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For many high-performance athletes, competing in the Olympic Games is a major goal. Achieving this goal requires more than ever substantial investments of time and personal resources towards the sports career over several years. Thus, some athletes neglect other areas of life (e.g. education), which can pose a problem for the time after high-performance sport, while other athletes pursue a dual career. Previous studies have shown that former high-performance athletes achieved higher levels of education and better vocational positions than the general population. Due to the advancing professionalization and commercialization of high-performance sport, the question emerges whether these results are valid for athletes that are more recently retired. In addition, cross-cultural generalisability of these findings are of interest. For this purpose, 341 former athletes representing Switzerland at the Olympics were surveyed about their athletic, educational, and vocational careers. It turns out that these athletes obtained more degrees of higher education than the general population. Relative to their siblings, they have higher school-leaving certificates and work in more prestigious occupations. Following the holistic-interactionistic paradigm, person-oriented analyses was performed and revealed nine – mostly satisfactory – vocational career patterns. Hence, involvement in high-performance sport facilitates rather than hinders a successful vocational career.

Talent selection in rowing is often solely based on anthropometric and performance variables, even though psychological characteristics are considered to be important contributors to successful talent development. Because multidimensional talent models and holistic theories represent the state-of-the-art in talent research, we aimed to find patterns connecting psychological and performance variables to future success in rowing. Therefore, 22 coaches rated the achievement-motivated behavior represented by the variables proactivity, ambition and commitment of 65 competitive to high-level athletes ( Mage = 17.2 ± 1.55 years) for the past year (t1). Additionally, the athletes performed several 2,000 m ergometer tests during that same period. At t2 (30 months later), each rower’s performance was evaluated based on the success at different competitions. To examine the results, we used the person-oriented Linking of Clusters after removal of a Residue (LICUR) method to identify the relationships between the achievement-motivated behavior and ergometer results at t1 and the success at t2. The rowers could be assigned to five clusters. Although the highly motivated rowers were not the fastest on the ergometer at t1, they were more likely to be in highest performance level at t2 compared to the other clusters (OR = 3.5, p < .05). By contrast, all the ambitionless rowers and unmotivated rowers were either racing at national level or had dropped out. In conclusion, certain patterns of achievement-motivated behavior and current performance are associated with future success (30 months later). The consideration of achievement-motivated behavior in the selection of rowers seems promising in this context.

It is widely recognized that motivation is an important determinant for a successful sports career. Specific patterns of motivational constructs have recently demonstrated promising associations with future success in team sports like football and ice hockey. The present study scrutinizes whether those patterns also exist in individual sports and whether they are able to predict future performance levels. A sample of 155 young individual athletes completed questionnaires assessing achievement goal orientations, achievement motives, and self-determination at t1. The person-oriented method linking of clusters after removal of a residue (LICUR) was used to form clusters based on these motivational constructs in order to analyze the relations between these clusters and the performance level 2.5 years later (t2). Similar to the studies in team sports, four motivational patterns were observed at t1. The highly intrinsically achievement-oriented athletes were much more likely to compete internationally [odds ratio (OR) = 2.12], compared to the failure-fearing athletes (OR = 0.29). Although team and individual sports differ in many respects, they nevertheless are characterized by similar and thus generalizable career-promoting motivational profiles: Regardless of the type of sport, the highly intrinsically achievement-oriented athletes consistently have the best potential for success.

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Objectives(1) To assess the period prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections and willingness to vaccinate in Swiss elite athletes and (2) to evaluate whether sociodemographic and sport-related characteristics were associated with infection of SARS-CoV-2 in athletes.MethodsA total of 1037 elite athletes (Mage=27.09) were surveyed in this cross-sectional study. They were asked whether they had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and whether they would like to be vaccinated. Characteristics of a possible COVID-19 illness were also recorded.ResultsDuring the first year of the pandemic, 14.6% of all Swiss elite athletes were found to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, and 5.4% suspected that they had been infected. Male athletes, young athletes and team sports athletes had an increased likelihood of being infected with SARS-CoV-2. There was considerable heterogeneity in the duration and severity of a COVID-19 illness in athletes. Overall, 68% of respondents indicated a willingness to be vaccinated if they were offered an opportunity to do so.ConclusionIn the first year of the pandemic, Swiss elite athletes were tested more often positive for SARS-CoV-2 than the general Swiss population. Because COVID-19 illness can impair health for a relatively long time, sports federations are advised to motivate athletes to be vaccinated.

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