Leaving Cert Physical Education Physical & Psychological Demands of Performance: Examine the text, image and grap

Question

Examine the text, image and graph in the Case Study below and answer 13.

**Figure 2** Simone Biles in flight on the balance beam during Rio 2016.

Simone Biles is an American gymnast. She is a four-time world champion, winner of three individual Olympic gold medals and arguably one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. Her dominance is built on an inner mastery of gymnastic basics; with a tiny frame, incredible athletic ability and power, plus a low center of gravity, she is built to be the ultimate gymnast.
Add in superhuman levels of hard work, a great imagination when it comes to her craft and megawatt levels of personality, and she is almost unbeatable.

Female gymnasts are said to peak in performance at age 16. This is the minimum age at which they can compete at senior level events, including the Olympics. In reality, female gymnasts are often considered to peak earlier. This is because they tend to be light in the gym, and as you get older, your body changes, making it harder to do gymnastics.

Biles attended an ordinary school until her early teens. Her training schedule became such that only home-schooling, on-site at the gym, made sense. Her short experience of high school was unhappy. "You’re at that age where there are boys in the class and you go to dances and I was obviously, like," her voice drops, "the strongest kid in my entire school. So I hid my muscles because the guys would stare and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, look at her muscles!’"

In 1997, the minimum age at which gymnasts could compete at senior-level was set at 16. (Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique FIG).

Biles is unsure about competing in Tokyo 2021: "Mentally, I don’t know if I can handle it. It’s going to be hard. I was really battling with myself mentally if I could do it this year. I have to listen to my mind and body and go into the gym and see how I feel.”

Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan admires Simone Biles, and said the following after meeting his idol: "It was great to chat with her because she is such an amazing athlete. Simone is so good that she could compete in men’s events and make finals and bring home medals. Her standards are something else. She has entered territory that nobody has been before yet she still looks to improve and raise the bar. Simone could still be doing the same routines that she did in 2014 and that would be enough to win but instead she keeps pushing back the boundaries. She could fall three times and still win. Her team have a motto, ‘Be Undeniable’, and that’s what she is – and that’s what I want to be.”

Examine the text, image and graph in the Case Study below and answer 13 - Leaving Cert Physical Education - Question 13 - 2021

Worked Solution & Example Answer:Examine the text, image and graph in the Case Study below and answer 13 - Leaving Cert Physical Education - Question 13 - 2021

Performance-related component of fitness: Power

Performance-related component of fitness: Balance

Appropriate methods of training to develop each of the performance-related components of fitness provided

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