Universalism and the spirit of sport: evidence from Greece and Australia

One Does Not Fit All: European Study Shows Significant Differences in Value-Priorities in Clean Sport

“…The present findings confirm previous evidence on the universal nature of the values of sport (Mazanov et al, 2019 ). Across the five countries, the top two values were “respect for self and others” (also shared by athletes in all countries but in the UK) and “fun and joy” (shared only by German and UK athletes).…”

“…Values ranked the lowest were “excellence in performance” (shared by athletes in all countries but Russia) and “courage” (universally agreed among all five countries). Our results broadly align with previously recorded rankings of the Spirit of Sport values in Australia, Greece (Mazanov et al, 2019 ), and in the UK (Mortimer et al, 2020 ). Courage and excellence in performance appear to be universally unimportant, whereas respect and health valued the most—at least in the countries investigated to date.…”

“…Unsurprisingly, there were positive correlations between the majority of the Spirit of Sport values and the respondents' perceived importance of clean sport. In particular, the moderate positive correlations observed with the values of honesty and ethics and respecting the rules and laws of sport indicate that when an athlete's behavior is guided by these values, they are more likely to believe in the importance of clean sport, and therefore are less likely to engage in doping behaviors, mirroring the findings of Mazanov et al (2019) that suggest that these values are associated with clean sport likelihood. These relationships are important to consider when developing and implementing VBE as targeting these values, and therefore athlete perceptions of the importance of clean sport may provide an avenue by which to protect and prevent individuals from doping.…”

“…Despite its critical importance, cross-country comparative research of values of sport (e.g., Spirit of Sport) is scarce. One study compared the importance of the Spirit of Sport values among Australian and Greek university students (Mazanov et al, 2019 ). The study found limited agreement about what is unimportant (“courage” and “excellence in performance”) and what is important (“ethics, fair play, and honesty” [most important for Australians] and “respect for self and others”) in sport.…”

Basic values predict doping likelihood

“…Moreover, the WADA Code argues that the spirit of sport is reflected in values that athletes are expected to find in sport, including ethics, health, performance, character, fun, teamwork, dedication, respect, courage, and solidarity. Recent research by Mazanov and colleagues (Mazanov & Huybers, 2016;Mazanov, Huybers, & Barkoukis, 2018) has examined the relative importance of the values that characterize the spirit of sport. Across a number of different samples, in Australia and Greece, athletes identified "ethics, fair play and honesty" as well as "respect for self and other participants" to be the most important values for the spirit of sport concept.…”