Please cite this article in press as: Werneck FZ, et al. Relative age effect in Olympic basketball athletes. Sci sports (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scispo.2015.08.004 ARTICLE IN PRESS +Model SCISPO-2966; No. of Pages 4 Science & Sports (2016) xxx, xxx—xxx Disponible en ligne sur ScienceDirect www.sciencedirect.com ORIGINAL ARTICLE Relative age effect in Olympic basketball athletes Effet de l’âge relatif chez des joueurs de basket-ball de niveau olympique F.Z. Werneck a,∗ , E.F. Coelho a , H.Z. de Oliveira b , D.B. Ribeiro Júnior b , S.P. Almas b , J.R.P. de Lima b , M.O. Matta b , A.J. Figueiredo c a Sports Centre, Federal University of Ouro Preto, rua Dois, 110, Morro do Cruzeiro, Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil b Faculty of Physical Education, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil c Faculty of Physical Education, Federal University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal Received 18 August 2013; accepted 24 August 2015 KEYWORDS Relative age; Athletes; Basketball Summary Objective. — To investigate the relative age effect (RAE) in Olympic basketball athletes, related to sex, continent and country. Methods. — The sample was composed of 300 athletes who have competed in the London 2012 Olympic Games. Athletes’ date of birth was split into quartiles (trimester of born). For data analysis, Chi 2 test was used with the level of significance set at 5%. Results. — The RAE was not observed by the analysis for sex and continent. However, the RAE was found in French athletes ( 2 = 11.333; P = 0.01), with more athletes born on the second quartile. We can conclude that the RAE is not present in Olympic basketball athletes, except on those French ones. © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. MOTS CLÉS Âge relatif ; Athlètes ; Basket-ball Résumé Objectif. — Étudier l’effet d’âge relatif chez les joueurs de basket-ball olympique en fonction du sexe, du continent, et du pays. Méthodes. — L’échantillon était composé de 300 athlètes qui ont participé aux Jeux Olympiques de Londres 2012. Les dates de naissance des athlètes ont été divisées en quartiles (quart ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: fzacaron@oi.com.br (F.Z. Werneck). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scispo.2015.08.004 0765-1597/© 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.