factors influencing olympic performance: interviews with atlanta

154 GREENLEAF ET AL

154

Factors Influencing Olympic Performance Interviews withFactors Influencing Olympic Performance Interviews withFactors Influencing Olympic Performance Interviews withFactors Influencing Olympic Performance Interviews withFactors Influencing Olympic Performance Interviews withAtlanta and Nagano US OlympiansAtlanta and Nagano US OlympiansAtlanta and Nagano US OlympiansAtlanta and Nagano US OlympiansAtlanta and Nagano US Olympians

CHRISTY GREENLEAF DANIEL GOULD AND KRISTEN DIEFFENBACH

University of North Carolina Greensboro

To gain a better understanding of factors perceived to have positively andornegatively influenced Olympic athlete performance and to examine differencesin performance factors cited by athletes who met or exceeded performance ex-pectations and athletes who failed to meet expectations 8 Atlanta and 7 NaganoOlympians were interviewed Interviews were conducted via telephone tape re-corded transcribed and content analyzed by three investigators Major factorsperceived to have positively influenced performance included mental skills andpreparation attitude towards the Olympics support services and support facilita-tion multifaceted preparation physical preparation and coaching Major factorsperceived to have negatively influenced performance included departing fromnormal routine media distractions coach issues overtraining and injury Thetwo groups those who met or exceeded expectations and those who did not meetexpectations differed on only a few positive performance factors including atti-tude towards the games Olympic housing and team unity Negative factors thatdiffered between the groups included team selection coaching lack of supportand team issues

While certain aspects of the Olympic Games are similar to other majorcompetitions (eg same competitors similar competition format) theGames provide a unique competitive environment (eg worldrsquos focus onthe Games increased importance and pressure) Some athletes performwell within this environment and others do not live up to performanceexpectations Interested in answering the question of why some athletes

Manuscript received 6 October 1999 Revision submitted 8 October 2000Address correspondence to Daniel Gould PhD 250 HHP PO Box 26169 Depart-

ment of Exercise and Sport Science University of North Carolina Greensboro Greens-boro NC 27402-6169 336-334-3037 (phone) 336-334-3238 (fax) Emaildrgoulduncgedu

JOURNAL OF APPLIED SPORT PSYCHOLOGY 13 154ndash184 2001Copyright copy 2001 by the Association for Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology1041-320001 $1200 + 00

155INTERVIEWS WITH OLYMPIC ATHLETES

perform well under the unique conditions of the Olympics and other ath-letes do not the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) commissioneda large-scale project examining positive and negative factors that influ-enced Olympic athlete and coach performances in the Atlanta and NaganoOlympics1 Potential physical psychological environmental and socialfactors of influence were examined via surveys of Atlanta and Naganoathletes and coaches focus group interviews with Atlanta athletes indi-vidual interviews with Atlanta coaches and individual interviews with At-lanta and Nagano Olympians

The USOC request for this evaluation research project is consistent withtwo of the functions of sport psychology outlined by Griffith (1925) over75 years ago Specifically Griffith indicated that sport psychologists mustuse the scientific method to discover new facts and principles that wouldanswer practical problems facing those in the field He also indicated thatexperienced and successful coaches and athletes be systematically studiedfor the purposes of identifying the psychological principles they employand that these principles be disseminated to inexperienced and less suc-cessful coaches and athletes Ironically throughout this century researchaddressing these two functions (especially the evaluation research compo-nent) has been scant Rather most of the sport psychology research hasfocused on testing existing psychological research and theory in the sportcontext or has been descriptive in nature This project then allowed theinvestigators to address two important functions of the field which for themost part have been ignored

Focusing on the evaluation of the practical concerns and factors of per-formance influence facing Olympic athletes and coaches however doesnot imply that previous sport psychology research does not help us under-stand such practical problems Peak performance literature for instancehas consistently provided evidence of the importance of mental skills andpreparation for successful elite athletes (Gould Eklund amp Jackson 1992a1992b Gould Finch amp Jackson 1993 Gould Jackson amp Finch 1993a1993b Orlick amp Partington 1988 Williams amp Krane 1998) In reviewingdifferences between successful and less successful athletes Williams and

1 This research was supported by a grant from the Sport Science and Technology Divi-sion of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) The authors would like to thank JimPage and Sean McCann the sport psychology advisory subcommittee the USOC SportsMedicine Coaching Programs and Games Preparation Divisions and the USOC AlumniAssociation for their assistance

156 GREENLEAF ET AL

Krane (1998) report that more successful athletes have higher self-confi-dence better concentration and manage their anxiety or interpret arousalas facilitative

The seminal work of Orlick and Partington (1988) similarly indicatesthe importance of mental skills for Olympic success Total commitmentfocus on quality training and competition preparation plans were commonamong the mental skills found to be important for Canadian Olympiansuccess included in the study Similarly Gould and colleagues (Gould etal 1992a 1992b) found positive expectancies optimal arousal statesheightened effort and commitment and the use of systematic mental prepa-ration strategies were associated with US Olympic wrestling excellenceSeveral studies focused on psychological characteristics of elite track andfield athletes also provide evidence for the importance of mental skills insuccessful performance (Hemery 1986 Ungerleider amp Golding 1992Vernacchia McGuire Reardon amp Templin 2000) Across these studiesconcentration training to get a competitive edge social support mentalpractice enjoying training and competition persistence and confidencewere identified as factors that positively impacted athlete success Not onlydid these findings help guide the questions posed in the present study butby conducting this investigation we were able to further verify whetherthese psychological characteristics and strategies were evident in and usedby Olympic performers

In the first study (Gould Guinan Greenleaf Medbery amp Peterson 1999)from the USOC project focus group interviews were conducted with ath-letes from four teams that met or exceeded performance expectations andfour teams that failed to meet expectations Results revealed that teamsthat met or exceeded expectations participated in resident training pro-grams experienced crowd family and friend support utilized mental prepa-ration and were highly focused and committed Teams that failed to meetexpectations experienced planning and team cohesion problems and en-countered problems related to focus and commitment It was concludedthat the achievement of peak performance at the Olympic Games is a com-plex and delicate process

Considering the findings and conclusions of the focus group interviewsfrom the first study in the this project and the consistent evidence support-ing importance of mental skills and training for elite athlete success thepresent study sought to identify factors perceived to influence Olympicperformance through individual interviews with Atlanta and Nagano Olym-pians In so doing an attempt was made to triangulate results across the


previously examined focus group participants and the individual Olympi-ans discussed in this manuscript Specifically the purposes of this studywere (a) to gain a better understanding of factors perceived to have posi-tively andor negatively influenced Olympic athlete performance (b) tolook for differences in performance factors cited by athletes who metex-ceeded National Governing Body (NGB) expectations and athletes whofailed to meet NGB expectations and (c) to triangulate results of the focusgroup interviews with the results of the individual interviews We alsohoped to determine if previous peak performance psychological researchprinciples (eg higher confidence higher effort and commitment use ofsystematic mental preparation strategies) were used by more and less suc-cessful individual Olympians Additionally this study was designed toexamine a wide range of influential performance factors not limited onlyto psychological factors but also including physical social and environ-mental factors experienced during the entire Olympic experience Henceit looked at psychological factors within a border context of other potentialperformance influencers

METHOD

Design

To better understand the positive and negative factors influencing Olym-pic performance individual phone interviews were conducted with 15 USOlympic athletes eight from the 1996 Summer Olympics and seven fromthe 1998 Winter Olympics23 All interviews were retrospective and tookplace within the year following each Games Interview methodology en-abled purposeful sampling of athletes identified by USOC staff to be ofparticular interest (ie athletes who were medal contenders) Addition-ally using interviews allowed the interviewer to request additional infor-mation and clarify athlete responses in order to better understand the uniqueexperience of each athlete

The individual phone interviews were part of a larger project sponsoredby the Sport Science and Technology Division of the USOC In addition tothe phone interviews presented in this article the overall project included

2 The original intent was to interview eight Nagano Olympians however this was notpossible because of logistical problems related to contacting athletes of interest and athleteavailability within the timeframe of the grant

3 Special thanks is extended to the athletes who took part in this project

158 GREENLEAF ET AL

a large-scale survey of 1996 and 1998 athletes and coaches focus groupinterviews with athletes selected from 1996 teams and individual inter-views with 1996 coaches (Gould Greenleaf Dieffenbach Lauer ChungPeterson amp McCann 1999 Gould Guinan Greenleaf MedberyStrickland Lauer Chung amp Peterson 1998)

Participants

Participants included a total of 11 female and four male athletes whohad competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics (5 female 3 male) and the1998 Winter Olympics (6 female 1 male)4 Participants ranged in age from23 to 44 years (M = 3227) Criteria for athlete inclusion in the study in-cluded National Governing Body (NGB) high performance plan expecta-tions recommendation by USOC sport psychology staff and availabilityAll 15 athletes were expected by their NGB to medal at the OlympicsEight of the athletes met or exceeded their NGBrsquos performance expecta-tion and seven did not Those athletes who met the performance expecta-tions of their NGBs won a total of nine gold two silver and one bronzemedal Athletes represented 11 different individual sports and three teamsports

Interviewer

The interviews were conducted by a sport and exercise psychology gradu-ate student during the first and second years of her PhD program Theinterviewer was trained in qualitative research methods Her training in-cluded reading several qualitative research interviewing technique booksand articles conducting and audiotaping a pilot interview and receivingfeedback on the pilot interview Additionally the interviewer had previousqualitative case study research experience

Procedure

Potential participants were initially contacted based on suggestions ofUSOC officials Attempts to contact a total of 16 Atlanta athletes weremade Eleven of the athletes agreed to participate however time conflicts

4 In the Atlanta Olympics US athletes won a total of 101 medals US women won 38and US men won 57 of the medals Athletes in mixed gender sports won 5 of medals Inthe Nagano Olympics US athletes won 13 medals US women won 61 of the medals andUS men won 38 of the medals


prevented 3 from participating Two athletes indicated that they were notinterested in participating and 3 athletes could not be contacted From theNagano Olympics attempts were made to contact 21 athletes Of these 11agreed to participate with 7 being able to participate within the time con-straints of the project Three athletes were not interested in participatingand 7 athletes were unable to be contacted Once contacted potential par-ticipants were informed about the project and asked if they would be will-ing to participate An interview time was then arranged with athletes whoagreed to participate Participants were phoned at the arranged time in-formed of their rights as human participants in the project and asked if theywere still willing to participate All participants agreed to be interviewedParticipants were informed that their identity would be kept confidentialThus to protect participantsrsquo identity in this manuscript some identifyinginformation such as gender and sport has been changed or omitted

Using a semi-structured interview guide5 open-ended phone interviewswere conducted and audiotape recorded A series of questions focusing onthe athletesrsquo Olympic experience positive and negative performance fac-tors and advice or suggestions were contained in the interview guide In-terviews ranged in length from 30 to 105 minutes The focus of this articleis on factors identified as having influenced performance

