The aim of this study was to examine Icelandic elite athletes’ experiences in regard to the Olympic Games (OG)-2012. More specifically the focus was on the OG as a career transition process covering several phases in the Olympic cycle, having the Games as its culmination and followed by a career change. The athletic career transition model, the holistic lifespan perspective and temporal structure of the Olympic cycle guided retrospective interviews with six Icelandic athletes who (some years ago) were candidates to take part in the OG-2012. Among the six participants three were successful in the OG-2012, one was less successful and two participants prepared but were not qualified for the OG. Holistic-content and categorical-content analyses resulted in: (a) six core narratives describing and interpreting each athlete’s individual pathway through preliminary/basic preparation, selection process, Olympic season, the Games, and post-Games periods, and (b) sixteen themes following athletes’ major foci in each transition phase (e.g., “gaining international experience” and “getting financial support” in the preliminary/basic preparation, etc.) and also the transition resources perceived by athletes as necessary during the whole Olympic cycle (“prioritizing sports while balancing sport with work/school”, “organizational support” and “family support”).  Results are discussed in relation to the theoretical frameworks, previous research, and Icelandic context.

Title: Parameters of high performance swimmers training specialized in breaststroke swimming style. Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to determine the training load and performance development at leading Czech swimmer, winner of Czech records. Method: Reference period became a four-year olympic cycle before the Olympic Games in London in 2012. Data collection was implemented mainly through the study of documents - coach training diaries and race analysis. Computer processing of the data is performed through descriptive statistics, tabulations and graphic display and degree of dependence. Results: The investigation showed that the training load displacement characteristics observed in many parameters swimmer makes a lower value. Causal could be frequent medical complications. Yet training allowed the swimmer to complete quality training with little performance progression in their major disciplines 50 m and 100 m breaststroke and to start at world competitions. Key words; sports swimming, olympic cycle, training load, breaststroke swimming style.

The aim of the current work was to analyze the structure of training in the four – year Olympic cycle (2001 – 2004), the achieved results and to assess the dynamics of sportsmen`s physical and functional abilities over the period. The dynamics of the physical and functional abilities over the annual cycle of training was analyzed on an example of A.Z. and E.K., the most efficient Lithuanian modern pentathlonists. We analyzed physical load in 2001 – 2004 and the results achieved in the same year, the dynamics of physical development, such as body mass, muscle and fat mass, lung volume, muscular power in different zones of energy production. The efficiency on anaerobic alactic energy production mechanisms was determined by measuring single muscle contraction power (SMCP) and anaerobic alactic muscular power (AAMP). The functional capacity of the circulatory and respiratory systems was assessed by the Roufier index (RI). By fixing the speed on a running-track, pulse rate and lactate concentration in blood we determined the intensity of bioenergetic processes at the anaerobic metabolism threshold limit. Also, aerobic capacity at the critical intensity limit and anaerobic metabolism threshold limit were determined. The physical development indices of these sportsmen changed little over the annual cycle of training. In both sportsmen, muscular power under short work remained stable at the level years and showed little change throughout the competition period up to its culmination... [to full text]