the resting metabolism test, which requires them to arrive with an empty stomach.

Despite the rapid pace of examinations at the individual stations and the rising temperature in the study room over the course of the day, the researchers need to remain extremely focused to make certain they collect the data as precisely as possible. All of the examinations are conducted in the same room, with just thin partition walls between the individual stations, so the scientists and subjects do their best to avoid disturbing the other examinations. That is not always easy, as the sports scientist Edwin Mulder spends his time cheering enthusiastically for the subjects completing the jumping test, to motivate them to leap as high as possible.

The athletes remain faithful to the principle of ambitious performance, not just in their various competitions, but during the study examinations as well. All of them are highly motivated and determined to score well in each of the tests. An additional source of motivation is that they benefit personally from the study by receiving the results of the performance examinations from lead investigator Jörn Rittweger or Edwin Mulder, which they can then incorporate into their training. Their sporting achievements are quite impressive and provoke appreciative astonishment among the young, rather athletic, researchers. For example, Brazilian Yoshiyuki Shimizu won the final of the 100-metre race for the age group 90-94 in a time of 18.46 seconds. The men’s 100-metre sprint in the age group 70-74 went to the American athlete Charles Allie, who recorded a time of 13.22 seconds – a performance that most of the study team could not come close to, even on their best days. The women also put many of the younger sporting aces on the MAFS team to shame – the South African Aletta Ungerer took the ladies title at 100 metres in the age group 70-74 in a time of 16.59 seconds.