Analysis

The interviews were transcribed verbatim and content analyzed by threeinvestigators using procedures recommended by Miles and Huberman(1994) Each investigator read and re-read the transcripts and one investi-gator additionally listened to the audiotapes Initially each investigatorindividually coded themes (quotes or paraphrased quotes representing ameaningful point or thought) within the interviews using a priori codesbased on the interview guide questions positive negative or positive andnegative Within each a priori code grouping raw data or coded themeswere labeled and organized into larger categories The themes and group-ings were consensually validated among the three investigators during groupmeetings When inconsistencies and differences arose over themes or group-ings discussion ensued until consensus was reached Typically these dif-ferences were easily resolved and were related to themes or groupings fit-ting into more than one category or sub-category In the few cases thatmajor disagreements were encountered the themes or groups were identi-

5 A copy of the interview guide is available from the second author

160 GREENLEAF ET AL

fied with each appropriate category or sub-category No inter-rater reli-ability statistics were computed as the goal of the analysis was not to testthe three investigatorrsquos ability to identify common themes but to establisha common understanding of the meaning of the various themes throughextensive discussion of the Olympiansrsquo thoughts

Positive and negative performance factors were tabled by using the fre-quency of raw data themes cited within each category and the number ofathletes who cited themes within each category Figures 1 and 2 provide anoverview of the frequency and distribution of themes cited across all par-ticipants Finally Tables 1 and 2 allow comparison between athletes whomet or exceeded performance expectations and athletes who failed to meetperformance expectations

RESULTS

The results are presented in two parts First positive and negative per-formance factors are presented Second a comparison of athletes who metor exceeded expectations and athletes who failed to meet expectations ispresented

Positive Factors Influencing Performance

Overall the results of these individual athlete interviews indicated themajority of the participants experienced both positive and negative perfor-mance factors Only two athletes (one who met or exceeded expectationsand one who failed to meet expectations) reported not experiencing nega-tive performance factors This implies that the vast majority of Olympiansmust be prepared to deal with negative performance influences at the Games

As can be seen in Figure 1 several main categories emerged from rawdata themes as factors perceived to have positively influenced athletesrsquoOlympic performance when summed over all participants (a) Psychologi-cal Factors Mental Skills and Preparation and Attitude Towards the Games(b) Support Services and Support Facilitation (c) Physical Preparation (d)Coaching (e) Multifaceted Preparation (f) Training and Performance Rou-tines (g) Olympic Housing (h) Olympic Excitement and (i) Team UnityMoreover this table contains the frequency of raw data themes making upeach category

Text continues on page 165


Raw Data Themes Subcategories Main Number ofCategories Athletes Citing

Main CategoryUse of psychological skills

training (13)Having high levels of

confidence (12)Working with a sport

psychology consultant (8)Ignoring blocking out

distractions (8)Being highly committed to

excellence (4) Mental SkillsUsing relaxation (2) amp Preparation (52)Having high expectations (2)Focusing on performance

not outcome (1)Team meetings to discuss

strategy and mental skills (1)Using loss year prior as

motivation (1) Psychological 15Factors (72)

Treating Games like othercompetitions (5)

Having a ldquoshowoffrdquo ldquonostopping merdquo attitude (4)

Focusing on achieving peakperformance at Games asultimate goal (3)

Focusing on fun (2) Attitude TowardsHaving a ldquojob to dordquo attitude (2) Games (20)Keeping things in perspective (1)Having spiritual faith (1)Balancing fun and performance

focus (1)Maintaining a positive attitude (1)

Having social support (9)Having USOC support (7)Having and using media plan (7)Having and using family plan (6) Support Services 14Access to team doctorsports amp Facilitation (38)

medicine (5)Having NGB staff support (2)Familiarity with support staff (1)Access to e-mail provided

communication at the Games (1)

Being physically well-prepared (9)Taking time off breaksavoiding

overtraining (5) Physical 13Focusing on good nutrition (3) Preparation (20)Focusing on technical cues (2)Conserving energy (1)

Figure 1 Themes and categories for positive factorsof influence Frequencies indicated in parentheses

162 GREENLEAF ET AL


Main CategoryKnowing what to expect

expected the unexpected (6)Participating in Olympic

simulations (3)Training atvisiting venue

prior to Games (3)Taking advantage of every

|resource (2)Talking to previous

Olympians (2) Multifaceted 11Securing spot on team early (2) Preparation (22)Taking responsibility for and

executed training plan (1)Treating everyday of training

like Olympics (1)Learning from mistakes during

year priorto the Olympics (1)Taking responsibility for

previous Olympic failureand adjusting preparation (1)

Having coach contact trustfriendship (12)

Receiving coach feedback (3) Coaching (18) 13Having access to personal

coach (2)Coach having good plan (1)

Having a well-established trainingand competition routinestuck Performance ampto routine (8) Training Routines (9) 8

Using a performance checklist (1)

Secludingisolating self (4)Olympic village convenience (2) Olympic Housing (7) 6Leaving village to train during

Games (1)

Experiencing Olympic excitement (3) Olympic 6Olympics held in US (3) Excitement (6)

Having team unitycohesion (5) Team Unity (5) 5

Figure 1 Continued


Tab

le 1

Gro

up D

iffe

renc

es in

Pos

itiv

e P

erfo

rman

ce F

acto

rsM

et o

r ex

ceed

ed e

xpec

tati

ons

Fai

led

to m

eet

expe

ctat

ions

Tot

al

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

them

esO

lym

pian

sth

emes

Oly

mpi

ans

them

esO

lym

pian

s(N

= 8

)(N

= 7

)(N

= 1

5)

Psy

chol

ogic

al S

kills

438

297

7215

(38

)(1

00

)(3

7)

(100

)

(36

)(1

00

)

Men

tal

Ski

lls a

nd P

repa

ratio

n28

824

752

15(2

3)

(100

)

(31

)(1

00

)(2

6)

(100

)

Atti

tude

Tow

ards

Gam

es

158

54

2012

(12

)(1

00

)(6

)

(58

)(1

0)

(80

)

Supp

ort

Ser

vice

s an

d Su

ppor

t18

720

738

14

Fac

ilita

tion

(15

)(8

7)

(26

)(1

00

)(1

9)

(93

)

Phys

ical

Pre

para

tion

148

65

2013

(11

)(1

00

)(8

)

(71

)(1

0)

(87

)

Coa

chin

g12

86

518

13(1

0)

(100

)

(8

)(7

1)

(9

)(8

7)

Mul

tifac

eted

Pre

para

tion

146

85

2211

(11

)(7

5)

(10

)(7

1)

(11

)(7

3)

Perf

orm

ance

and

Tra

inin

g6

53

39

8

Rou

tines

(5

)(6

2)

(4

)(4

3)

(5

)(5

3)

Oly

mpi

c H

ousi

ng

65

11

76

(5

)(6

2)

(1

)(1

4)

(3

)(4

0)

Oly

mpi

c E

xcit

emen

t2

24

46

6(2

)

(25

)(5

)

(57

)(3

)

(40

)

Tea

m U

nity

4

41

15

5(3

)

(50

)(1

)

(14

)(2

)

(33

)

TO

TA

L11

978

197

D

iscu

ssed

in

text

164 GREENLEAF ET AL

Table 2Group Differences in Negative Performance Factors

Met or exceeded Failed to meet Totalexpectations expectations

Number of Number of Number of Number of Number of Number ofthemes Olympians themes Olympians themes Olympians

(N = 8) (N = 7) (N = 15)

Departure from 7 4 4 4 11 8 Normal Routine (25) (50) (7) (57) (13) (53)

Media 5 5 3 3 8 8 Distractions (18) (62) (5) (43) (9) (53)

Coach Issues 1 1 9 6 10 7(4) (12) (15) (86) (12) (47)

Overtraining 4 3 3 3 7 6(14) (37) (5) (43) (8) (40)

Injury 3 3 3 3 6 6(11) (37) (5) (43) (7) (40)

Team Selection 0 0 12 5 12 5(0) (0) (21) (71) (14) (33)

HousingVillage 2 2 3 3 5 5(7) (25) (5) (43) (7) (33)

Team Issues 0 0 5 5 5 5(0) (0) (9) (71) (6) (33)

Training 2 2 2 2 4 4(7) (25) (3) (29) (5) (27)

Lack of Support 0 0 5 3 5 3(0) (0) (9) (43) (6) (20)

JobsMoney 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Jet LagTravel 0 0 2 2 2 2(0) (0) (3) (29) (2) (13)

FamilyFriends 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Officials 0 0 2 1 2 1(0) (0) (3) (14) (2) (7)

Miscellaneous 2 2 3 2 5 4(7) (25) (5) (29) (6) (27)

TOTAL 28 58 86

Discussed in text


Psychological Factors

Mental skills and preparation Factors categorized in the mental skillsand preparation category included the following the use of psychologicalskills training having high levels of confidence work with a sport psy-chology consultant ignoring or blocking out distractions being highlycommitted to excellence using relaxation focusing on performance notoutcome having team meetings to discuss strategy and mental skills andusing a loss year prior as motivation

Specifically 13 out of the 15 participants made comments that wereclassified in the theme of using psychological skills training The mentionof psychological skills ranged from very detailed description of daily men-tal training to general statements of the importance of mental skills As anexample of one of the more detailed descriptions one athlete spoke aboutspecific mental training drills she developed using video and visualiza-tion and keeping a goalperformance journal The more general commentsincluded statements such as ldquoI prepared mentally each and everydayrdquo andldquoI have a lot of mental exercises that I use in preparation for any largeeventrdquo Related to using psychological skills eight athletes indicated thathaving a sport psychology consultant was a positive performance factorOne medal winner pointed out the benefit of establishing an early workingrelationship with a sport psychology consultant She said ldquohe [the coach]had already implemented the use of our sport psychologist who remainedconsistent he [the sport psychologist] was actually with us almost overa year and a half so we had a lot of time to be introduced to a lot oftraining conceptsrdquo

Twelve athletes cited high levels of confidence as a positive perfor-mance factor One athlete spoke about the confidence she gained by usingmental training while recovering from an injury She stated that ldquoIn thepast knowing that Irsquom the strongest person out there the fittest personalways gave me confidence but I couldnrsquot have that this time So Ireally worked on the mental part and that gave me a level of confidencethat I hadnrsquot had beforerdquo Another athlete a gold medalist indicated thathis confidence came from training technique He said ldquoI knew that simplymy technique was better than 98 or 99 of the people out thererdquo

The ability to ignore or block out distractions was a positive perfor-mance factor for eight athletes One athlete used the analogy of sailingthrough a storm for how she dealt with distractions She said

166 GREENLEAF ET AL

therersquos a big storm coming up and rather than go out and try and sail through it orfight it I just close all my hatches up and I get in my little boat A nice safeenvironment able to retreat and not spend your energy dealing with all thatother stuff out there that doesnrsquot really effect you

A gold medal winner more simply stated ldquoI have this real good abilityto block things outrdquo

Other positive mental preparation factors cited by athletes included beinghighly committed to excellence using relaxation having high expecta-tions focusing on performance not outcome using team meetings to dis-cuss strategy and mental skills and using a loss the year prior to the Gamesas motivation

Attitude towards Games Attitude related factors included treating theGames like other competitions having a ldquoshowoffrdquo or ldquono stopping merdquoattitude focusing on achieving peak performance at the Games as the ulti-mate goal focusing on fun having a ldquoI have a job to dordquo attitude keepingthings in perspective having spiritual faith balancing fun and performancefocus and maintaining a positive attitude

