The determinants for top ranker of Korean Greco-Roman wrestlers

Background and objective: This study investigates the physical factors that determine the top ranker players based on the Greco-Roman wrestlers in the national athletic team of South Korea. Additionally, the study developed a prediction model using physical factors. For this analysis, the data of 163 players in the last 20 years (1999–2018) available on the Athletic Competition Performance Assessment Computer System were used. A top ranker was defined as an athlete who had won a medal in a world championship or the Olympic Games.Methods: The logit model was used as the model and the estimations were performed using maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) with E-views9.5 (Lightstone Corp., Tokyo, Japan). The estimation results demonstrated that the probability of becoming a top ranker increased with the following: increase in the length of the career compared to age, increase in the distance of standing long jumps, decrease in response time to light, and increase in bench press weight.Results: The analysis of the model's estimation results showed that superior results were produced when the standing long jumps, response time to light, and bench press weight were normalized using the weight class based on McFadden R2, Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), and Schwarz information criterion (SBIC) as compared to when they were normalized using the height and body weight. Conclusion: The estimation model established in this study for the significant physical strength factors shown in the South Korean top rankers is expected to be used as important data for predicting and fostering world-class South Korean Greco-Roman wrestlers.