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Sex is a major factor influencing best performances and world records. Here the evolution of the difference between men and women's best performances is characterized through the analysis of 82 quantifiable events since the beginning of the Olympic era. For each event in swimming, athletics, track cycling, weightlifting and speed skating the gender gap is fitted to compare male and female records. It is also studied through the best performance of the top 10 performers in each gender for swimming and athletics. A stabilization of the gender gap in world records is observed after 1983, at a mean difference of 10.0% ± 2.94 between men and women for all events. The gender gap ranges from 5.5% (800-m freestyle, swimming) to 18.8% (long jump). The mean gap is 10.7% for running performances, 17.5% for jumps, 8.9% for swimming races, 7.0% for speed skating and 8.7% in cycling. The top ten performers' analysis reveals a similar gender gap trend with a stabilization in 1982 at 11.7%, despite the large growth in participation of women from eastern and western countries, that coincided with later- published evidence of state-institutionalized or individual doping. These results suggest that women will not run, jump, swim or ride as fast as men. Key pointsSex is a major factor influencing best performances and world records.A stabilization of the gender gap in world records is observed after 1983, at a mean difference of 10.0% ± 2.94 between men and women for all events.The gender gap ranges from 5.5% (800-m freestyle, swimming) to 36.8% (weight lifting).The top ten performers' analysis reveals a similar gender gap trend with a stabilization in 1982 at 11.7%.Results suggest that women will not run, jump, swim or ride as fast as men.

Background The International Physical Actvity Questionnaire (IPAQ) is a validated tool for physical activity assessment used in many countries however no Arabic version of the long-form of this questionnaire exists to this date. Hence, the aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt and validate an Arabic version of the long International Physical Activity Questionnaire (AIPAQ) equivalent to the French version (F-IPAQ) in a Lebanese population. Methods The guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation provided by the World Health Organization and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire committee were followed. One hundred fifty-nine students and staff members from Saint Joseph University of Beirut were randomly recruited to participate in the study. Items of the A-IPAQ were compared to those from the F-IPAQ for concurrent validity using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Content validity of the questionnaire was assessed using factor analysis for the A-IPAQ’s items. The physical activity indicators derived from the A-IPAQ were compared with the body mass index (BMI) of the participants for construct validity. The instrument was also evaluated for internal consistency reliability using Cronbach’s alpha and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Finally, thirty-one participants were asked to complete the A-IPAQ on two occasions three weeks apart to examine its test–retest reliability. Bland-Altman analyses were performed to evaluate the extent of agreement between the two versions of the questionnaire and its repeated administrations. Results A high correlation was observed between answers of the F-IPAQ and those of the A-IPAQ, with Spearman’s correlation coefficients ranging from 0.91 to 1.00 ( p  < 0.05). Bland-Altman analysis showed a high level of agreement between the two versions with all values scattered around the mean for total physical activity (mean difference = 5.3 min/week, 95% limits of agreement = −145.2 to 155.8). Negative correlations were observed between MET values and BMI, independent of age, gender or university campus. The A-IPAQ showed a high internal consistency reliability with Cronbach’s alpha ranging from 0.769–1.00 ( p  < 0.001) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) ranging from 0.625–0.999 ( p  < 0.001), except for a moderate agreement with the moderate garden/yard activity (alpha = 0.682; ICC = 0.518; p  < 0.001). The A-IPAQ had moderate-to-good test-retest reliability for most of its items (ICC ranging from 0.66–0.96; p  < 0.001) and the Bland-Altman analysis showed a satisfactory agreement between the two administrations of the A-IPAQ for total physical activity (mean difference = 99.8 min/week, 95% limits of agreement = −1105.3; 1304.9) and total vigorous and moderate physical activity (mean difference = −29.7 min/week, 95% limits of agreement = −777.6; 718.2). Conclusion The modified Arabic version of the IPAQ showed acceptable validity and reliability for the assessment of physical activity among Lebanese adults. More studies are necessary in the future to assess its validity compared to a gold-standard criterion measure.

The growth law for the development of top athletes performances remains unknown in quantifiable sport events. Here we present a growth model for 41351 best performers from 70 track and field (T&F) and swimming events and detail their characteristics over the modern Olympic era. We show that 64% of T&F events no longer improved since 1993, while 47% of swimming events stagnated after 1990, prior to a second progression step starting in 2000. Since then, 100% of swimming events continued to progress.We also provide a measurement of the atypicity for the 3919 best performances (BP) of each year in every event. The secular evolution of this parameter for T&F reveals four peaks; the most recent (1988) followed by a major stagnation. This last peak may correspond to the most recent successful attempt to push forward human physiological limits. No atypicity trend is detected in swimming. The upcoming rarefaction of new records in sport may be delayed by technological innovations, themselves depending upon economical constraints.

