A Fairer Way to Compare Weightlifters Across Weight Classes and Sexes – with Marianne Huebner

About this episode

Dr. Marianne Huebner discusses a new statistical model for comparing weightlifters across different weight classes and sexes.

🏋️‍♀️ Extended version of this interview: https://www.patreon.com/posts/comparing-and-157852639 🏋️‍♀️ How to compare who is a better weightlifter if the lifters are from different weight classes, sexes, or age groups? We could compare lifters of different body weights using Sinclairs, Robi points, or Q-points before, but never of different sexes. Now we can with GAMX points. Dr. Marianne Huebner has spent the last few years developing and testing statistical models that allow ranking across body weights, sexes, and, in some cases, ages. It is a huge deal as IWF promised to support the use of the method in ongoing and possible new formats of competitions. Marianne Huebner is Professor of Statistics and Probability, Adjunct Professor of Kinesiology, and Director of the Center of Statistical Training and Consulting (CSTAT) at Michigan State University. She is a Masters weightlifter competing for 10 years at national and international championships. GAMX points use generalized additive statistical models to jointly adjust for body weight, sex, and age, placing male and female performances on a common scale with a median of 1000 points. Web applications for athletes and coaches to…

People in this episode

Host: Evidence Strong

Guest: Marianne Huebner

Topics covered

• weightlifting
• statistical models
• performance comparison
• gender differences
• sports science

Keywords

• GAMX points
• weightlifting comparison
• Sinclairs
• Robi points
• Q-points
• statistical models
• IWF

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Michigan State University, IWF

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