Sport psychology consultants’ perceptions of their challenges at the London 2012 Olympic Games

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Peter Elsborg
  • Greg Diment
  • Anne-Marie Elbe
The objective of this study was to explore how sport psychology consultants perceive the challenges they face at the Olympic Games. Post-Olympics semistructured interviews with 11 experienced sport psychology consultants who worked at the London Games were conducted. The interviews were transcribed and inductively content analyzed. Trustworthiness was reached through credibility activities (i.e., member checking and peer debriefing). The participants perceived a number of challenges important to being successful at the Olympic Games. These challenges were divided into two general themes: Challenges Before the Olympics (e.g., negotiating one’s role) and Challenges During the Olympics (e.g., dealing with the media). The challenges the sport psychology consultants perceived as important validate and cohere with the challenge descriptions that exist in the literature. The findings extend the knowledge on sport psychology consultancy at the Olympic Games by showing individual contextual differences between the consultants’ perceptions and by identifying four SPC roles at the Olympic Games.
Original languageEnglish
JournalThe Sport Psychologist
Volume29
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)183-195
Number of pages11
ISSN0888-4781
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

ID: 142938228