V.V. Kaello, associate professor, Ph.D.
I.V. Bobrov
National Mineral Resources University “Mining”, St.Petersburg
R.N. Apoyko, professor, Ph.D.
B.I. Tarakanov, professor, Dr.Hab.
Lesgaft national university of physical culture, sport and health, St. Petersburg

Key words: Greco-Roman wrestling, elite wrestler, sports technical indices, dynamics, competitive activity, rules, regulations, Olympic games, quality of victory, effectiveness, interval of attack, analysis.

In September 2013 all wrestling fans and experts of the world finally breathed a sigh of relief: justice prevailed and the main types of wrestling (Greco-Roman, freestyle and female) will be kept in the program of Olympic Games. The clear bias and the absurdity of some previous decisions made by the functionaries of the IOC regarding the exclusion of wrestling from the list of mandatory Olympic sports provoked such a wave of indignation that the leaders of the Olympic movement had to cancel this decision and put wrestling back in the program of future Olympic Games.

It should be emphasized that this situation has forced officials from FILA to take targeted action to improve the image of wrestling in the international Olympic movement. First of all, great changes occurred in FILA’s governing structures. Nenad Lalovic became the president of this organization, having replaced Rafael Martinetti, whose actions were questionable. However, famous wrestler Alexander Karelin was elected to become a part of the FILA Bureau, which greatly strengthened the position of Russia in solving the fundamental issues of wrestling and its further development. Thus, the reformed administration of FILA immediately changed competition rules and fight regulations in a significant way by setting the duration of the bout to 6 minutes (2 3-minute periods with a 30-second break) with the total sum of points for performed technical actions being calculated by the results of the whole match and not by each period separately. Moreover, the mandatory taking one of wrestlers down on the ground in the absence of effective bout in standing position was abolished in Greco-Roman wrestling.

The purpose of the study was to analyze the effect from changes of the competition rules in Greco-Roman wrestling on the dynamics of sports technical indicators of competitive activity of elite wrestlers.

Materials and methods. Comprehensive information was collected and processed by analyzing and generalizing video records and result lists of the major competitions in Greco-Roman wrestling to define the dynamics of sports technical indices of performance of high-class wrestlers influenced by the competition rules. The results of wrestlers’ performance at the European Championship 2011, the World Championship 2011, the World Cup 2011 and the Olympic Games 2012 in London undergone such analysis. These data were compared to similar information obtained from the analysis of wrestling fights at the Championship of Russia 2013, that is, after fundamental rule changes, which had been applicable in the previous Olympic cycle. Moreover, earlier results of calculation of the values of sports and technical parameters of wrestlers’ competitive activities at the World Championship 2002 were taken into account (according to V.A. Nelyubin, 2005).

Results and discussion. Our analysis of the content of Table 1 showed that the values of sports and technical parameters are subject to considerable dynamics depending on competition rules. Primarily, this has to do with the ratios of the quality of victories. Thus, in the beginning of the century the least spectacular victories in respect to points clearly dominated, and in the last pre-Olympic cycle their number increased even further, reaching from to 91,1% to 100% (93,9% on average). However, being influenced by the recent rule changes, the number of such victories dropped sharply down to 52,1%. Even more noticeable, though positive changes happened to the number of more spectacular and effective victories in respect to technical superiority and touché. Thus, at the World Cup 2002 there were 8,6% of victories in technical superiority while in 2011-2012 this number ranged from 0% to 3,6% (2,4% on average). However, being influenced by recent rule changes in 2013 it considerably increased up to 29,9%. Similar dynamics were revealed with regards to the victories by touché: in the beginning of the century it was 5,7%, in the last pre-Olympic period it decreased ranging from 0% to 5,3% (1,7% on average), and after rule changes it increased dramatically up to 9,9%. The compilation of these data definitely indicates the clearly negative period of Greco-Roman wrestling development which lasted until the Olympics 2012, as well as a very high positive impact of recent rule changes on the quantity and quality of the technical actions performed by wrestlers, which ultimately determined the staginess of fights.

Table 1.  Dynamics of sports and technical parameters of Greco-Roman wrestlers’ competitive activity

It is quite good that the positive effect of the recent rule changes has also affected the quality parameters of wrestlers’ competitive activity. This is evidenced by the dynamics of efficiency indices of wrestlers’ technical actions. Thus, at the World Championship 2002 they amounted to 1,53 ±0,07 points, and in 2011-2012 they sharply fell down, ranging from 1,34 ± 0,04 to 1,48 ± 0,05 points (on average 1,41 points). However, in 2013 these indices increased significantly up to 1,57 ± 0,06 points. The increment of the analyzed indices reached reliable values in comparison with those recorded at the Olympics 2012.

However, the activity of wrestlers’ effective actions, determined by the indices of the effective attack interval, was also subject to noticeable dynamics depending on the phase of the analyzed period. In the beginning of the century the figures were 85 ± 11,0 s, but then they tended to change for the worse, ranging from 82 ± 10,7 to 94 ± 12,6 s (88 s on average). The indices of the effective attack interval has significantly improved influenced by the recent rule changes in 2013 and amounted to 76 ± 9,2 s which testified to the increase of wrestlers’ activity and effectiveness of their actions and therefore indicates better staginess of fights.

Conclusion. The recent changes in the rules that had been introduced in 2013 greatly improved the quality ratio of wins, with much more spectacular wins in technical superiority and by fall and less wins in points. The indices of the average number of technical actions, points won in a match and the effective attack interval increased substantially and in most cases significantly. Hence, the entire block of competition rules approved by FILA in 2013 was accompanied by the significant positive effect in the essence of wrestlers' competitive activity and enhanced the image of sports wrestling as a full value participant of the modern Olympic movement.

References

1. Avdeev, Yu.V. Control of technical and tactical training of high-class freestyle wrestlers due to changes in the structure of competitive activity: abstract of Ph.D. thesis / Yu.V. Avdeev; Lesgaft SPBSUPhC. – St.Petersburg, 2006. – 24 P. (In Russian)
2. Goranov, B. Effectiveness of technical and tactical actions of modern high class Greco-Roman wrestlers / B. Goranov, R.N. Apoyko, N.Yu. Nerobeev, B.I. Tarakanov // Uchenye zapiski universiteta im. P.F. Lesgafta. – 2011. – № 4(74). – P. 35-39. (In Russian)
3. Nelyubin,V.A. The specifics of competitive performance of elite Greco-Roman wrestlers in connection with changes in the conditions of its implementation: abstract of Ph.D. thesis / V.A. Nelyubin; Lesgaft SPBSUPhC. – St.Petersburg, 2005. – 23 P. (In Russian)
4. Nerobeev, N.Yu. Differences between sport and technical indicators of competitive performance of junior freestyle wrestlers depending on sex / N.Yu. Nerobeev, B.I. Tarakanov // Uchenye zapiski universiteta im. P.F. Lesgafta. – St.Petersburg, 2011. – № 1(71). – P. 68-72. (In Russian)

Corresponding author: Panfilio@spmi.ru