Treating the Games like other competitions was a positive factor forfive athletes One athlete stated ldquoI treated it like another race and I knewhow to go about the business of training warming up and being preparedrdquoHaving a showoff or no stopping me attitude was cited by four athleteswho met or exceeded expectations as having a positive impact on theirOlympic performance This attitude was not cocky but rather proud re-flecting an excitement to show the world the product of their hard workOne gold medal winner said ldquoIt was my time to showoff in front of every-body and showrsquoem what I hadrdquo Another gold medalist said ldquoI like theOlympics becausehellipthere is so much at stake The more at stake the bet-terrdquo Three athletes indicated that having a peak Olympic performance astheir main goal positively influenced their performance One silver medal-ist stated that ldquomy goal wasnrsquot to make the Olympic team A lot of peoplewho made the Olympic team were kind of acting like they achieved theirgoals and they were like tapering down but for me that was the beginningrdquo[italics added]

Other attitude related factors cited as having a positive impact on per-formance included focusing on fun having a ldquoI have a job to dordquo attitudekeeping things in perspective having spiritual faith balancing fun andperformance focus and maintaining a positive attitude


Support Services and Support Facilitation

Support services and support facilitation themes cited as having a posi-tive impact on performance included the following having social supporthaving USOC support having and using family and media plans the useof team doctorsport medicine having NGB staff support familiarity withsupport staff and access to e-mail Nine athletes cited social support in-cluding support from family and friends as a positive performance factorOne gold medalist said ldquothe support from my family and friends had a realpositive influence knowing that theyrsquore there and theyrsquore behind youno matter whatrdquo

USOC support both in terms of funding and support staff was cited byfive athletes One athlete said

The USOC was very helpful at the processing they give you a book withpictures [of USOC staff and volunteers who have specific US team duties at theGames eg transportation media etc] most people they donrsquot know whatto do with it but it was for me a tool

Related to USOC funding one gold medal winner said ldquoitrsquos great [Op-eration Gold funding] because someone like myself itrsquos really hard to trainsix hours a day and still have a job for moneyrdquo

Family and media plans were mentioned as positive performance fac-tors One gold medalistrsquos family plan included writing a letter to his par-ents and friends and then following up with a phone call He indicated thatprior to his letter his parents and friends wanted to talk about the Olym-pics all of the time He said ldquofor me it was difficult to be able to sit downand talk about the Olympics everyday with my parents when I didnrsquot evenknow if I was going or notrdquo Another medalist described how his teamhandled dealing with the media He said ldquowe were just so well prepared interms of what we were going to expect like this is media time 45minutes after practice one hour after a game Media wasnrsquot allowed induring practice time So it was very well definedrdquo

Other positive performance factors within the support services and sup-port facilitation category included team doctors and sport medicine NGBstaff support familiarity with support staff and communication to friendsand family via e-mail

168 GREENLEAF ET AL

Physical Preparation

Numerous physical preparation themes emerged as positive factors con-tributing to athletesrsquo Olympic performance including being physically well-prepared taking breaks and avoiding overtraining focusing on good nutri-tion focusing on technical cues and conserving energy Being physicallywell-prepared was cited by nine athletes One gold medalist said ldquoonething individually that I think helped me tremendously was I had beenworking with a strength and conditioning coach like two years beforethe Olympics And I think that was extremely important for merdquo An-other gold medalist stated ldquoI started training earlier and twice as hard I mean everything was five times harder than Irsquove ever done just every-thing this Olympics was going towards getting a medalrdquo

Related to being physically well-prepared five athletes noted that theyconsciously took breaks from training and avoided overtraining One med-alist stated ldquoI tried not to overtrain Usually close to the Olympics I getnervous and overtrainrdquo Another athlete said ldquothe time I took prior to theGames away from the team really helped me Giving myself a momentarya break for a little bit and then being able to pop back all rejuvenated notdistracted feeling just pumped up That was really helpfulrdquo

Other positive performance factors related to physical training includedfocusing on good nutrition focusing on technical cues and conservingenergy

Coaching

Coaching related themes that athletes cited as positive performance fac-tors included having coach contact trust and friendship receiving coachfeedback the availability of onersquos personal coach and the coach having agood plan Twelve of the 15 athletes cited coach contact trust and friend-ship as having a positive impact on their Olympic performance One goldmedalist went into great detail describing the impact of her coach Shedetailed how her coach kept the team together and positive clarified ath-lete roles respected all athletes and was respected by athletes was trustedby athletes taught athletes to take responsibility for their own performanceand developed and implemented a sound physical and mental preparationprogram Another gold medalist emphasized the importance of his coachbeing a trusted friend He said ldquothe coaches that have really been effectivewith me are the ones that have been not only coaches but good friendsBecause when you spend so much time together thatrsquos the only way it canworkrdquo


Athletes also cited having coach feedback having access to onersquospersonal coach and coach planning as having positive impacts on perfor-mance

Multifaceted Preparation

Numerous multifaceted preparation themes emerged from the interviewdata including knowing what to expect and expecting the unexpected train-ing at or visiting venue prior to Games participating in Olympic simula-tions taking advantage of every resource and talking to previous Olympi-ans Additionally factors related to multifaceted preparation that were per-ceived to have positively influenced performance included securing a spoton team early taking responsibility for and executing training plans treat-ing everyday of training like Olympics learning from mistakes during yearprior to Olympics and taking responsibility for previous Olympic failureand adjusting preparation

Knowing what to expect and expecting the unexpected were cited by sixathletes as factors that positively impacted their Olympic performance Agold medalist said ldquowe were very prepared and knew what to expect interms of what it was going to be like playing there like in terms of thecompetition and most of our surroundingsrdquo Another medalist referring tohis past Olympic experience said ldquoIn rsquo92 I thought at the Olympics every-thing would go smooth and then when things didnrsquot go [smoothly] yoursquodbe like wait a minute [So] you have to prepare for the worst and beprepared for the unexpectedrdquo

Training at or visiting the venue prior to Games and participating inOlympic simulations were each cited by three athletes as having positivelyimpacted their performance Using all possible resources talking to previ-ous Olympians and securing a spot on team early were each reported bytwo athletes as positive performance factors Other positive factors relatedto multifaceted preparation included taking responsibility for and execut-ing training plan using a performance checklist treating every day of train-ing like Olympic competition learning from mistakes during year prior tothe Olympics taking responsibility for previous Olympic failure and ad-justing preparation

Training and Performance Routines

Several athletes indicated the importance of training and performanceroutines related factors including having and sticking to a routine and us-

170 GREENLEAF ET AL

ing a performance checklist Eight athletes cited having and sticking to aroutine as a positive performance factor One medalist noted the impor-tance of sticking to a routine especially in stressful situations She said ldquoIjust tried to mainly stick to the routine just how I normally [perform] andwhat I normally do Sometimes itrsquos like you want your habits to always behabits but yoursquore so distracted that you really have to think about wellwhat is it that I dordquo

Olympic Housing

Related to Olympic housing athletes mentioned secluding and isolatingoneself Olympic village convenience and leaving the village to train dur-ing Games as factors that positive impacted performance Four athletesindicated that they secluded or isolated themselves prior to and at the GamesOne medalist said ldquoI was almost self-centered in a way and I wasnrsquot pay-ing attention to anything on the outside and I was just concentrating onmyselfrdquo Another medalist indicated that secluding himself was positiveas he said ldquoif you want to win you really have to kind of seclude yourselffrom all the actionrdquo

Olympic Excitement

Factors related to Olympic excitement were reported by six athletesRelated to the excitement of the Olympics one athlete said ldquoI think youget that adrenaline thing going cause it is the Olympics I think thathelps you I think it helped me [perform] betterrdquo Additionally three ofthe eight Atlanta Olympians interviewed mentioned the fact that the Gameswere held in the US as a positive performance factor

Team Unity

Team unity was mentioned by six athletes as having a positive impacton Olympic performance One athlete spoke about the unity on her teamsaying ldquoI think what positively influenced our performance was the factthat wersquod done it so many times as a unit and we get along well We workreal well together as a teamrdquo One gold medal winner frequently referredto the trust and cohesion on her team She said ldquoI think it was the members of the team like really putting an effort into being a team andcoming together and being able to trust all of your teammateshellipand tohave that trust I think that makes a big differencerdquo Several individualsport athletes also spoke of the importance of team cohesion One gold


medalist said ldquojust to know that I wasnrsquot out there by myself I had themand they were there with me toordquo

NEGATIVE FACTORS INFLUENCINGPERFORMANCE

Negative performance factors fell into the categories (a) departure fromnormal routine (b) media distractions (c) coach issues (d) overtraining(e) injury (f) team selection (g) housingvillage (h) team issues (i) train-ing (j) lack of support (k) jobmoney concerns (l) jet lagtravel (m) fam-ilyfriend concerns (n) officials and (o) miscellaneous factors Figure 2provides frequency data for themes and higher order categories thatemerged

Departure from Normal Routine

A variety of actions related to departure from normal routine were citedby nine athletes as having had a negative influence on Olympic perfor-mance Departures from normal routine included arriving to the Olympicstoo early arriving at the performance venue too early team leaders actingdifferently at the Games holding back to avoid mistakes being unexpect-edly nervous being emotionally on edge encountering a different timeformat for competition and being forced out of onersquos performance planTwo athletes indicated that they arrived at the Games too early One med-alist said ldquoyou have 2 or 3 weeks of everyday being a big day trying to finetune and itrsquos like yoursquore sick of it it was too long of us being readyrdquoSimilarly one athlete reported arriving at his venue too early saying ldquobe-ing at the venue earlier than we were supposed to I was there like fouror five hours before I would normally have been thererdquo

Two athletes indicated that the behavior of their team leaders or coacheschanged at the Games One athlete spoke of her team leader and said ldquoshekind of freaked out on me a couple of times shersquos been there a ton oftimes all the World Championships with us but I was surprised at some ofher reactionsrdquo Another athlete reported that her coaches took a ldquohandsoffrdquo approach prior to and at the Games which was very different fromtheir typical coaching style

Other negative performance factors related to departure from normalroutine included holding back to avoid mistakes being unexpectedly ner-vous being emotionally on edge encountering a different time format forcompetition and being forced out of onersquos performance plan

172 GREENLEAF ET AL

Figure 2 Themes and categories for negative factors of influence Frequencies indicatedin parentheses

Raw Data Themes Main Number ofCategories Athletes Citing

Main CategoryArriving to Olympics too early (2)Hoopla of Olympics distracting (1)Team leaders acting differently at Games (2)Holding back to avoid mistakes (1) Departure from 8Arriving at venue too early (1) Normal Routine (11)Experiencing unexpected nervousnessstress (1)Feeling unusually emotionally on edge (1)Different time format for competition (1)Being forced out of performance plan (1)

Experiencing coach conflict (3)Experiencing power conflicts (1)Coach-athlete conflicts over training (1)Lack of access to personal coach (1)Inaccurate technical information from coach (1) Coach Issues (10) 7Failure of coaches to deal with selection controversy (1)Lack of coach focus on team climate (1)Coach made technical changes (1)

