Altitude and Maximum Performance in Work and Sports Activity

Abstract

To what extent elevations of around 7,000 feet affect sports performance has been a topic for speculation and inquiry. Predictions based on experimental experiences at altitudes above 10,000 feet were closely verified in recent studies. Performance capabilities in events requiring relatively short bursts of energy expenditure were unaltered. Oxygen debt capacity was not affected; however, duration of recovery was expanded. Maximum physical efforts of about one minute or more showed manifest reductions of "normal" performance levels in running, swimming, and on the bicycle ergometer. Ten days of continued training improved but did not completely normalize performances. The decision to hold the Olympic Games of 1968 in Mexico City, a city with an elevation of around 2,250 meters (nearly one-half mile higher than Denver) has created a public interest in effects of higher altitudes on physical performance capabilities. Mountaineers, skiers, hunters, lumberjacks, and miners had been confronted with this problem for