Modeling the Differences between the Genders in Olympic Weightlifting Performance

Abstract

This article studies Weightlifting results from the 2000-2016 Olympic Games for both males and females to determine the differences between gender performance. The data showed that there are considerable differences in the competitive level between male and female lifters. This article compares the results of winners in a weight class with a given lifter in the weight class from year to year. This article shows that males in every competition studied had a lower mean percent difference from first than the same comparison for women. This article also compares the winner from each weight class to the weight class above them and observes the place that they would have received. Overall we see that for males, a winner in a weight class would be around 6th place in the weight class above them, while for females, a winner in a weight class would be around 4th in a weight class above them. We observe that as place increases, the difference between male and female results as well as the standard deviation between the results increases. We show that females are less competitive than males as the place that the lifter attained increases. There appears to be no association between weight class and mean percentage difference of the fifth place from first place for females. For males, there appears to be a decrease in the average percentage difference of the fifth place from first place as the weight class increases, meaning that the higher weight classes for males are more competitive than the lower weight classes.