Experiencing media distractionsfailing to limit Media 8mediamedia pressure Distractions (8)

Overtrainingno breaks (4)Lack of time for relationships (3)

Injury prevented training (6) Injury (6) 6

Qualification stress (4)Unclear selection criteriaprocess (3)Team trials too close to Games (3) Team Selection (12) 5Team selection controversy (1)Selection only based on US performance (1)

Housing problems (crowded co-ed) (2)No privacy at Games (1)Isolated housing (1)Roommate failure to deal with pressure (1)Lack of Olympic spirit (resulting from village set up) (1)

Negative teamNGB atmosphere (1)Poor interaction with teammates (1)NGB politics (1) Team Issues (5) 5Too much focus on Olympics by coaches and NGB (1)Team policies (1)

HousingVillage (6) 5

Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions

Eight athletes reported media distractions as a negative performancefactor One medalist was surprised by the intense media focus on her shesaid ldquothe media being there and itrsquos not just there but itrsquos in your facerdquo[italics added] Another medalist felt that ldquothe press is always rough onyou and theyrsquore always looking for another anglerdquo Athletes also felt me-dia distractions were a negative factor prior to the Games As one athletesaid ldquothat [media obligations] wore on us a bit because we had to be so


Main CategoryLack of access to sport psychology consultant (1)Lack of NGB support (1)Lack of ACOG support (1) Lack of Support (5) 3Credential problems (key personnel not

credentialed) (1)Lack of access to social support (1)

Disorganized training training problems (2)Individual training needs not taken into Training (4) 4

consideration (2)

Funding delays lack of funding (1)Job uncertainty year of Games (1)

Jet lag (1)Hectic travel schedule (1)

Concerns over familyfriends (2) FamilyFriends (2) 1

Bad call from officialslack of seasoned officials (1)Poor adjustment to bad calls (1)

Crowd noise (1)Competitorrsquos pre-Olympic success (1)Changing snow conditions (1) Miscellaneous (5) 5Having to adjust to equipment advances (1)Olympic paperwork (1)

Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL

many places when we could have used a little time of not worrying aboutthat Yoursquove got to get the word out about your sport especially becauseours is one that doesnrsquot get a lot of press So obviously we wanted to dothat but yet our coach was concerned about our rest and making sure wewere focusing on the right thingsrdquo

Coach Issues

Negative performance factors related to coach issues were reported byseven athletes Coaching related issues included coach conflict power con-flicts coach-athlete conflict over training lack of access to personal coachinaccurate technical information from coach failure of coach to deal withselection controversy lack of coach focus on team climate and technicalchanges made by coach Related to coach conflict one athlete said ldquotherewas an atmosphere of stress and tension among the staff coaching staffand it kind of permeated the whole atmosphere where all the athletes werelivingrdquo

Overtraining

Overtraining and not taking breaks were cited by six athletes as nega-tive performance factors One athlete pointed out that her NGB requiredher to compete in several races prior the Games She said ldquothe timing [ofthe races] was very poor and that contributed to overtraining and my per-formance was probably 80 at the Games due to fatigue and lack of recov-eryrdquo Also included in this category was a lack of time for personal rela-tionships cited by three athletes As one Olympian said ldquoit was hard tokind of be so committed to one thing [the Olympics] and have him [fianceacutee] not a part of it and hersquos kind of on the outside That was really hard tokind of sort of jugglerdquo

Injury

Six athletes indicated that being injured prevented training which nega-tively influenced their Olympic performance One athlete said ldquothat [be-ing injured] was an obstacle that was mentally scary and physically because you were just afraid because itrsquos kind of painfulrdquo

Team Selection

Issues related to team selection were cited as negative performance fac-tors by five athletes Team selection issues included qualification stress


unclear selection criteria and process selection too close to the Gamesteam selection controversy and team selection based only on US perfor-mance Four athletes reported that the stress of qualifying had a negativeimpact on their performance One athlete said ldquoyou were making sure thatyou struggled to remain on the teamrdquo [italics added] Three athletes spe-cifically cited unclear selection criteria as a negative factor One athletesaid ldquoThere wasnrsquot a real good selection criteria As athletes none of usknew in advance of that season how we were supposed to be chosenrdquoAthletes also reported that team selection occurred too close to the GamesOne example of this came from an athlete who said ldquowe were competingto get a spot on the Olympics and the next day we were on a plane to Japan I mean I literally got on a plane less than 24 hours after I finished therace for Japanrdquo

HousingVillage

Five athletes reported issues related to housing and the village as nega-tive performance factors including crowdedco-ed housing having no pri-vacy at the Games having isolated housing roommate failure to deal withpressure and a lack of Olympic spirit in the Village

Team Issues

Five athletes indicated that factors related to team issues negatively im-pacted performance including a negative team and NGB atmosphere poorinteraction with teammates NGB politics too much focus on the Olym-pics by coaches and NGB and team politics

Training Issues

Issues related to training which negatively impacted performance werementioned by four Olympians and included disorganized training and alack of individualization of training One athlete said ldquoby the time that Igot to the Olympics I just didnrsquot have control over my trainingrdquo

Lack of Support

Three athletes cited factors related to lack of support as having had anegative impact on their Olympic performance These factors included nothaving access to a sport psychology consultant not having NGB or At-lanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) support credentialingproblems and not having access to social support

176 GREENLEAF ET AL

COMPARISON OF ATHLETES WHO METEXCEEDEDAND FAILED TO MET EXPECTATIONS

Looking across positive performance factors few differences emergedbetween athletes who met or exceeded and failed to meet performanceexpectations Table 1 provides a breakdown of the frequencies of positivefactor themes within each higher order category and the number of Olym-pians whose responses fell within each theme across athletes who met andfailed to meet performance expectations

The positive performance category of psychological factors attitudetowards the Games was one category that seemed to reflect distinct differ-ences between those athletes who met or exceeded expectations and thosewho failed to meet expectations While all eight athletes who met expecta-tions mentioned factors related to the attitude category only one athletewho failed to meet expectations did so Specifically four athletes who metexpectations mentioned secluding and isolating themselves at the Gamesand adopting a time to showoff or no stopping me attitude Additionallytwo athletes who met expectations commented on having a job to do orien-tation In addition to the difference in the number of Olympians whosecomments were grouped in the attitude category the number of raw datathemes within this category also differed Positive factors mentioned byathletes who met expectations included 15 raw data themes while com-ments by athletes who failed to meet expectations included only four rawdata themes within the attitude category

Several slight differences in the positive performance factor categoriesemerged between groups in two categories team unity and Olympic hous-ing Four athletes who met or exceeded performance expectations indi-cated factors related to team unity as having positively influence their per-formance while only one athlete who failed to meet performance expecta-tions mentioned team as an important positive performance factor Simi-larly five athletes who met or exceeded performance expectations indi-cated that factors related to Olympic housing had a positive impacton performance while only one athlete who failed to meet expectationsdid so

Table 2 provides the breakdown of negative factors across athletes whomet and failed to meet performance expectations Across all negative per-formance factors athletes who met expectations and athletes who failed tomeet performance expectations differed both in the number of Olympianswho cited themes and in the number of themes cited within four catego-


ries team selection coach issues lack of support and team issues Thegreatest differences emerged in the team selection category Athletes whomet expectations did not cite any themes while five athletes who failed tomeet expectations reported a total of 12 themes within team selectionQualification stress (n = 4) unclear selection criteria and process (n = 3)and trials too close to the Games (n = 3) were factors mentioned only byathletes who failed to meet expectations

Differences were also evident in the coach issues category One athletewho met expectations mentioned one negative factor while six athleteswho failed to meet expectations mentioned a total of nine themes withincoach issues Within the lack of support category no athletes who metexpectations mentioned any themes while three athletes who did not meetexpectations commented on a total of five themes Finally while athleteswho met expectations failed to mention any themes related to team issuesfive athletes who failed to meet expectations cited five themes

DISCUSSION

The purposes of this study were (a) to gain a better understanding offactors perceived to have positively and negatively influenced Olympicathlete performance (b) to examine differences in performance factors citedby athletes who met or exceeded expectations and athletes who failed tomeet expectations and (c) to triangulate the results of previous focus groupinterviews with the individual interviews in the present study In examin-ing the first purpose factors perceived to have positively influenced per-formance included mental skills and preparation attitude towards the gamessupport services and support facilitation multifaceted preparation physi-cal training coaching Olympic excitement Olympic housing and teamunity Major factors perceived to have negatively influenced performanceincluded departing from normal routine media distractions coaching over-training and injury These findings revealed then that many Olympic per-formance influencing factors are psychological in nature once again dem-onstrating the importance that mental factors play in elite sport perfor-mance However numerous other non-psychological factors such as Olym-pic housing physical training and multifaceted preparation were identi-fied as major performance influences As sport psychology consultantsand researchers we must be aware of these additional factors and theirinfluences on athlete performance The interactions that these factors havewith psychological factors must also be examined

178 GREENLEAF ET AL

The second purpose of this study was to examine differences betweenathletes who met performance expectations and those who did not meetexpectations Positive performance factors that differed between the twogroups included attitude towards the games team unity and Olympic hous-ing Negative factors that differed between the groups included team se-lection coaching lack of support and team issues These findings provideevidence that more versus less successful athletes not only differ on psy-chological factors but other performance factors

In addition to investigating positive and negative performance factorsand group differences the present study sought to validate past peak per-formance literature and triangulate findings from the focus group inter-view results (Gould Guinan et al 1999) Main findings from this studysupport previous peak performance research including the importance ofmental training the delicate balance between physical training and over-training the importance of coach related issues the differential character-istic of attitude and the negative impact of team selection problems Com-monalities between the present study results and the results of the focusgroup interviews (Gould Guinan et al 1999) included the potential nega-tive impact of coaching issues on performance and the positive impact ofsocial support and team cohesion on performance

Specifically all 15 athletes interviewed commented on the importanceof some aspect of mental preparation and reported mental preparation ashaving a positive impact on performance Similar to Williams and Kranersquos(1998) review of attributes of peak performance the current study foundthat Olympians felt the use of psychological skills such as goal settinghaving high levels of confidence and having plans and preparation fordealing with distractions positively influenced their performance Simi-larly the present findings support the results of Orlick and Partington (1988)who found that mental readiness was a significant factor influencing finalOlympic ranking and Gould et al (1992a 1992b) who reported the im-portance of systematic mental preparation strategies associated with Olym-pic wrestling excellence Additionally results from the focus group inter-views with Atlanta Olympians and coaches during the study of this USOCproject indicated the importance for having well-developed routines andplans coping skills for dealing with distractions and having high levels ofconfidence (Gould Guinan et al 1999) The importance of mental prepa-ration was also cited as a positive factor by athletes involved in focus groupinterviews as a part of this larger grant (Gould Guinan et al 1999)

Athletes indicated that departing from their normal routine was a nega-


tive performance factor This finding confirms past research including thefindings of Orlick and Partington (1988) and Gould et al (1992a 1992b)Orlick and Partington (1988) found that Olympic athletes who failed toperform up to their potential changed things that had worked in the pastSimilarly Gould et al (1992a 1992b) found that wrestlers reported notadhering to their preparation routine prior to all time worst performances