Few epidemiological studies have focused on the psychological health of high level athletes. This study aimed to identify the principal psychological problems encountered within French high level athletes, and the variations in their prevalence based on sex and the sport practiced. Multivariate analyses were conducted on nationwide data obtained from the athletes' yearly psychological evaluations. A representative sample of 13% of the French athlete population was obtained. 17% of athletes have at least one ongoing or recent disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) being the most prevalent (6%), followed by non-specific eating disorders (4.2%). Overall, 20.2% of women had at least one psychopathology, against 15.1% in men. This female predominance applied to anxiety and eating disorders, depression, sleep problems and self-harming behaviors. The highest rates of GAD appeared in aesthetic sports (16.7% vs. 6.8% in other sports for men and 38.9% vs. 10.3% for women); the lowest prevalence was found in high risk sports athletes (3.0% vs. 3.5%). Eating disorders are most common among women in racing sports (14% vs. 9%), but for men were found mostly in combat sports (7% vs. 4.8%). This study highlights important differences in psychopathology between male and female athletes, demonstrating that the many sex-based differences reported in the general population apply to elite athletes. While the prevalence of psychological problems is no higher than in the general population, the variations in psychopathology in different sports suggest that specific constraints could influence the development of some disorders.

The objectives of this study were to describe the distribution of all runners' performances in the largest marathons worldwide and to determine which environmental parameters have the maximal impact. We analysed the results of six European (Paris, London, Berlin) and American (Boston, Chicago, New York) marathon races from 2001 to 2010 through 1,791,972 participants' performances (all finishers per year and race). Four environmental factors were gathered for each of the 60 races: temperature (°C), humidity (%), dew point (°C), and the atmospheric pressure at sea level (hPA); as well as the concentrations of four atmospheric pollutants: NO(2)-SO(2)-O(3) and PM(10) (μg x m(-3)). All performances per year and race are normally distributed with distribution parameters (mean and standard deviation) that differ according to environmental factors. Air temperature and performance are significantly correlated through a quadratic model. The optimal temperatures for maximal mean speed of all runners vary depending on the performance level. When temperature increases above these optima, running speed decreases and withdrawal rates increase. Ozone also impacts performance but its effect might be linked to temperature. The other environmental parameters do not have any significant impact. The large amount of data analyzed and the model developed in this study highlight the major influence of air temperature above all other climatic parameter on human running capacity and adaptation to race conditions.

Physical activity level during pregnancy is unknown in Middle Eastern and North African countries, since no valid tools assessing it exist in Arabic. The aim of this study is to culturally adapt and translate to Arabic an internationally validated instrument, the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ), and to measure the physical activity of pregnant women using the adapted PPAQ, Arabic version. This tool is time-sparing, self-administered and is the only one taking into account childcare and household chores. After following the guidelines for translation and back-translation by certified translators, a committee composed of professionals in the field reviewed each item of the PPAQ, for its comprehensibility. This Arabic version of the PPAQ was tested on a sample of 179 pregnant Lebanese women, from different educational backgrounds, socioeconomic status and gestational ages. Cross-cultural adaptations were applied on the newly translated PPAQ in Arabic version, thus questions referring to some types of outdoor activities were excluded from the final format. Our results reported that 51% and 1.7% of women engage respectively in light and high intensity physical activity, while 18% had a sedentary lifestyle. Occupational type of activities were significantly more performed by women having a higher education (p value 0.001), as opposed to those who attended only high school, who were physically more active in household activities (p value 0.038). Second trimester was a period where pregnant women were active for household, caregiving (p value 0.031), whereas women in their third trimester were physically more active in occupational activities (p value 0.001). Sport-oriented activities were performed by women reporting a good physical status (p value 0.03). Age and crowding index were significantly correlated with occupational, household and caregiving activities (p values 0.004, 0.008 respectively). No significant correlations were observed with pre-gestational body mass index and the physical activity levels. A valid tool will help researchers in Arab countries identify physical activity levels of pregnant women and consequently emit specific guidelines relative to the importance and the benefits of a daily active lifestyle throughout gestation.

