General SummaryThirty girl swimmers, aged 12–16 years, representing the top swimmers in four different clubs, were investigated with special reference to respiratory and circulatory adaptation, and gynaecological and psychiatric aspects.Due to the difference between the clubs with respect to recruitment of swimmers for special training and to training conditions, the material was heterogeneous. It consisted of girls who held world records, but also girls who were in the beginning of their training.The evaluation of the physical and mental health and development, as well as of the social and family background, revealed special features in the material. Most of the girls came from families belonging to the upper social groups. Most of their parents had formerly been active athletes and were extremely interested in the girls' sports prowess, which they greatly stimulated and facilitated in various ways. The girls had an advanced growth expressed as an increased height in relation to age and a somewhat early menarch. They also had good or superior intelligence, and were extroverted and energetic. Both the history and medical examination showed that the series consisted of strikingly healthy girls.The gynaecological examination dis‐disclosed no signs of menstrual disturbances. In view of the presence of pathogenic oganisms in the vagina in 12 of 30 girls, the risk of infection in connexion with swimming during menstruation was pointed out.The physiological studies showed that the girl swimmers, taken as a group, had an advanced functional development. The functional dimensions measured, i. e., lung volumes, total amount of haemoglobin, blood volume and heart volume, as well as the functional capacity determined during maximal oxyge uptake, were significantly increased in relation to body size. There were, however, considerable individual variations; the largest deviation was noted for heart volume which, in some cases, was increased by 50–60 %. In two girls, the maximal oxygen uptake was higher than the highest value hitherto reported in bicycle ergometer tests in women.The functional development was related to the training volume. The possible influence of constitutional factors and intensive physical training during a phase of rapid growth was discussed.The physiological studies during swimming showed that swimming at competitive speed requires maximal, or nearly maximal involvement of both aerobic and anaerobic energy‐producing processes. This was also supported by the good correlation between the top results achieved in competitions, expressed in points according to an international scale, and the maximal oxygen uptake during the bicycle ergometer test.The investigation showed that these young girls' hard swimming training can be regarded as a biological experiment. Although it has hitherto exhibited no detrimental effects, it should be kept under careful control from the paediatric point of view. Moreover, the future development of the girls in the present series should be followed up. In addition, a retrospective study was made of post‐active female swimmers by means of a detailed questionnaire. The results gave no grounds for suspecting that the swimming training would have any future detrimental effects, either physical or mental, on the girls in the present series. On the other hand, the two groups are not fully comparable, because of the less intense training in former years.
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Jan 1, 1967
C Furberg 