Physical training was viewed as a positive performance factor whileovertraining and injury were viewed as negative Positively related to physi-cal training were being physically well-prepared and taking breaks to avoidovertraining Negative factors related to overtraining included not takingbreaks and a lack of time for relationships Athletes indicated negativeeffects of both the physical and mental aspects of overtraining Overtrain-ing is an important topic for sport physiologists (Hackney Pearman ampNowacki 1990 Murphy Fleck Dudley amp Callister 1990) and sport psy-chologists (Murphy et al 1990) Factors cited by athletes such as takingbreaks to avoid overtraining and experiencing a lack of time for relation-ships because of overtraining support Coakleyrsquos (1992) model of athleteburnout Coakley (1992) suggests that burnout occurs due to social organi-zational factors such as lack of control and personal disempowermentSupporting the current findings are the results from another part of thelarger project Similar to the Atlanta and Nagano athletes interviewed indi-vidually Atlanta athletes and coaches from the focus group interviewsfrom the larger project indicated that optimal physical conditioning whilenot overtraining had a major impact on Olympic performance (GouldGuinan et al 1999)

Athletes indicated that coaching related issues were an important per-formance factor Athletes who met or exceeded expectations reported thepositive impact of coach contact trust and friendship while athletes whofailed to meet expectations reported the negative impact of coach conflictResearch in the area of coach-athlete relationships is sparse yet based onthe findings of the present study athletes perceive coach contact trust andfriendship as important factors influencing performance Similarly to thefindings of the present study Vernacchia et alrsquos (2000) results indicatedthe importance of the coach-athlete relationship athlete trust in their coachand coach guidance in training The athletes in the present study were con-sistent in indicating the negative impact coach-athlete conflict can have onperformance Results from focus group interviews with US Olympianswhose teams met or failed to meet NGB performance expectations alsoidentified coaching issues such as lack of coach-athlete trust poor coach-

180 GREENLEAF ET AL

athlete communication and negative coach attitude as factors that nega-tively impacted performance Given these findings and few studies exam-ining the impact of coachndashathlete issues on performance research in thisarea is needed

An interesting finding of this study was the common characteristic ofattitude of athletes who met or exceeded performance expectations Ath-letes who met or exceeded expectations viewed the Olympics as their ldquotimeto shinerdquo Similar to the present finding Garfield and Bennett (1984) foundthat elite athletes described feeling confident and optimistic during ex-traordinary performances Additionally Jackson (1995) found that elitefigure skaters indicated that confidence and positive attitude were impor-tant antecedents to flow

Issues related to team selection had a major negative impact on athleteswho failed to meet performance expectations This finding concurs withthe results of Orlick and Partington (1988) indicating that late team selec-tion was one factor which negatively impacted performance Addition-ally recent research by Woodman and Hardy (1998) has shown the impor-tance of considering organizational stressors such as sport politics andpoor administration in studying peak performance

Strengths and Limitations

The current study has several strengths and limitations which need tobe understood in interpreting the results First the participants reportedboth positive and negative factors indicating a cooperative and honest ap-proach to the interviews Second a wide variety of factors were discussedin relation to performance including not only psychological factors butalso physical social and environmental factors Thus the study providesa broad holistic view of performance-influencing factors in the Olympicenvironment A third strength of this study is that the sample includedathletes from both Summer and Winter Olympics and from a wide varietyof sports

The main limiting factor of this study is the potential memory bias andor attribution effects due to the retrospective design Therefore cautionmust be taken in interpreting the results from the individual athlete inter-views Differences in positive and negative factors discussed by the ath-letes may have been due to the respective outcomes experienced by theathletes (either meetingexceeding or failing to meet performance expec-tations) In other words athletes who met or exceeded expectations may


have interpreted their Olympic experience focusing only on positive fac-tors while ignoring or blocking out any negative factors that may havebeen experienced Athletes who did not meet expectations may have re-flected back on their Olympic experience as negative Thus the resultsneed to be interpreted with some caution

The results of this study could also be criticized by some for its lack ofdepth relative to exploring the nuances of performance influencing psy-chological factors For example confidence was identified as a factor in-fluencing performance and the interviewer probed to be sure she under-stood how confidence influenced performance for the athletes who identi-fied it as such However additional follow-up probing based on Bandurarsquos(1977) theoretical contentions into the nature of self-efficacy was notuntaken The reason for this was twofold First the overall purpose of theresearch requested by the USOC was to identify all positive and negativeperformance influencing factors not to explore a few in depth Secondthese interviews were conducted with some of the most successful andsubsequently high profile US Olympic athletes Given their time sched-ules it was extremely difficult to get them to volunteer and schedule themfor one interview much less conducting follow-up interviews Never-theless the lack of depth in probing specific psychological factors is aweakness

Finally a common concern in investigations using qualitative methodspurposeful sampling and small sample sizes (like the present investiga-tion) is the issue of generalizability Moreover generalizability in natural-isticqualitative studies is not used the same as it is in traditionalpositivis-tic research (Patton 1990) In fact from an epistemological perspectivemany qualitative researchers argue generalizing results in the traditionalsense is almost impossible because human behavior is mediated by thecontext in which it occurs (eg Lincoln amp Guba 1985) In contrast theysuggest that authors moderately extrapolate and discuss the transferabilityof their findings beyond the narrow confines of a particular study while atthe same time providing enough description about the context and partici-pants that readers can make the decision as to whether results are appli-cable to other settings and with other individuals Hence by providing arich enough discussion of Olympic performance influencing factors read-ers can judge the applicability of the present findings to other athletes andcontexts The reader then is ultimately asked to judge the applications ofthese findings for use with other athletes in other settings

182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks

In summary Atlanta and Nagano athletes experienced numerous posi-tive and negative performance factors and some evidence of group differ-ences emerged between athletes who met or exceeded expectations andathletes who failed to meet expectations Important implications can bedrawn from the findings of the present study For example while generaltrends and factors of performance influence were found and provide usefulprinciples for guiding practice the individual interviews also showed thatthese general principles must be considered relative to each athletersquos per-sonal orientations and situational context Moreover while the general prin-ciples identified in this and other peak performance research should beused to guide practice they must be customized relative to each athletersquosunique psychological make-up and performance context Additionally inconsulting with elite athletes recognizing the complex nature of the nu-merous controllable and uncontrollable factors of both a psychological andnon psychological nature that can influence performance is essential Asone Olympian said ldquomore than anything athletes need to have a routineestablished and they need to stick with that routine and take refuge in thatroutine because at the Games everything changesrdquo The present findingsalso suggest the need for future research in the areas of coach-athlete rela-tionships the importance of physical training while avoiding overtrainingthe influence of onersquos attitude toward important competitions on perfor-mance and the impact of organizational stressors (such as late team selec-tion or NGB politics) on performance

These results also demonstrate how sport psychology researchers canaddress two of Griffithrsquos (1925) original functions of the field First theyshow how the scientific method can be used to help practitioners (USOCofficials) deal with practical problems in the field (eg determining whysome teams and athletes perform well in Olympic competition while oth-ers do not) And second they are consistent with Griffithrsquos contention thatsport psychology researchers must study experienced and successful ath-letes and coaches for the purpose of identifying the psychological prin-ciples they employ and then disseminate these principles to less experi-enced and successful athletes and coaches In fact consistent with thissecond purpose these results are being used to help athletes and coachesprepare for the Sydney and Salt Lake City Games In conjunction with theUSOC Sport Science and Technology Division an educational video forathletes and a series of five brochures and checklists were developed and


disseminated Therefore this research is being used to help athletes andcoaches better prepare for optimal Olympic performance and in so doingsolve practical problems for those involved in sport while also contribut-ing to our body of knowledge linking research to practice

REFERENCES

Bandura A (1977) Self-efficacy Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change Psycho-logical Review 84 191ndash215

Coakley J (1992) Burnout among adolescent athletes A personal failure or a social prob-lem Sociology of Sport Journal 9 271ndash285

Garfield C A amp Bennett H Z (1984) Peak performance Los Angeles TarcherGould D Eklund R C amp Jackson S A (1992a) 1988 US Olympic wrestling excel-

lence I Mental preparation precompetitive cognition and affect The Sport Psycholo-gist 6 358ndash382

Gould D Eklund R C amp Jackson S A (1992b) 1988 US Olympic wrestling excel-lence II Thoughts and affect occurring during competition The Sport Psychologist6 383ndash402

Gould D Finch L M amp Jackson S A (1993) Coping strategies utilized by nationalchampion figure skaters Research Quarterly for Exercise amp Sport 64 453ndash468

Gould D Greenleaf C Dieffenbach K Lauer L Chung Y Peterson K amp McCannS (1999) Positive and negative factors influencing US Olympic athlete and coachesNagano Games assessment US Olympic Committee Sport Science and TechnologyFinal Grant Report Colorado Springs Colorado

Gould D Guinan D Greenleaf C Medbery R amp Peterson K (1999) Factors affect-ing Olympic performance Perceptions of athletes and coaches from more and lesssuccessful teams The Sport Psychologist 13 371ndash394

Gould D Guinan D Greenleaf C Medbery R Strickland M Lauer L Chung Y ampPeterson K (1998) Positive and negative factors influencing US Olympic athleteand coaches Atlanta Games assessment US Olympic Committee Sport Science andTechnology Final Grant Report Colorado Springs Colorado

Gould D Jackson S A amp Finch L M (1993a) Life at the top The experience of USnational champion figure skaters The Sport Psychologist 7 354ndash374

Gould D Jackson S A amp Finch L M (1993b) Sources of stress in national championfigure skaters Journal of Sport amp Exercise Psychology 15 134ndash159

Griffith C R (1925) Psychology and its relation to athletic competition AmericanPhysical Education Review 30 193ndash199

Hackney A C Pearman S N amp Nowacki J M (1990) Physiological profiles of over-trained and stale athletes A review Journal of Applied Sport Psychology 2 21ndash33

Hemery D (1986) The pursuit of sporting excellence A study of sportrsquos highest achiev-ers Champaign IL Human Kinetics

Jackson S A (1995) Factors influencing the occurrence of flow states in elite athletesJournal of Applied Sport Psychology 7 138ndash166

Lincoln Y S amp Guba E G (1985) Naturalistic inquiry Newbury Park CA SageMiles M B amp Huberman A M (1994) Qualitative data analysis (2nd ed) Newbury

Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL

Murphy S M Fleck S J Dudley G amp Calister R (1990) Psychological and perfor-mance concomitants of increase volume training in elite athletes Journal of AppliedSport Psychology 2 34ndash50

Orlick T amp Partington J (1988) Mental links to excellence The Sport Psychologist 2105ndash130

Patton M Q (1990) Qualitative evaluation and research methods (2nd ed) NewburyPark CA Sage

Ungerleider S amp Golding J (1992) Beyond strength Psychological profiles of Olympicathletes Dubuque IA William C Brown Publishers

Vernacchia R A McGuire R T Reardon J P amp Templin D P (2000) Psychosocialcharacteristics of Olympic track and field athletes International Journal of Sport Psy-chology 31 5ndash23

