Mental fatigue in Olympic combat sports: the unseen ongoing battle

Bian C, Kons RL, De Pauw K, Theeboom M, Schaillée H, Detanico D, Roelands B. Mental fatigue in Olympic combat sports: the unseen ongoing battle. Front Sports Act Living. 2025 Nov 13;7:1697860. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1697860. 

INTRODUCTION

Combat sports, including judo, boxing, wrestling, taekwondo, and fencing, are popular worldwide and key to the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympics (1). Due to their growing relevance, research on these Olympic combat sports has expanded in recent years, focusing on physical (e.g., neuromuscular) and psychological (e.g., motivation) parameters (2–4). One-on-one combat typically involves high physical and cognitive demands (5). Generally, Olympic combat sports competitions consist of multiple matches held on the same day, often separated by short intervals/transitions (6). Meanwhile, the work-to-rest ratio (W/R) varies according to the specific group of the combats, reflecting differences in intensity patterns across striking, grappling, and weapon-based disciplines, from the perspective of performance and assessment (38). Table 1 presents the W/R for Olympic combat sports by discipline and group, ranging approximately from 1:9 to 9:1. Combined with the short rest time from official competitions [e.g., average 16.1s between two pauses in the world championship Sabre bout (7)], these values emphasize the high intensity inherent in these sports with a very brief time window to recover. The highly intermittent, but prolonged competition format (i.e., congested matches in one day) suggests the buildup of fatigue in athletes, making it a key factor to be considered to actively manage on mat, ring, and piste.

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