Background: Although effective against COVID-19, national lockdowns have several deleterious behavioral and health effects, including physical inactivity. The objective of this study is to assess physical activity (PA) levels during lockdown and the predictors of PA among Lebanese adults, while comparing classical statistics to machine learning models. Methods: Data were collected using an online questionnaire, with PA being evaluated through the “International Physical Activity Questionnaire” (IPAQ)—long form. Machine learning models were applied to predict total PA ≥ 600 MET·min/week. Results: Among 795 participants, while 67.5% auto-declared a decrease in PA level during lockdown, 36.2% did not meet the minimum recommendations for PA. Multivariate analysis showed that participants who went to their workplace during lockdown had significantly higher total and job-related PA, higher walking and moderate PA, and lower sitting time. PA level and intensity increased with age, while sitting time decreased. Participants who practiced a combination of both outdoor and at-home workouts had higher total, housework and leisure-related PA, and higher moderate and vigorous-intensity PA. Machine learning models confirmed these findings as well as the importance of outdoor activity for total PA levels, with Random Forest being the highest-performing model. Conclusions: Bringing to light the levels of physical inactivity and sedentary behavior, this study highlighted the importance of outdoor activity in contributing to PA.

A previous analysis of World Records (WR) has revealed the potential limits of human physiology through athletes' personal commitment. The impact of political factors on sports has only been studied through Olympic medals and results. Here we studied 2876 WR from 63 nations in four summer disciplines. We propose three new indicators and show the impact of historical, geographical and economical factors on the regional WR evolution. The south-eastward path of weighted annual barycenter (i.e. the average of country coordinates weighting by the WR number) shows the emergence of East Africa and China in WR archives. Home WR ratio decreased from 79.9% before the second World War to 23.3% in 2008, underlining sports globalization. Annual Cumulative Proportions (ACP, i.e. the cumulative sum of the WR annual rate) highlight the regional rates of progression. For all regions, the mean slope of ACP during the Olympic era is 0.0101, with a maximum between 1950 and 1989 (0.0156). For European countries, this indicator reflects major historical events (slowdown for western countries after 1945, slowdown for eastern countries after 1990). Mean North-American ACP slope is 0.0029 over the century with an acceleration between 1950 and 1989 at 0.0046. Russia takes off in 1935 and slows down in 1988 (0.0038). For Eastern Europe, maximal progression is seen between 1970 and 1989 (0.0045). China starts in 1979 with a maximum between 1990 and 2008 (0.0021), while other regions have largely declined (mean ACP slope for all other countries = 0.0011). A similar trend is observed for the evolution of the 10 best performers. The national analysis of WR reveals a precise and quantifiable link between the sport performances of a country, its historical or geopolitical context, and its steps of development.

World records (WR) in sports illustrate the ultimate expression of human integrated muscle biology, through speed or strength performances. Analysis and prediction of man's physiological boundaries in sports and impact of external (historical or environmental) conditions on WR occurrence are subject to scientific controversy. Based on the analysis of 3263 WR established for all quantifiable official contests since the first Olympic Games, we show here that WR progression rate follows a piecewise exponential decaying pattern with very high accuracy (mean adjusted r(2) values = 0.91+/-0.08 (s.d.)). Starting at 75% of their estimated asymptotic values in 1896, WR have now reached 99%, and, present conditions prevailing, half of all WR will not be improved by more than 0,05% in 2027. Our model, which may be used to compare future athletic performances or assess the impact of international antidoping policies, forecasts that human species' physiological frontiers will be reached in one generation. This will have an impact on the future conditions of athlete training and on the organization of competitions. It may also alter the Olympic motto and spirit.

Nutrition is a basic need for athletes; thus, adequate dietary intake is crucial for maintaining overall health, facilitating training adaptations and boosting athletic performance. Accurate dietary assessment tools are required to minimize the challenges faced by athletes. This study verifies the validity and reproducibility of a 157 item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) among Lebanese athletes. This is the only Arabic questionnaire in Lebanon that estimates food consumption for athletes which can also be used in Arabic speaking countries. There has been no previous validated food frequency questionnaire that estimated food consumption for athletes in Lebanon. A total of 194 athletes were included in the study to assess the validity of the food frequency questionnaire against four days dietary recalls by comparing the total nutrient intake values from the food frequency questionnaire with the mean values of four 24-hour dietary recalls using Spearman correlation coefficient and Bland Altman plots. In order to measure the reproducibility, the intra class correlation coefficients were calculated by repeating the same food frequency questionnaire after one month. The intra-class correlation coefficient between the two-food frequency questionnaires ranged from average (0.739 for carbohydrates) to good (0.870 for energy (Kcal)), to excellent (0.919 for proteins) concerning macronutrients and ranged from average (0.688 for vitamin D), to excellent (0.952 for vitamin B12), indicating an acceptable reproducibility. Spearman's correlation coefficients of dietary intake estimate from the food frequency questionnaire and the four dietary recalls varied between 0.304 for sodium, 0.469 for magnesium to 0.953 for caloric intake (kcal). Bland-Altman plots illustrated a percentage of agreement ranging between 94.3% for fats to 96.4% for proteins. This food frequency questionnaire has a reliable validity and reproducibility to evaluate dietary assessments and is an appropriate tool for future interventions to ensure the adoption of adequate eating strategies by athletes.