Williams J M amp Krane V (1998) Psychological characteristics of peak performance InJ M Williams (Ed) Applied sport psychology Personal growth to peak performance(2nd ed pp 158ndash170) Mountain View CA Mayfield

Woodman T amp Hardy L (1998) Le stress organisationnel une etude de cas [Organiza-tional stress A study of one case] Presentation made at the Journeees nationales drsquoetudesde la societe Francaise de psychologie du sport Poitiers France


perform well under the unique conditions of the Olympics and other ath-letes do not the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) commissioneda large-scale project examining positive and negative factors that influ-enced Olympic athlete and coach performances in the Atlanta and NaganoOlympics1 Potential physical psychological environmental and socialfactors of influence were examined via surveys of Atlanta and Naganoathletes and coaches focus group interviews with Atlanta athletes indi-vidual interviews with Atlanta coaches and individual interviews with At-lanta and Nagano Olympians

The USOC request for this evaluation research project is consistent withtwo of the functions of sport psychology outlined by Griffith (1925) over75 years ago Specifically Griffith indicated that sport psychologists mustuse the scientific method to discover new facts and principles that wouldanswer practical problems facing those in the field He also indicated thatexperienced and successful coaches and athletes be systematically studiedfor the purposes of identifying the psychological principles they employand that these principles be disseminated to inexperienced and less suc-cessful coaches and athletes Ironically throughout this century researchaddressing these two functions (especially the evaluation research compo-nent) has been scant Rather most of the sport psychology research hasfocused on testing existing psychological research and theory in the sportcontext or has been descriptive in nature This project then allowed theinvestigators to address two important functions of the field which for themost part have been ignored

Focusing on the evaluation of the practical concerns and factors of per-formance influence facing Olympic athletes and coaches however doesnot imply that previous sport psychology research does not help us under-stand such practical problems Peak performance literature for instancehas consistently provided evidence of the importance of mental skills andpreparation for successful elite athletes (Gould Eklund amp Jackson 1992a1992b Gould Finch amp Jackson 1993 Gould Jackson amp Finch 1993a1993b Orlick amp Partington 1988 Williams amp Krane 1998) In reviewingdifferences between successful and less successful athletes Williams and

1 This research was supported by a grant from the Sport Science and Technology Divi-sion of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) The authors would like to thank JimPage and Sean McCann the sport psychology advisory subcommittee the USOC SportsMedicine Coaching Programs and Games Preparation Divisions and the USOC AlumniAssociation for their assistance

156 GREENLEAF ET AL







METHOD

Design





158 GREENLEAF ET AL


Participants


Interviewer


Procedure






Analysis



160 GREENLEAF ET AL



RESULTS




























162 GREENLEAF ET AL


















Games (1)



Figure 1 Continued


Tab

le 1

Gro

up D

iffe

renc

es in

Pos

itiv

e P

erfo

rman

ce F

acto

rsM

et o

r ex

ceed

ed e

xpec

tati

ons

Fai

led

to m

eet

expe

ctat

ions

Tot

al

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

them

esO

lym

pian

sth

emes

Oly

mpi

ans

them

esO

lym

pian

s(N

= 8

)(N

= 7

)(N

= 1

5)

Psy

chol

ogic

al S

kills

438

297

7215

(38

)(1

00

)(3

7)

(100

)

(36

)(1

00

)

Men

tal

Ski

lls a

nd P

repa

ratio

n28

824

752

15(2

3)

(100

)

(31

)(1

00

)(2

6)

(100

)

Atti

tude

Tow

ards

Gam

es

158

54

2012

(12

)(1

00

)(6

)

(58

)(1

0)

(80

)

Supp

ort

Ser

vice

s an

d Su

ppor

t18

720

738

14

Fac

ilita

tion

(15

)(8

7)

(26

)(1

00

)(1

9)

(93

)

Phys

ical

Pre

para

tion

148

65

2013

(11

)(1

00

)(8

)

(71

)(1

0)

(87

)

Coa

chin

g12

86

518

13(1

0)

(100

)

(8

)(7

1)

(9

)(8

7)

Mul

tifac

eted

Pre

para

tion

146

85

2211

(11

)(7

5)

(10

)(7

1)

(11

)(7

3)

Perf

orm

ance

and

Tra

inin

g6

53

39

8

Rou

tines

(5

)(6

2)

(4

)(4

3)

(5

)(5

3)

Oly

mpi

c H

ousi

ng

65

11

76

(5

)(6

2)

(1

)(1

4)

(3

)(4

0)

Oly

mpi

c E

xcit

emen

t2

24

46

6(2

)

(25

)(5

)

(57

)(3

)

(40

)

Tea

m U

nity

4

41

15

5(3

)

(50

)(1

)

(14

)(2

)

(33

)

TO

TA

L11

978

197

D

iscu

ssed

in

text

164 GREENLEAF ET AL




(N = 8) (N = 7) (N = 15)



Coach Issues 1 1 9 6 10 7(4) (12) (15) (86) (12) (47)

Overtraining 4 3 3 3 7 6(14) (37) (5) (43) (8) (40)

Injury 3 3 3 3 6 6(11) (37) (5) (43) (7) (40)

Team Selection 0 0 12 5 12 5(0) (0) (21) (71) (14) (33)

HousingVillage 2 2 3 3 5 5(7) (25) (5) (43) (7) (33)

Team Issues 0 0 5 5 5 5(0) (0) (9) (71) (6) (33)

Training 2 2 2 2 4 4(7) (25) (3) (29) (5) (27)

Lack of Support 0 0 5 3 5 3(0) (0) (9) (43) (6) (20)

JobsMoney 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Jet LagTravel 0 0 2 2 2 2(0) (0) (3) (29) (2) (13)

FamilyFriends 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Officials 0 0 2 1 2 1(0) (0) (3) (14) (2) (7)

Miscellaneous 2 2 3 2 5 4(7) (25) (5) (29) (6) (27)

TOTAL 28 58 86

Discussed in text







166 GREENLEAF ET AL















168 GREENLEAF ET AL





Coaching










170 GREENLEAF ET AL


Olympic Housing


Olympic Excitement


Team Unity










172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL








156 GREENLEAF ET AL







METHOD

Design





158 GREENLEAF ET AL


Participants


Interviewer


Procedure






Analysis



160 GREENLEAF ET AL



RESULTS




























162 GREENLEAF ET AL


















Games (1)



Figure 1 Continued


Tab

le 1

Gro

up D

iffe

renc

es in

Pos

itiv

e P

erfo

rman

ce F

acto

rsM

et o

r ex

ceed

ed e

xpec

tati

ons

Fai

led

to m

eet

expe

ctat

ions

Tot

al

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

them

esO

lym

pian

sth

emes

Oly

mpi

ans

them

esO

lym

pian

s(N

= 8

)(N

= 7

)(N

= 1

5)

Psy

chol

ogic

al S

kills

438

297

7215

(38

)(1

00

)(3

7)

(100

)

(36

)(1

00

)

Men

tal

Ski

lls a

nd P

repa

ratio

n28

824

752

15(2

3)

(100

)

(31

)(1

00

)(2

6)

(100

)

Atti

tude

Tow

ards

Gam

es

158

54

2012

(12

)(1

00

)(6

)

(58

)(1

0)

(80

)

Supp

ort

Ser

vice

s an

d Su

ppor

t18

720

738

14

Fac

ilita

tion

(15

)(8

7)

(26

)(1

00

)(1

9)

(93

)

Phys

ical

Pre

para

tion

148

65

2013

(11

)(1

00

)(8

)

(71

)(1

0)

(87

)

Coa

chin

g12

86

518

13(1

0)

(100

)

(8

)(7

1)

(9

)(8

7)

Mul

tifac

eted

Pre

para

tion

146

85

2211

(11

)(7

5)

(10

)(7

1)

(11

)(7

3)

Perf

orm

ance

and

Tra

inin

g6

53

39

8

Rou

tines

(5

)(6

2)

(4

)(4

3)

(5

)(5

3)

Oly

mpi

c H

ousi

ng

65

11

76

(5

)(6

2)

(1

)(1

4)

(3

)(4

0)

Oly

mpi

c E

xcit

emen

t2

24

46

6(2

)

(25

)(5

)

(57

)(3

)

(40

)

Tea

m U

nity

4

41

15

5(3

)

(50

)(1

)

(14

)(2

)

(33

)

TO

TA

L11

978

197

D

iscu

ssed

in

text

164 GREENLEAF ET AL




(N = 8) (N = 7) (N = 15)



Coach Issues 1 1 9 6 10 7(4) (12) (15) (86) (12) (47)

Overtraining 4 3 3 3 7 6(14) (37) (5) (43) (8) (40)

Injury 3 3 3 3 6 6(11) (37) (5) (43) (7) (40)

Team Selection 0 0 12 5 12 5(0) (0) (21) (71) (14) (33)

HousingVillage 2 2 3 3 5 5(7) (25) (5) (43) (7) (33)

Team Issues 0 0 5 5 5 5(0) (0) (9) (71) (6) (33)

Training 2 2 2 2 4 4(7) (25) (3) (29) (5) (27)

Lack of Support 0 0 5 3 5 3(0) (0) (9) (43) (6) (20)

JobsMoney 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Jet LagTravel 0 0 2 2 2 2(0) (0) (3) (29) (2) (13)

FamilyFriends 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Officials 0 0 2 1 2 1(0) (0) (3) (14) (2) (7)

Miscellaneous 2 2 3 2 5 4(7) (25) (5) (29) (6) (27)

TOTAL 28 58 86

Discussed in text







166 GREENLEAF ET AL















168 GREENLEAF ET AL





Coaching










170 GREENLEAF ET AL


Olympic Housing


Olympic Excitement


Team Unity










172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL










METHOD

Design





158 GREENLEAF ET AL


Participants


Interviewer


Procedure






Analysis



160 GREENLEAF ET AL



RESULTS




























162 GREENLEAF ET AL


















Games (1)



Figure 1 Continued


Tab

le 1

Gro

up D

iffe

renc

es in

Pos

itiv

e P

erfo

rman

ce F

acto

rsM

et o

r ex

ceed

ed e

xpec

tati

ons

Fai

led

to m

eet

expe

ctat

ions

Tot

al

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

them

esO

lym

pian

sth

emes

Oly

mpi

ans

them

esO

lym

pian

s(N

= 8

)(N

= 7

)(N

= 1

5)

Psy

chol

ogic

al S

kills

438

297

7215

(38

)(1

00

)(3

7)

(100

)

(36

)(1

00

)

Men

tal

Ski

lls a

nd P

repa

ratio

n28

824

752

15(2

3)

(100

)

(31

)(1

00

)(2

6)

(100

)

Atti

tude

Tow

ards

Gam

es

158

54

2012

(12

)(1

00

)(6

)

(58

)(1

0)

(80

)

Supp

ort

Ser

vice

s an

d Su

ppor

t18

720

738

14

Fac

ilita

tion

(15

)(8

7)

(26

)(1

00

)(1

9)

(93

)

Phys

ical

Pre

para

tion

148

65

2013

(11

)(1

00

)(8

)

(71

)(1

0)

(87

)

