The results of recent studies indicate that athletes differ in the degree in which they perceive, process and regulate their emotions. The present study aims to utilize these findings in order to examine if self-determined motivation in sport could explain individual variations in emotional intelligence (EI) and results of sport competitions. A model of structural equations has proven these relationships in 386 canoeists from 35 countries. These results support the mediating factor of EI in relation to autonomous motivation and performance index (PI). The stability of EI and gender differences were analysed as a secondary objective. The results showed that EI stays relatively stable independent from the years of practice. However, rather surprisingly, men scored higher than women in emotional control and regulation as well as in empathy. These findings contribute to the study of EI in sport and have important implications for human performance in sport competition at high level.

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Several studies support the hypothesis that emotions are linked with sport performance. However, only a few studies have addressed the direct relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and sport performance. In order to address this question, emotional intelligence was assessed in 50 elite male canoeists from a total of fourteen countries. The sample was divided into two groups based on the number of medals achieved at world championships [Expert level Group 1, had won 1-3 medals (n = 33), and Expert level Group 2 had won more than 3 medals (n = 17)]. As a secondary goal, the influence of years of practice on sport performance was examined. Results indicate that the Level 2 expert athletes scored higher in empathy (p < .05), emotional recognition (p < .05), emotional control and regulation (p < .001) and years of practice invested in their preparation (p<.001) than the Level 1 expert athletes. These findings make a valuable contribution to answering some key questions regarding high performance sport and the role of EI in elite sport performance.