THE GENDER GAP: 100 M TO 42 KM

Abstract

Gender differences in running performance have attracted considerable interest in the last thirty years. Projections that, over time, women would run as fast or faster than men has fueled a controversy about the abilities of the sexes. The purpose of this study was to examine data from the 2000 Olympic Games to determine if there is evidence of convergence of men’s and women’s times over standard race distances from 100 m to 42 km. Gender differences were found to fall in a relatively small band over these distances. The mean difference over all events was 10.59% when only first place finishers were considered and 11.06% when the first seven finishers were used. Results of this study supports previous work that suggests gender differences have plateaued.