, traveled, and showered with the best in the country, but wasn’t the best; I was pretty good. (p. 6) Whether it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to achieve excellence or not, many distinguished thinkers disapprove of the extraordinary dedication of athletes, as well as the pursuits they are
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Levi Heimans, Wouter R. Dijkshoorn, Marco J.M. Hoozemans, and Jos J. de Koning
value of drafting is explicitly addressed during a team pursuit in track cycling. In this Olympic discipline, 4 cyclists try to cover a distance of 4000 m together, as fast as possible. The team members benefit from each other by means of rotations of the first cyclist to the fourth position every 250 m
Yasuhiro Seya and Shuji Mori
We examined simple and choice reaction times (RTs) to a visual target that appears during smooth pursuit. Participants pursued a moving fixation stimulus accurately before a target stimulus was presented either above or below the fixation stimulus. In the simple RT task, the participants responded to the onset of the target as soon as possible. In the choice RT task, they indicated the target position, i.e., above or below the fixation stimulus, as soon and as accurately as possible. The results showed that, in both tasks, the RTs during smooth pursuit at 10°/s were longer than those during stationary fixation, and the RTs decreased as the fixation stimulus velocity further increased to 40°/s. Since pursuit gains (the ratio of eye velocity to fixation stimulus velocity) decreased as the fixation stimulus velocity increased, these results suggest that there is a tradeoff between pursuit accuracy and RT.
Samuel Sigrist, Thomas Maier, and Raphael Faiss
Track cycling team pursuit is an Olympic discipline held on velodromes. It is characterized by 4 cyclists completing 4000 m from a standing start as fast as possible. Repeated transitions (using the banks of the velodrome to keep momentum) allow riders to share time in the lead position (exposed to
Charles F. Pugh, C. Martyn Beaven, Richard A. Ferguson, Matthew W. Driller, Craig D. Palmer, and Carl D. Paton
The men’s team pursuit (TP) is a track cycling event in which 4 riders work together to complete 4 km in the fastest time possible. Team members rotate positions between leading the team and riding closely behind to share the work and permit recovery before their next lead effort. A TP team
Christoph von Lassberg, Karl Beykirch, Jennifer L. Campos, and Jürgen Krug
This study investigated long-term adaptations of smooth pursuit eye movement characteristics in high-level gymnasts and compared these responses to those of nonathletes. Gymnasts were selected because of their exceptional ability to spatially orient during fast, multiaxial whole body rotations. Participants were tested with standardized and supra-maximal sinusoidal smooth pursuit measurements. The results showed significantly higher gain values in top-level gymnasts, followed by young federal team gymnasts, followed by the nonathlete control group. By testing participants over the course of three years and also after periods of abstinence from training, changes to patterns of smooth pursuit over time are revealed. These results have interesting implications for understanding the characteristics of eye-movements in expert populations as well as understanding the general principles that underlie oculomotor adaptation.
Jason C. Bartram, Dominic Thewlis, David T. Martin, and Kevin I. Norton
specifically, the track cycling event of the team pursuit provides intermittent supramaximal competition suited to explore the depletion and recovery of W ′ to exhaustion. The event involves a group of 4 riders covering 4 km around a velodrome as quickly as possible. This outcome is achieved by riders taking
Robert Whitaker
By Mark L. Amour and Daniel R. Levitt. Published 2015 by University of Nebraska Press , Lincoln, NE. $32.40 . 504 pp. ISBN: 978-0-8032-3497-0 A good research project always begins with a good question. The main question of In Pursuit of Pennants could be stated as, “Why do some Major League
Maarten Vansteenkiste, Athanasios Mouratidis, Thomas van Riet, and Willy Lens
In the current study we aimed to examine the antecedents and outcomes associated with the variability in competitive volleyball players’ (N = 67; M age = 19.45; SD = 5.13) situational achievement goal pursuit and its underlying autonomous and controlling reasons. Players were followed during six consecutive games and data were analyzed through multilevel modeling. Players’ dominant contextual goal pursuit reported at the onset of the study related to their situational (i.e., game-specific) goal pursuit. Further, variation in game-to-game mastery-approach goal pursuit, as compared with the pursuit of other achievement goals, related to variation in prosocial behavior. Finally, autonomous reasons underlying situational mastery-approach goal pursuit related positively to games-specific prosocial behavior, enjoyment, and performance satisfaction. The discussion emphasizes the necessity to study players’ game-to-game motivational dynamics and the reasons underlying players’ achievement goal pursuit.
W. Lee Childers, Tim P. Gallagher, J. Chad Duncan, and Douglas K. Taylor
The individual pursuit is a 4-km cycling time trial performed on a velodrome. Parathletes with transtibial amputation (TTA) have lost physiological systems, but this may be offset by the reduced aerodynamic drag of the prosthesis. This research was performed to understand the effect of a unilateral TTA on Olympic 4-km pursuit performance. A forward-integration model of pursuit performance explored the interplay between power loss and aerodynamic gains in parathletes with TTA. The model is calibrated to a 4-km pursuit time of 4:10.5 (baseline), then adjusted to account for a TTA. Conditions simulated were based on typical pedal asymmetry in TTA (AMP), if foot stiffness were decreased (FLEX), if pedaling asymmetries were minimized (ASYM), if the prosthesis were aerodynamically optimized (AERO), if the prosthesis had a cosmetic cover (CC), and if all variables were optimized (OPT). A random Monte Carlo analysis was performed to understand model precision. Four-kilometer pursuit performances predicted by the model were 4:10.5, 4:20.4, 4:27.7, 4:09.2, 4:19.4, 4:27.9, and 4:08.2 for the baseline, AMP, FLEX, ASYM, AERO, CC, and OPT models, respectively. Model precision was ±3.7 s. While the modeled time decreased for ASYM and OPT modeled conditions, the time reduction fell within model precision and therefore was not significant. Practical application of these results suggests that parathletes with a TTA could improve performance by minimizing pedaling asymmetry and/or optimizing aerodynamic design, but, at best, they will have performance similar to that of intact cyclists. In conclusion, parathletes with TTA do not have a net advantage in the individual pursuit.
