Athletic Prime: Men vs. Women

US Olympic Team – Average Age by Year
Year   Men Women All
1896 Summer 23   23
1900 Summer 23   23
1904 Summer 25   25
1908 Summer 26   26
1912 Summer 26   26
1920 Summer 26 19 26
1924 Summer 25 21 24
1924 Winter      
1928 Summer 24 20 23
1928 Winter 22.2 21.356 22.17
1932 Summer 25 21 24
1932 Winter 27.08 21.241 25.24
1936 Summer 25 22 24
1936 Winter 26.11 23.345 25.28
1940 Summer 28   28
1940 Winter      
1948 Summer 26 22 26
1948 Winter 27.01 21.035 26.09
1952 Summer 25 22 25
1952 Winter 25.32 20.252 25.03
1956 Summer 26 20 25
1956 Winter 26.25 20.21 25.29
1960 Summer 25 21 24
1960 Winter 24.17 20.094 23.2
1964 Summer 25 21 24
1964 Winter 26.09 21.036 25.1
1968 Summer 25 21 24
1968 Winter 24.17 20.275 23.28
1972 Summer 25 22 24
1972 Winter 24.16 21.315 23.26
1976 Summer 25 22 24
1976 Winter 23.33 21.033 23.05
1980 Summer 25 22 24
1980 Winter 24.24 21.273 23.33
1984 Summer 26 25 25
1984 Winter 25.02 22.229 24.14
1988 Summer 26 25 26
1988 Winter 26.1 23.278 25.19
1992 Summer 26 26 26
1992 Winter 26.04 25.059 25.29
1994 Winter 24.3 24.323 24.31
1996 Summer 27 27 27
1998 Winter 26.07 24.312 25.23
2000 Summer 27 27 27
2002 Winter 27.32 25.19 26.31
2004 Summer 27 26 27
2006 Winter 27.28 24.224 26.16
2008 Summer     26.8
AVERAGE: 25.4 22.4 24.9

Wednesday has long been known by many Madisonians as “wing night,” however, I’ve gotten tired of this guy at brothers and Brats’ wings are simply ok.  This week I discovered my new favorite gluttonous Wednesday activity at Chasers (formerly Quint-ins): 50 cent tacos.  They also have $1 high lifes, which doesn’t hurt.  While enjoying 10 tacos for $5, I was complaining about my plans to tackle a half marathon in two weeks and how my laziness has really gotten in the way of my training.  My friend Sam suggested to me that as a male, I’m just about in my “athletic prime,” so I should be ok anyway.  The idea that I, as a college student who eats QDoba at least once a week, might be in my athletic prime seemed ridiculous to me, so I thought I would check it out…

US Olympic Team - Men vs. Women Average Age
US Olympic Team - Men vs. Women Average Age (Source)

If the US Olympic data is any indication, I won’t be in my athletic prime for another 1.1 years. I’m sure that in this time, my athletic prowess will turn around on its own, and I’ll be doing this in no time.  I did find the Men’s and Women’s trend lines interesting, however.  I’m sure that a similar graph for China would look very different because of their crazy gymnast ages, but in the US, it appears that male and female Olympians are converging to similar ages, despite the averages over time being about a three year difference.

By the way, sexual primes, although variable, are believed to be between 18-22 for men and 35-40 for women.  Interesting that this occurs three years before the athletic peak for men, but 13 years after the athletic peak for women.

This Post Has 4 Comments

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  2. Clark

    We boycotted the summer games in 1980 and women are not even suppose to reproduce after 35….

    1. Matthew

      I believe the 1980 data point considered our Olympians that would have attended if we attended that year. Although, I did compile these results from raw data that I found on the interweb, so the accuracy may be suspect.

      Glad to see you’re also studying for 620…

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