Exploring Competition Performance in Decathlon Using Semi-Parametric Latent Variable Models
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Valentin Wimmer
In this paper, we explore competition performance in decathlon based on competition, training and personal data. Our data set comprises 3103 competition results from the decathlon world's best performance lists from 1998 to 2009. The aim of our analysis is to estimate latent factors describing the performance results and—at the same time—to model effects of age, season, and year of the competition on the results. Thus, we apply a new statistical method, semi-parametric latent variable models (LVMs), which can be seen as a synthesis between classical factor analysis and semi-parametric regression. LVMs are especially well-suited for modeling decathlon data, because (i) they permit the assumption of latent factors and therefore take the correlation structure between the ten performance results into account, and (ii) they enable us to model (potentially non-linear) relationships between response variables and covariates—contrary to classical factor analysis. In our analysis, we apply LVMs with a semi-parametric predictor allowing for non-linear covariate effects on the latent factors. Thereby, we obtain well interpretable results: four latent factors standing for sprint, jumping, throwing, and endurance abilities, as well as interesting non-linear effects of age and season on these latent factors. We also compare our results from LVMs to those obtained from classical factor analysis.
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Letter from the Editor
- The Next Step
- Article
- A Hierarchical Bayesian Variable Selection Approach to Major League Baseball Hitting Metrics
- Ups and Downs: Team Performance in Best-of-Seven Playoff Series
- The Penalty Shot/Optional Minor Choice in Ice Hockey
- Using Local Correlation to Explain Success in Baseball
- Exploring Competition Performance in Decathlon Using Semi-Parametric Latent Variable Models
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- Effect of Differences in Kicking Legs, Kick Directions, and Kick Skill on Kicking Accuracy in Soccer Players
- The Methodology of Officially Recognized International Sports Rating Systems
- Scoring Strategies for the Underdog: A General, Quantitative Method for Determining Optimal Sports Strategies
- Using Tree Ensembles to Analyze National Baseball Hall of Fame Voting Patterns: An Application to Discrimination in BBWAA Voting
- An Estimate of How Hitting, Pitching, Fielding, and Basestealing Impact Team Winning Percentages in Baseball
