The effect of success on elite athletes' performance: An exploratory study.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of success on elite athletes who reached the top in their sport. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 world champion athletes, representing 7 different sports from 4 different countries. All athletes, 11 male and 6 female subjects had won major international competitions (i.e. World Cup, World Championships or Olympic Games) between the years 1964 and 1988. The number of individual wins ranged from 1 to 86. The results indicate that athletes who won at this level, subsequently experienced many additional demands. Most had little or no assistance in dealing with these demands. Approximately one third of these athletes handled the additional demands well and continued to win. Many of the remaining two thirds did not handle the additional demands well and either never repeated their winning performance or took a significant amount of time to do so. Strategies to help prepare future champions to handle these demands are suggested.