| 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…
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.
Of course, what a great site and informative posts, I will add backlink – bookmark this site? Regards, Reader.
We boycotted the summer games in 1980 and women are not even suppose to reproduce after 35….
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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