ANGULAR-MOMENTUM AND PERFORMANCE IN THE TRIPLE JUMP - A CROSS-SECTIONAL ANALYSIS

The purposes of this study were (a) to determine the magnitude of the angular momentum elite triple jumpers possess during each of the three phases of a triple jump, and (b) to identify those components of the angular momentum that are closely related to the actual distance of th e triple jump. Angular momentum about each of three orthogonal axes at the takeoff of each of the last stride, hop, step, and jump was compu ted from the smoothed 3-D coordinate data of 21 body landmarks and joi nt centers and normalized to body mass (m(b)) and standing height (h(b )). Linear and nonlinear regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between angular momenta and actual distance. The re sults suggested that the estimted optimum magnitude of this side-somer saulting angular momentum is 0.0069 m(b) h(b)2 kg . m2 . s-1 toward th e side of the free leg, that the side-somersaulting angular momentum n eeded at the takeoff of the step should be obtained during the support phase of the hop; and that the change in the side-somersaulting angul ar momentum during the support phase of the step should be minimized.