Career pathways in high performance sport include a number of emotionally resonant transitions. Sport systems must be able to effectively support the athlete’s endeavors to negotiate such challenges. This study investigated qualitatively the experiences of Olympic athletes who took part in a three-tier, post-games career transition support program. The aim of the program was to increase athletes’ coping resources to successful negotiate the post-Olympic period. Ten athletes who participated in the program were recruited to participate in semi structured individual interviews. Directed content analysis was employed to identify key themes in the data. Athletes perceived two components of the program as particularly helpful, the normalization of the emotional and psychological challenge of the post Games period and the use of problem focused coping to redirect athlete focus to the future. The findings from this study provide a preliminary framework for the planning of future post-Games career transition support programs.
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Siobhain McArdle, Phil Moore, and Deirdre Lyons
Helene Joncheray, Fabrice Burlot, Nicolas Besombes, Sébastien Dalgalarrondo, and Mathilde Desenfant
athletes, and how their performances are built. What place do they hold in optimizing their performances, as the proposed system imposes itself as the only possible path to the top level? What role do their coaches play? What kind of interactions are being developed? To explore the interactions of Olympic
Deborah R. Shapiro
This study examined sport participation motives of 147 Special Olympics athletes ages 21 to 70 years. Athletes completed a Sport Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ). No significant differences in participation motives were found for gender, age, race, or sport. Special Olympics athletes participate to win ribbons and medals, play with other people, get exercise, do something they’re good at, and have fun. Consistent with Nicholls’ achievement motivation theory, Special Olympics athletes participate primarily for task oriented and social integrative reasons rather than for ego oriented reasons. For Special Olympic athletes, optimal motivation results in a task oriented environment where coaches provide time for fun, facilitate opportunities for fitness, provide time to be with friends, and emphasize effort and improvement.
Michelle Pannor Silver
could replace the intensity of being an Olympic athlete. Like other participants, Alexander also described his retirement in terms of loss: For me retiring was a lot like losing. I was having dark times when I retired. I had to remember that I had losses and I survived. I thought I was prepared to
Carolina Lundqvist
psychological treatment delivered to a retiring Olympic athlete who developed depression after career termination. The Heterogeneous Nature of Depression The label depression is commonly adopted in literature to describe conditions representing a mixture of individual experiences varying in severity and
Robert Weinberg, Dave Yukelson, Damon Burton, and Daniel Weigand
The purpose of this investigation was to explore Olympic athletes’ perceptions concerning the frequency and effectiveness of goal setting strategies as well as goal preferences and barriers to achieving these goals. Participants were 185 male and 143 female Olympic athletes from a variety sports. Each athlete completed a questionnaire detailing their perceptions, use, and effectiveness of a number of different goal-setting strategies. Factor analysis revealed four similar factors for goal effectiveness and goal frequency and two distinct factors for goal barriers. Descriptive results revealed that all of the Olympic athletes practiced some type of goal setting to help enhance performance, and they found their goals to be highly effective. Athletes also reported that improving overall performance, winning, and having fun were the three most important goals. In addition, setting difficult goals that were somewhat above the level at which they perform was the most preferred level of goal difficulty. Future directions for research are offered including exploration of developmental differences and variations in coach versus athlete perceptions.
Zoë A. Poucher, Katherine A. Tamminen, and Gretchen Kerr
study was to explore the experiences of providing and receiving support between five female adult Olympic athletes and their main support providers surrounding the Rio Olympic Games. The research questions addressed were as follows: (a) How do support providers perceive and experience their role in
Fabio Lucidi, Caterina Lombardo, Paolo Maria Russo, Alessandra Devoto, and Cristiano Violani
The aim of the study was to evaluate sleep complaints in two groups of subjects all involved in sport but differing with respect to their level of commitment and weekly amount of practice. The first group was composed of 103 elite Italian Olympic athletes. The second group consisted of 198 recreational athletes, divided into two subsets on the basis of their self-reported habitual weekly amount of exercise. Subjects were requested to complete a short questionnaire (SDQ) assessing the presence and intensity of sleep disorders according to DSM-IV-TR and ICSD-2 criteria. A logistic regression was carried out to assess any differences in sleep disorders between Olympic and recreational athletes. The Olympic athletes were more likely to show no sleep disorders and less likely to show chronic or occasional sleep disorders as compared to both the other groups of athletes. No differences were found between the two subsets of recreational athletes.
Dahn Shaulis, Lawrence A. Golding, and Richard D. Tandy
The primary purpose of this paper, one of the first physiological studies of Senior Olympic athletes, was to determine the physical fitness level of Senior Olympic participants 50 to 86 years of age. It was hypothesized that Senior Olympic athletes would be more physically fit than healthy older adults not classified as Senior Olympic athletes. The athletes’ screening questionnaire (PAR-Q) results showed a 43% positive rate, making maximal testing and underwater testing impractical and possibly unsafe. However, all subjects were allowed to perform the AAHPERD functional fitness test battery. Senior Olympic athletes did not perform better (p < .05) on any of the AAHPERD functional fitness tests than a group of nonathletes who lived independently. Furthermore, questionnaire results suggested that some athletes were competing with little or no training. These results indicated that researchers and events managers should not assume that all Senior Olympic athletes are exceptionally healthy or physically fit.
Morgan Cleveringa and E. Andrew Pitchford
, High CS Time, High BMI, and Low BMD Among Adult Special Olympics Athletes ≥20 Years of Age Low GS a High CS b High BMI c Low BMD d Total 2,837/6,477 (43.8%) 2,979/6,444 (46.2%) 3,935/7,824 (50.3%) 887/3,091 (28.7%) Age band (years) 20–29 1,170/2,816 (41.5%) 1,140/2,849 (40.0%) 1,421/3,207 (44.3%) 305
