In the last decade Olympic sports are characterized by the presence of older athletes who have reached high athletic results. The purpose of the study was to research the age peculiarities of stress resistance and psycho-emotional states in elite wrestlers. A total of 19 elite athletes (a span of ages), all members of the Ukrainian National Team in Greco-Roman wrestling were examined. The perception and processing of visual information, the balance of the nervous system and psycho-emotional stability were studied. The deterioration of neurodynamic functions in emotionally stressful situations was more evident in older age group compared with the younger age group due to age weakening of the afferent system of information perception, analysis, and processing. Conclusion: The connection between the age of elite athletes and stress resistance to psycho-emotional tension was recorded. In particular, it demonstrated considerable changes in heart rate regulation in the older age group when compared with the younger age group where the optimal reaction of heart rate regulation to psycho emotional tension was observed. INTRODUCTIONIn last decade Olympic sports are characterized by the presence of older athletes who have reached high athletic results. The ages of champions and runners-up of International championships in some Olympic sports could be 36-42 years in individual sports and up to 52 in such sports as horseback riding and sailing. Extreme human activities and sports are connected with the presence of psycho-emotional factors which can influence the efficiency of sport results.(1,6,10).

The modern methods of diagnostics of elite wrestlers are ignored of the integral criteria of functional states. The psychophysiological diagnostics may investigate: the individual typological characteristics of higher nervous activity, the process of formation and improvement of specific skills, fatigue and overstrain in athletes. 24 elite athletes (Greco-Roman Wrestlers) were examined. The age of the athletes was 20-25. The neurodynamics functions of nervous system and parameters of autonomic regulation of the heart rhythm in wrestlers were examined. The results show that the growth rate of sensory-motor response of wrestlers is accompanied by psychomotor tension, which leads to the stability of visual reaction. The rate of sensory-motor response has communication with the tension of regulation of heart rate, which is consistent with a decrease in the duration and frequency of the oscillations RR-intervals of athletes with high speed of sensory-motor response. Conclusion. The psychophysiological diagnostics in elite wrestlers are characterized by the three components of the functional states: sensory-motor response, neurodynamics characteristics and heart rate regulation.