194 Appendices Summary Competitive swimming has a long history of success in The Netherlands, featuring Olympic Champions such as Pieter van den Hoogenband and Ranomi Kromowidjojo. Along their journey to the podium, they outperformed many peers, a challenge the aspiring new wave of swimmers must also overcome to achieve greatness. But what distinguishes those who reach the top from those who don’t? Answering this question is crucial for effectively guiding swimmers towards the elite level and maintaining the nation’s competitiveness. Therefore, this thesis examines the pathway to swimming expertise, offering both scientific and practical insights to identify and nurture swimming talent. Identifying the fastest swimmer within an age group is straightforward, but predicting who among them will emerge as the next elite swimmer is far more challenging. Chapter 1 delves into these complexities of talent identification and development, and discusses how scientific research can provide valuable insights in this area. Longitudinal and multidimensional studies that track swimmers' development across various domains over time are crucial in this regard. Therefore, this thesis examines both swim performance as well as the underlying physical, mental, technical and tactical characteristics of swimmers on track to reach the elite level (best 50 world-wide). Using various statistical methods, including analysis of variance and multilevel analyses, their development is compared to their peers who, while off track, still attained success at the national level (best 50 nationally). Through six studies, this thesis unravels the key characteristics and developmental patterns that relate to international swimming success. The world's best swimmers are incredibly fast, but were they already this exceptional at a younger age? Chapter 2 answers this question by retrospectively analyzing the development in swim performance of 3.146 swimmers who achieved varying levels of success in adulthood, ranging from high-competitive (top 50 nationally), sub-elite (top 8 nationally), elite (top 50 worldwide) to top-elite (top 8 worldwide). This study mapped out their developmental trajectory in season best times from the age of 12 onwards. Swimmers who eventually reached the top-elite level outperformed their peers who ended at the high- competitive level from the age of 12. By the age of 14, they were also faster than the later sub-elite swimmers. While top-elite females surpassed their sub-elite and elite counterparts at the same age, top-elite males did not outperform the later elite swimmers until the age of 18. The age at which top-elite swimmers reached the top 8 worldwide varied widely. This demonstrates that within the higher performance standards of top-elite swimmers during their teenage years, there were many pathways leading to their swimming success. While Chapter 2 focused on the development of season best times over multiple years, Chapter 3 investigates whether swimmers who reached the elite level improved more within a season compared to peers who ‘merely’ achieved the high-competitive level. Although their performance level in adulthood varied, all 3,199 swimmers in this study
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