Coa

chin

g12

86

518

13(1

0)

(100

)

(8

)(7

1)

(9

)(8

7)

Mul

tifac

eted

Pre

para

tion

146

85

2211

(11

)(7

5)

(10

)(7

1)

(11

)(7

3)

Perf

orm

ance

and

Tra

inin

g6

53

39

8

Rou

tines

(5

)(6

2)

(4

)(4

3)

(5

)(5

3)

Oly

mpi

c H

ousi

ng

65

11

76

(5

)(6

2)

(1

)(1

4)

(3

)(4

0)

Oly

mpi

c E

xcit

emen

t2

24

46

6(2

)

(25

)(5

)

(57

)(3

)

(40

)

Tea

m U

nity

4

41

15

5(3

)

(50

)(1

)

(14

)(2

)

(33

)

TO

TA

L11

978

197

D

iscu

ssed

in

text

164 GREENLEAF ET AL




(N = 8) (N = 7) (N = 15)



Coach Issues 1 1 9 6 10 7(4) (12) (15) (86) (12) (47)

Overtraining 4 3 3 3 7 6(14) (37) (5) (43) (8) (40)

Injury 3 3 3 3 6 6(11) (37) (5) (43) (7) (40)

Team Selection 0 0 12 5 12 5(0) (0) (21) (71) (14) (33)

HousingVillage 2 2 3 3 5 5(7) (25) (5) (43) (7) (33)

Team Issues 0 0 5 5 5 5(0) (0) (9) (71) (6) (33)

Training 2 2 2 2 4 4(7) (25) (3) (29) (5) (27)

Lack of Support 0 0 5 3 5 3(0) (0) (9) (43) (6) (20)

JobsMoney 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Jet LagTravel 0 0 2 2 2 2(0) (0) (3) (29) (2) (13)

FamilyFriends 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Officials 0 0 2 1 2 1(0) (0) (3) (14) (2) (7)

Miscellaneous 2 2 3 2 5 4(7) (25) (5) (29) (6) (27)

TOTAL 28 58 86

Discussed in text







166 GREENLEAF ET AL















168 GREENLEAF ET AL





Coaching










170 GREENLEAF ET AL


Olympic Housing


Olympic Excitement


Team Unity










172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL








158 GREENLEAF ET AL


Participants


Interviewer


Procedure






Analysis



160 GREENLEAF ET AL



RESULTS




























162 GREENLEAF ET AL


















Games (1)



Figure 1 Continued


Tab

le 1

Gro

up D

iffe

renc

es in

Pos

itiv

e P

erfo

rman

ce F

acto

rsM

et o

r ex

ceed

ed e

xpec

tati

ons

Fai

led

to m

eet

expe

ctat

ions

Tot

al

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

them

esO

lym

pian

sth

emes

Oly

mpi

ans

them

esO

lym

pian

s(N

= 8

)(N

= 7

)(N

= 1

5)

Psy

chol

ogic

al S

kills

438

297

7215

(38

)(1

00

)(3

7)

(100

)

(36

)(1

00

)

Men

tal

Ski

lls a

nd P

repa

ratio

n28

824

752

15(2

3)

(100

)

(31

)(1

00

)(2

6)

(100

)

Atti

tude

Tow

ards

Gam

es

158

54

2012

(12

)(1

00

)(6

)

(58

)(1

0)

(80

)

Supp

ort

Ser

vice

s an

d Su

ppor

t18

720

738

14

Fac

ilita

tion

(15

)(8

7)

(26

)(1

00

)(1

9)

(93

)

Phys

ical

Pre

para

tion

148

65

2013

(11

)(1

00

)(8

)

(71

)(1

0)

(87

)

Coa

chin

g12

86

518

13(1

0)

(100

)

(8

)(7

1)

(9

)(8

7)

Mul

tifac

eted

Pre

para

tion

146

85

2211

(11

)(7

5)

(10

)(7

1)

(11

)(7

3)

Perf

orm

ance

and

Tra

inin

g6

53

39

8

Rou

tines

(5

)(6

2)

(4

)(4

3)

(5

)(5

3)

Oly

mpi

c H

ousi

ng

65

11

76

(5

)(6

2)

(1

)(1

4)

(3

)(4

0)

Oly

mpi

c E

xcit

emen

t2

24

46

6(2

)

(25

)(5

)

(57

)(3

)

(40

)

Tea

m U

nity

4

41

15

5(3

)

(50

)(1

)

(14

)(2

)

(33

)

TO

TA

L11

978

197

D

iscu

ssed

in

text

164 GREENLEAF ET AL




(N = 8) (N = 7) (N = 15)



Coach Issues 1 1 9 6 10 7(4) (12) (15) (86) (12) (47)

Overtraining 4 3 3 3 7 6(14) (37) (5) (43) (8) (40)

Injury 3 3 3 3 6 6(11) (37) (5) (43) (7) (40)

Team Selection 0 0 12 5 12 5(0) (0) (21) (71) (14) (33)

HousingVillage 2 2 3 3 5 5(7) (25) (5) (43) (7) (33)

Team Issues 0 0 5 5 5 5(0) (0) (9) (71) (6) (33)

Training 2 2 2 2 4 4(7) (25) (3) (29) (5) (27)

Lack of Support 0 0 5 3 5 3(0) (0) (9) (43) (6) (20)

JobsMoney 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Jet LagTravel 0 0 2 2 2 2(0) (0) (3) (29) (2) (13)

FamilyFriends 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Officials 0 0 2 1 2 1(0) (0) (3) (14) (2) (7)

Miscellaneous 2 2 3 2 5 4(7) (25) (5) (29) (6) (27)

TOTAL 28 58 86

Discussed in text







166 GREENLEAF ET AL















168 GREENLEAF ET AL





Coaching










170 GREENLEAF ET AL


Olympic Housing


Olympic Excitement


Team Unity










172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL











Analysis



160 GREENLEAF ET AL



RESULTS




























162 GREENLEAF ET AL


















Games (1)



Figure 1 Continued


Tab

le 1

Gro

up D

iffe

renc

es in

Pos

itiv

e P

erfo

rman

ce F

acto

rsM

et o

r ex

ceed

ed e

xpec

tati

ons

Fai

led

to m

eet

expe

ctat

ions

Tot

al

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

them

esO

lym

pian

sth

emes

Oly

mpi

ans

them

esO

lym

pian

s(N

= 8

)(N

= 7

)(N

= 1

5)

Psy

chol

ogic

al S

kills

438

297

7215

(38

)(1

00

)(3

7)

(100

)

(36

)(1

00

)

Men

tal

Ski

lls a

nd P

repa

ratio

n28

824

752

15(2

3)

(100

)

(31

)(1

00

)(2

6)

(100

)

Atti

tude

Tow

ards

Gam

es

158

54

2012

(12

)(1

00

)(6

)

(58

)(1

0)

(80

)

Supp

ort

Ser

vice

s an

d Su

ppor

t18

720

738

14

Fac

ilita

tion

(15

)(8

7)

(26

)(1

00

)(1

9)

(93

)

Phys

ical

Pre

para

tion

148

65

2013

(11

)(1

00

)(8

)

(71

)(1

0)

(87

)

Coa

chin

g12

86

518

13(1

0)

(100

)

(8

)(7

1)

(9

)(8

7)

Mul

tifac

eted

Pre

para

tion

146

85

2211

(11

)(7

5)

(10

)(7

1)

(11

)(7

3)

Perf

orm

ance

and

Tra

inin

g6

53

39

8

Rou

tines

(5

)(6

2)

(4

)(4

3)

(5

)(5

3)

Oly

mpi

c H

ousi

ng

65

11

76

(5

)(6

2)

(1

)(1

4)

(3

)(4

0)

Oly

mpi

c E

xcit

emen

t2

24

46

6(2

)

(25

)(5

)

(57

)(3

)

(40

)

Tea

m U

nity

4

41

15

5(3

)

(50

)(1

)

(14

)(2

)

(33

)

TO

TA

L11

978

197

D

iscu

ssed

in

text

164 GREENLEAF ET AL




(N = 8) (N = 7) (N = 15)



Coach Issues 1 1 9 6 10 7(4) (12) (15) (86) (12) (47)

Overtraining 4 3 3 3 7 6(14) (37) (5) (43) (8) (40)

Injury 3 3 3 3 6 6(11) (37) (5) (43) (7) (40)

Team Selection 0 0 12 5 12 5(0) (0) (21) (71) (14) (33)

HousingVillage 2 2 3 3 5 5(7) (25) (5) (43) (7) (33)

Team Issues 0 0 5 5 5 5(0) (0) (9) (71) (6) (33)

Training 2 2 2 2 4 4(7) (25) (3) (29) (5) (27)

Lack of Support 0 0 5 3 5 3(0) (0) (9) (43) (6) (20)

JobsMoney 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Jet LagTravel 0 0 2 2 2 2(0) (0) (3) (29) (2) (13)

FamilyFriends 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Officials 0 0 2 1 2 1(0) (0) (3) (14) (2) (7)

Miscellaneous 2 2 3 2 5 4(7) (25) (5) (29) (6) (27)

TOTAL 28 58 86

Discussed in text







166 GREENLEAF ET AL















168 GREENLEAF ET AL





Coaching










170 GREENLEAF ET AL


Olympic Housing


Olympic Excitement


Team Unity










172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL








160 GREENLEAF ET AL



RESULTS




























162 GREENLEAF ET AL


















Games (1)



Figure 1 Continued


Tab

le 1

Gro

up D

iffe

renc

es in

Pos

itiv

e P

erfo

rman

ce F

acto

rsM

et o

r ex

ceed

ed e

xpec

tati

ons

Fai

led

to m

eet

expe

ctat

ions

Tot

al

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

them

esO

lym

pian

sth

emes

Oly

mpi

ans

them

esO

lym

pian

s(N

= 8

)(N

= 7

)(N

= 1

5)

Psy

chol

ogic

al S

kills

438

297

7215

(38

)(1

00

)(3

7)

(100

)

(36

)(1

00

)

Men

tal

Ski

lls a

nd P

repa

ratio

n28

824

752

15(2

3)

(100

)

(31

)(1

00

)(2

6)

(100

)

Atti

tude

Tow

ards

Gam

es

158

54

2012

(12

)(1

00

)(6

)

(58

)(1

0)

(80

)

Supp

ort

Ser

vice

s an

d Su

ppor

t18

720

738

14

Fac

ilita

tion

(15

)(8

7)

(26

)(1

00

)(1

9)

(93

)

Phys

ical

Pre

para

tion

148

65

2013

(11

)(1

00

)(8

)

(71

)(1

0)

(87

)

Coa

chin

g12

86

518

13(1

0)

(100

)

(8

)(7

1)

(9

)(8

7)

Mul

tifac

eted

Pre

para

tion

146

85

2211

(11

)(7

5)

(10

)(7

1)

(11

)(7

3)

Perf

orm

ance

and

Tra

inin

g6

53

39

8

Rou

tines

(5

)(6

2)

(4

)(4

3)

(5

)(5

3)

Oly

mpi

c H

ousi

ng

65

11

76

(5

)(6

2)

(1

)(1

4)

(3

)(4

0)

