Children and youth sports performance should always considerer the growth and maturation processes(1), and their influence in the growth rate of results along the sports career. In this extent, the purpose of this work was to study, on one hand, the growth rate of results in all swimming events of female Olympic calendar from the initial sports education till the stage of high level performance and, on the other hand, try to establish a relationship with the growth, maturation and training process of female swimmers. For this purpose a sample constituted by female swimmers in Portuguese swimming Rankings over the last four years (1998 to 2002) in an approximately amount of 6,000 data was used. The growth rate of results (GRR) was calculated based in the following algorithm: (initial time-final time)/initial time. The results pointed out, let us conclude that: (i) a general tendency of GRR. Increasing was verified from 11 to 12 years and from 14 to 16 years in 25 m swimming pool; (ii) a similar tendency was verified in 50 m swimming pool, but with superior GRR tendencies. Those results can be explained, more than by the training process, by the growth, development and maturation process.
Growth and maturation; Results; Training; Puberty
