PhD, Associate Professor I.N. Nikulin¹
Dr. Hab., Professor F.I. Sobyanin¹
PhD, Associate Professor A.V. Posokhov¹
V.A. Maksimenko^1
1Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod

Keywords: arm wrestling, international competitions, team standings, medal standings, World Arm Wrestling Championships.

Background. Competitive performance rates may be viewed as the integral competitive progress measures applicable for the progress profiling purposes [1]. Since arm wrestling was listed with the 2024 Paralympic Games disciplines as a demonstrative sport, it may be beneficial to have analyzed the progress of this sport discipline in Russia for the last few years. Competitive progress of the Russia national arm wrestling team in the international tournaments may be indicative of the general progress of elite sports in the country [2, 3]. We analyzed the competitive performance at the annual World Arm Wrestling Championships since these events are ranked on top of the arm wrestling tournaments. It should be noted that in spite of the fact that the competitive successes in the modern arm wrestling are individual, a high priority is given to the national team standings calculated by the top-six national individual competitive scores by the weight classes being summarized [4].
Objective of the study was to profile and analyse the competitive performances of the Russia naitonal team and the other world leaders in the 2014-18 World Arm Wrestling Championships.
Methods and structure of the study. Competitive performances of the Russia naitonal team and the other world leaders in the 2014-18 World Arm Wrestling Championships were analyzed using the data reported by the official websites of the World and Russian Arm Wrestling Federations (WАF and RAF), with a special priority given to the medal standings.
Results and discussion. The World Arm Wrestling Championships prior to 2019 included 18 individual events with the team standings computed for the 7 women’s and 11 men’s right- and left-hand events [4]. Since 2019, added to the women’s events were the 90kg weight class events. In our analysis we classified the competitive performance data by the right- and left-hand event classes. Given in Table 1 are the 2014-18 World Arm Wrestling Championship medal standings of the top-six world arm wrestling nations.

Table 1. 2014-18 World Arm Wrestling Championships medal standings of the top-six world arm wrestling nations, men’s/ women’s and right-/ left-hand event totals

Note: G – gold; S – silver; B- bronze 

The medal standings for the period are leaded by Russia, followed (45 points or 30% lower) by Kazakhstan and Georgia. Going fourth and sixth are Bulgaria, Ukraine and Turkey. Sweden holds the seventh place with its 28 medals, followed by Brazil and Slovakia with 22 medals and Armenia with 15 medals. On the whole Russia won 46 gold medals for the five years followed by Kazakhstan with its 34 medals (26% lower).
The 2014 to 2018 progress in the medal standings was estimated at minus 10% for Russia, plus 33.4% for Kazakhstan, plus 36.4% for Georgia; minus 56.25% for Ukraine; plus 9% for Bulgaria; and plus 14.3% for Turkey. Georgia was the best in the 2015 to 2016 progress in medal standings with its plus 35% points (13 and 20 prizes respectively): see Figure 1. In 2016, Georgia was above Kazakhstan on the medal scoreboard; whilst Ukraine made the greatest regress of minus 280%, i.e. 14 medals in 2014 versus 5 medals in 2018.

Figure 1. 2014-18 World Arm Wrestling Championships team standings of the world leaders, men’s/ women’s and right-/ left-hand event totals
Given in Table 2 are the 2014-18 World Arm Wrestling Championships women’s team medal standings, leaded by Russia and Kazakhstan, with Georgia falling out of the top six. Please note that in 2017 Russia was second to Kazakhstan in the women’s team medal standings.

Table 2. 2014-18 World Arm Wrestling Championships women’s team medal standings, right-/ left-hand event totals

Figure 2. 2014-18 World Arm Wrestling Championships top-three women’s team standings, right-/ left-hand event totals
Note that the 2018 versus 2014 Russian team standing was the same, Kazakhstan made progress of plus 28.6%, Sweden minus 16.7%, Brazil minus 25%, and Slovakia plus 100%. Russia made the highest progress in 2018 versus 2017 of plus 35.8% (9 and 14 medals, respectively); and Kazakhstan made progress in 2017 versus 2016 of plus 45.5%: see Figure 2. Ukraine made the highest regress in 2018 versus 2014 (0 versus 3 medals, respectively).

Table 3. 2014-18 World Arm Wrestling Championships men’s team medal standings, right-/ left-hand event totals

Note: G – gold; S – silver; B- bronze 

Given in Table 3 are the 2014-18 World Arm Wrestling Championships men’s team medal standings, right-/ left-hand event totals, leaded by Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan followed by Bulgaria, Ukraine and Turkey.
Note that Russia was second to Georgia in 2016. In 2018 Kazakhstan was for the first time ahead of Russia and Georgia on the medal scoreboard; and Georgia and Kazakhstan were ahead of Russia in the gold medals.

Figure 3. 2014-18 World Arm Wrestling Championships top-three men’s team standings, right-/ left-hand event totals
Georgia made the highest progress in 2016 versus 2014, with its 17 and 8 medals, respectively.

Conclusion. The Russia national arm wrestling team has held the lead in the 2014-18 World Arm Wrestling Championships on the medal scoreboards. Kazakhstan and Georgia made the highest progresses for the last few years to challenge the Russian leadership; and Ukraine made the highest regress for the 2018 versus 2014 in its medal standing.

References
1. Alekseev S.V., Gostev R.G., Kuramshin Yu.F. et al Physical Culture and Sport in the Russian Federation: New Challenges of Today. Moscow: Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury i sporta publ., 2013, 780 p.
2. Nikulin I.N., Lobanov G.V., Ostankov D.A., Vasilyev M.D. Main trends in performance of leading national teams at world arm wrestling championships in 2013-2017. Diskurs. 2018. 8 (22). pp. 68-74.
3. Nikulin I.N., Maksimenko V.A., Posokhov A.V., Tolmachev D.N. On effectiveness of performance of Russian national arm wrestling teams at world championships in 2014-2018. Development of physical education and sports in context of human self-actualization in modern socio-economic conditions: Proc. XI nat. res.-practical conference. Lipetsk, November 29–30, 2018. Lipetsk: LSPU publ, 2018. pp. 79-84.
4. Filimonov A.A., Nikulin I.N., Lobanov G.V. [ed.] Rules of arm wrestling sport. Belgorod: Epitsentr publ, 2016. 42 p.

Corresponding author: nikulin_i@bsu.edu.ru

Abstract
Sports results are a specific integrated product of competitive activity - a criterion for their measurement and evaluation. We analyzed the competitive performance results of the national teams of Russia and its competitors at the world arm wrestling championships in 2014-2018. The analysis revealed the world’s top national arm wrestling teams: men’s, women’s, and in the overall standing. We studied the dynamics of the number of prizes won by the top three countries - leaders of the team classification: among females - Russia, Kazakhstan, and Sweden; among males - Russia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan; in the overall standing - Russia, Kazakhstan, and Georgia. The most pronounced positive dynamics of sports results demonstrated for five years was observed among the national teams of Kazakhstan and Georgia, being the main rivals of Russia at the world championships in recent years. The Ukrainian national team demonstrated the greatest negative dynamics in 2018 as opposed to 2014. In 2017, the Russian team conceded to Kazakhstan by the number of medals won by women. In 2016, the Russian team conceded to Georgia by the number of medals won by men. In 2018, the Kazakhstan men's national team surpassed those of Russia and Georgia by the total number of medals.