Sports performance is a multidimensional concept, which both coaches and scientists try to split in order to develop strategies that optimize the athlete's performance in competition. Traditionally, research has been directed at studying the behavior of physiological parameters. However, a multidisciplinary research is needed to explain the interactions between the factors that compose it. In the disciplines of resistance (case of the doctoral thesis) it is necessary to consider the performance as an holistic concept, which requires the integration of the physiological and psychological aspects for its understanding. Thus, the objective of this thesis is, first, to identify the psychophysiological factors associated with sports performance. Second, to explore practical applications for evaluation and improvement.
The first study aims to analyze the influence of RAE on national triathlon selection process (n = 1321) during the seasons 2013-2015. The results show higher performance among older female triathletes only in 100 m and 1000 m swimming timekeeping. These data agree with other findings in endurance (Costa et al., 2013), that observes how the athletes born in the last quartile of the year show a poor performance (Müller et al., 2015). This work has shown the importance of considering chronological age as part of the multifactorial performance concept, in addition to suggesting its consideration in selection procedures in sport.
