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.

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.

Research concerning athletic career development in high-performance sport typically uses demographic data, sport characteristics or pursuing a dual career (i.e. having an educational or vocational career simultaneous to the athletic career) to identify developmental processes. In defiance of these attempts, considerable heterogeneity remains within these subgroups of the elite athlete population. In line with the person-oriented approach, the objective of this study was to develop a comprehensive typology of athletes with similar objective life situations by considering both sport-related as well as non-sport related aspects. To this end, data were collected about athletic performance level, weekly amount of working time (i.e. sport-related activities, education, and vocation), and financial information (i.e. gross annual income and income generated from sport). Based on a sample of 733 elite athletes, a cluster analysis was performed to divide the sample into groups of similar patterns on the aforementioned factors. Five different athlete patterns were found: (1) working dual career athletes, (2) high-income professional athletes, (3) medium-income professional athletes, (4) family-supported athletes, and (5) student dual career athletes. These findings support the dual career literature of separating dual career ( Cluster 1 and Cluster 5) from single career athletes, which, in turn, should also not be regarded as a single population, but further divided ( Cluster 2, Cluster 3, and Cluster 4). This typology may aid federations and practitioners within athletic career development in providing individual assistance for elite athletes.

The aim of this study was to examine patterns of sports-related and socio-economic resources at the time of athletic retirement and their relation to the subsequent vocational career. We surveyed 341 former Olympic athletes representing Switzerland about their athletic, educational, and vocational careers. In order to adequately depict the heterogeneous situations of athletes during and after their athletic career, we applied a person-oriented approach. This involves adopting a holistic perspective and using nonlinear methods of analysis to allow for interactions between different aspects of an athlete’s career. Using cluster analytic techniques, we found different patterns of sports-related and socio-economic resources at the time of athletic retirement which were related with specific vocational career paths. In particular, clusters disposing of manifold resources had various opportunities in working life, whereas clusters with few resources fared less well. However, a lack of educational certificates could be compensated for by success in sports and popularity, provided that the vocational activity was pursued in sport. These findings may help career counsellors to better understand athletes’ career development options and provide services of ever-improving quality.

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