Athletic Performance - Men vs. Women

Track and Field

Athletic Performance Records -
Men vs. Women Differences

The summary chart below compares the athletic performance of men vs. women, in selected 2004 Olympic track and field event records.

The difference is about 10% in speed events, and about 15% in strength events.
The shot put, discus, and javelin events cannot be compared, since there is a 50% weight difference between the male and female shot, discus, and javelin.

	Track Event	Men	Women	Performance Difference %

	SPEED - Endurance
	Foot Races	Seconds Men	Seconds Women	Difference %
1	100M	9.84	10.6	-8%
2	200M	19.32	21.3	-10%
3	400M	43.49	48.3	-11%
4	800M	103	113	-10%
5	1,500M	212	234	-10%
6	5,000M	786	881	-12%
7	10,000M	1625	1817	-12%
8	Marathon	7740	8580	-11%
9	100M Hurdles	-	12.4	Cannot compare
10	110M Hurdles	12.9	-	Cannot compare

	DISTANCE - Strength
	Leaping	Meters Men	Meters Women	Difference %

1	High Jump	2	2.1	14%
2	Long Jump	8.9	7.4	17%
3	Pole Vault	6	4.9	17%

	Different Standards - Cannot Compare
	Throwing	Men	Women
1	Shot Put	22	22.4	Cannot compare
		16 lbs.	11 lbs.	50% shot weight difference

2	Discus	69.89	72.3	Cannot compare
		1.5 kilo	1 kilo	50% discus weight difference

3	Javelin	90.17	71.5	Cannot compare
		810 grams	610 grams	25% javelin weight difference

	How far can a man throw a women's discus? Who knows? How far can a woman throw a men's discus? Who knows? etc., etc.

I have always wondered just what the athletic performance difference was between men and women.
So, I made this athletic Olympic records summary page to illustrate the differences.

Interesting, don't you think?
About 10% in speed events, and about 15% in strength events.

Since the distances for the shot put and discus are about equal,
one might argue that there exists a 50% strength difference,
since there is a 50% weight difference.

I found this similar page - Men vs. Women In Sports - check it out

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This Vaughns 1-Pagers Olympic Track and Field Records summary web page was updated on 2009-09-22.