PHYSICAL EDUCATION - SPORT - HEALTH Vol 26 • p.p. 50-64 • 2011 Detecting the arm swing techniques of the male and female triple jumpers competed in the 2004 athens summer olympic games Belagiannis, N., Laios, M., Panoutsakopoulos, V. & Papaiakovou, G. Depόrtment of Physiώόl Eduώόtion όnd Sports Sώienώe, Aristotle University Thessόloniki, Greeώe. Abstract The maintenance or the transition of the arm swing technique from the hop to the step and from the step to the jump during the same triple jump effort consist an assessment criterion for the evaluation of the triple jump technique. The purpose of the present study was to present the arm swing techniques observed in elite male and female triple jumpers. Thirty-nine (n= 39) male and twenty-nine (n= 29) female athletes who competed in the qualification round and the final of the triple jump event in the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games served as sample. From the official television cover- age of the events, the best attempt, with respect to official jumping distance, was selected for analysis. The jumpers were distinguished into the single-arm (harmonic opposing arm move- ment,) and double-arm (simultaneous arm action) groups, depending upon the arm swing technique used. The classification was conducted after viewing the selected video achieves field by field using the V1 Home 2.0 software (Interactive Frontiers Inc). Statistical analysis was conducted using the SPSS 10.0.1 software (SPSS, Chicago, Il) and included independent samples t-tests and analysis of variance, with the level of confidence set at p < .05. Results revealed that the absence of statistical significant differences (p > .05) in the official jumping distance as an effect of the different arm swing techniques used. Almost all (93.1%) female jumpers used the single-arm technique in all three take-offs. On the opposite, as the jump was unfolding, a progressive increase of the usage of the double-arm technique was used for the male jumpers, since simultaneous arm swing was observed in 43.6% of the take-offs for the hop, 53.9% for the step and 64.1% for the jump. During the take-off for the hop, the variation of the single-arm technique identified as circular single-arm technique was used from 7 male (17.9%) and 15 female (51.7%) jumpers. The use of the circular single-arm technique did not have a statistical significant effect (p > .05) on the official jumping distance. In conclusion, the larger percentage (46.1%) of the male jumpers adopted the double-arm technique for every separate take-off, while female jumpers preferred almost exclusively (93.1%) the single-arm technique, confirming previous observations in elite level triple jump competitions. key-words: single-arm technique, double-arm technique, harmonic opposing arm move- ment, simultaneous arm action, track and field, biomechanical assessment. Διεύθυνση Αλληλογραφίας Γεώργιος Παπαϊακώβου Φιλίππου 2 Τ.Κ. 55236, Πανόραμα Θεσσαλονίκη Τηλ.: +30 2310 992246, +30 2310 342848 Fax: +30 23 10 99 22 46 e-mail:gpapaiak@phed.auth.gr Address of Correspondence Georgios Papaiakovou 2 Filipou str. 55236 Panorama Thessaloniki, Greece Tel. +30 2310 992246, +30 2310 342848 Fax: +30 23 10 99 22 46 e-mail:gpapaiak@phed.auth.gr