Oly

mpi

c E

xcit

emen

t2

24

46

6(2

)

(25

)(5

)

(57

)(3

)

(40

)

Tea

m U

nity

4

41

15

5(3

)

(50

)(1

)

(14

)(2

)

(33

)

TO

TA

L11

978

197

D

iscu

ssed

in

text

164 GREENLEAF ET AL




(N = 8) (N = 7) (N = 15)



Coach Issues 1 1 9 6 10 7(4) (12) (15) (86) (12) (47)

Overtraining 4 3 3 3 7 6(14) (37) (5) (43) (8) (40)

Injury 3 3 3 3 6 6(11) (37) (5) (43) (7) (40)

Team Selection 0 0 12 5 12 5(0) (0) (21) (71) (14) (33)

HousingVillage 2 2 3 3 5 5(7) (25) (5) (43) (7) (33)

Team Issues 0 0 5 5 5 5(0) (0) (9) (71) (6) (33)

Training 2 2 2 2 4 4(7) (25) (3) (29) (5) (27)

Lack of Support 0 0 5 3 5 3(0) (0) (9) (43) (6) (20)

JobsMoney 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Jet LagTravel 0 0 2 2 2 2(0) (0) (3) (29) (2) (13)

FamilyFriends 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Officials 0 0 2 1 2 1(0) (0) (3) (14) (2) (7)

Miscellaneous 2 2 3 2 5 4(7) (25) (5) (29) (6) (27)

TOTAL 28 58 86

Discussed in text







166 GREENLEAF ET AL















168 GREENLEAF ET AL





Coaching










170 GREENLEAF ET AL


Olympic Housing


Olympic Excitement


Team Unity










172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL






























162 GREENLEAF ET AL


















Games (1)



Figure 1 Continued


Tab

le 1

Gro

up D

iffe

renc

es in

Pos

itiv

e P

erfo

rman

ce F

acto

rsM

et o

r ex

ceed

ed e

xpec

tati

ons

Fai

led

to m

eet

expe

ctat

ions

Tot

al

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

them

esO

lym

pian

sth

emes

Oly

mpi

ans

them

esO

lym

pian

s(N

= 8

)(N

= 7

)(N

= 1

5)

Psy

chol

ogic

al S

kills

438

297

7215

(38

)(1

00

)(3

7)

(100

)

(36

)(1

00

)

Men

tal

Ski

lls a

nd P

repa

ratio

n28

824

752

15(2

3)

(100

)

(31

)(1

00

)(2

6)

(100

)

Atti

tude

Tow

ards

Gam

es

158

54

2012

(12

)(1

00

)(6

)

(58

)(1

0)

(80

)

Supp

ort

Ser

vice

s an

d Su

ppor

t18

720

738

14

Fac

ilita

tion

(15

)(8

7)

(26

)(1

00

)(1

9)

(93

)

Phys

ical

Pre

para

tion

148

65

2013

(11

)(1

00

)(8

)

(71

)(1

0)

(87

)

Coa

chin

g12

86

518

13(1

0)

(100

)

(8

)(7

1)

(9

)(8

7)

Mul

tifac

eted

Pre

para

tion

146

85

2211

(11

)(7

5)

(10

)(7

1)

(11

)(7

3)

Perf

orm

ance

and

Tra

inin

g6

53

39

8

Rou

tines

(5

)(6

2)

(4

)(4

3)

(5

)(5

3)

Oly

mpi

c H

ousi

ng

65

11

76

(5

)(6

2)

(1

)(1

4)

(3

)(4

0)

Oly

mpi

c E

xcit

emen

t2

24

46

6(2

)

(25

)(5

)

(57

)(3

)

(40

)

Tea

m U

nity

4

41

15

5(3

)

(50

)(1

)

(14

)(2

)

(33

)

TO

TA

L11

978

197

D

iscu

ssed

in

text

164 GREENLEAF ET AL




(N = 8) (N = 7) (N = 15)



Coach Issues 1 1 9 6 10 7(4) (12) (15) (86) (12) (47)

Overtraining 4 3 3 3 7 6(14) (37) (5) (43) (8) (40)

Injury 3 3 3 3 6 6(11) (37) (5) (43) (7) (40)

Team Selection 0 0 12 5 12 5(0) (0) (21) (71) (14) (33)

HousingVillage 2 2 3 3 5 5(7) (25) (5) (43) (7) (33)

Team Issues 0 0 5 5 5 5(0) (0) (9) (71) (6) (33)

Training 2 2 2 2 4 4(7) (25) (3) (29) (5) (27)

Lack of Support 0 0 5 3 5 3(0) (0) (9) (43) (6) (20)

JobsMoney 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Jet LagTravel 0 0 2 2 2 2(0) (0) (3) (29) (2) (13)

FamilyFriends 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Officials 0 0 2 1 2 1(0) (0) (3) (14) (2) (7)

Miscellaneous 2 2 3 2 5 4(7) (25) (5) (29) (6) (27)

TOTAL 28 58 86

Discussed in text







166 GREENLEAF ET AL















168 GREENLEAF ET AL





Coaching










170 GREENLEAF ET AL


Olympic Housing


Olympic Excitement


Team Unity










172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL









Tab

le 1

Gro

up D

iffe

renc

es in

Pos

itiv

e P

erfo

rman

ce F

acto

rsM

et o

r ex

ceed

ed e

xpec

tati

ons

Fai

led

to m

eet

expe

ctat

ions

Tot

al

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

Num

ber

ofN

umbe

r of

them

esO

lym

pian

sth

emes

Oly

mpi

ans

them

esO

lym

pian

s(N

= 8

)(N

= 7

)(N

= 1

5)

Psy

chol

ogic

al S

kills

438

297

7215

(38

)(1

00

)(3

7)

(100

)

(36

)(1

00

)

Men

tal

Ski

lls a

nd P

repa

ratio

n28

824

752

15(2

3)

(100

)

(31

)(1

00

)(2

6)

(100

)

Atti

tude

Tow

ards

Gam

es

158

54

2012

(12

)(1

00

)(6

)

(58

)(1

0)

(80

)

Supp

ort

Ser

vice

s an

d Su

ppor

t18

720

738

14

Fac

ilita

tion

(15

)(8

7)

(26

)(1

00

)(1

9)

(93

)

Phys

ical

Pre

para

tion

148

65

2013

(11

)(1

00

)(8

)

(71

)(1

0)

(87

)

Coa

chin

g12

86

518

13(1

0)

(100

)

(8

)(7

1)

(9

)(8

7)

Mul

tifac

eted

Pre

para

tion

146

85

2211

(11

)(7

5)

(10

)(7

1)

(11

)(7

3)

Perf

orm

ance

and

Tra

inin

g6

53

39

8

Rou

tines

(5

)(6

2)

(4

)(4

3)

(5

)(5

3)

Oly

mpi

c H

ousi

ng

65

11

76

(5

)(6

2)

(1

)(1

4)

(3

)(4

0)

Oly

mpi

c E

xcit

emen

t2

24

46

6(2

)

(25

)(5

)

(57

)(3

)

(40

)

Tea

m U

nity

4

41

15

5(3

)

(50

)(1

)

(14

)(2

)

(33

)

TO

TA

L11

978

197

D

iscu

ssed

in

text

164 GREENLEAF ET AL




(N = 8) (N = 7) (N = 15)



Coach Issues 1 1 9 6 10 7(4) (12) (15) (86) (12) (47)

Overtraining 4 3 3 3 7 6(14) (37) (5) (43) (8) (40)

Injury 3 3 3 3 6 6(11) (37) (5) (43) (7) (40)

Team Selection 0 0 12 5 12 5(0) (0) (21) (71) (14) (33)

HousingVillage 2 2 3 3 5 5(7) (25) (5) (43) (7) (33)

Team Issues 0 0 5 5 5 5(0) (0) (9) (71) (6) (33)

Training 2 2 2 2 4 4(7) (25) (3) (29) (5) (27)

Lack of Support 0 0 5 3 5 3(0) (0) (9) (43) (6) (20)

JobsMoney 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Jet LagTravel 0 0 2 2 2 2(0) (0) (3) (29) (2) (13)

FamilyFriends 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Officials 0 0 2 1 2 1(0) (0) (3) (14) (2) (7)

Miscellaneous 2 2 3 2 5 4(7) (25) (5) (29) (6) (27)

TOTAL 28 58 86

Discussed in text







166 GREENLEAF ET AL















168 GREENLEAF ET AL





Coaching










170 GREENLEAF ET AL


Olympic Housing


Olympic Excitement


Team Unity










172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL








164 GREENLEAF ET AL




(N = 8) (N = 7) (N = 15)



Coach Issues 1 1 9 6 10 7(4) (12) (15) (86) (12) (47)

Overtraining 4 3 3 3 7 6(14) (37) (5) (43) (8) (40)

Injury 3 3 3 3 6 6(11) (37) (5) (43) (7) (40)

Team Selection 0 0 12 5 12 5(0) (0) (21) (71) (14) (33)

HousingVillage 2 2 3 3 5 5(7) (25) (5) (43) (7) (33)

Team Issues 0 0 5 5 5 5(0) (0) (9) (71) (6) (33)

Training 2 2 2 2 4 4(7) (25) (3) (29) (5) (27)

Lack of Support 0 0 5 3 5 3(0) (0) (9) (43) (6) (20)

JobsMoney 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Jet LagTravel 0 0 2 2 2 2(0) (0) (3) (29) (2) (13)

FamilyFriends 1 1 1 1 2 2(4) (12) (2) (14) (2) (13)

Officials 0 0 2 1 2 1(0) (0) (3) (14) (2) (7)

Miscellaneous 2 2 3 2 5 4(7) (25) (5) (29) (6) (27)

TOTAL 28 58 86

Discussed in text







166 GREENLEAF ET AL















168 GREENLEAF ET AL





Coaching










170 GREENLEAF ET AL


Olympic Housing


Olympic Excitement


Team Unity










172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL














166 GREENLEAF ET AL















168 GREENLEAF ET AL





Coaching










170 GREENLEAF ET AL


Olympic Housing


Olympic Excitement


Team Unity










172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL
















168 GREENLEAF ET AL





Coaching










170 GREENLEAF ET AL


Olympic Housing


Olympic Excitement


Team Unity










172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL
















170 GREENLEAF ET AL


Olympic Housing


Olympic Excitement


Team Unity










172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL
















172 GREENLEAF ET AL












Overtraining (7) 6


Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL









Media Distractions






consideration (2)






Officials (2) 1

Jet LagTravel (2) 2

JobsMoney (2) 2

Figure 2 Continued

174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL








174 GREENLEAF ET AL


Coach Issues


Overtraining


Injury


Team Selection




HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL










HousingVillage


Team Issues


Training Issues


Lack of Support


176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL








176 GREENLEAF ET AL









DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL











DISCUSSION


178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL








178 GREENLEAF ET AL









180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL












180 GREENLEAF ET AL











182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL












182 GREENLEAF ET AL

Concluding Remarks





REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL










REFERENCES

















Park CA Sage

184 GREENLEAF ET AL








184 GREENLEAF ET AL








factors influencing olympic performance: interviews with atlanta

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