Life after doping—A cross-country analysis of organisational support for sanctioned athletes

Abstract

Aim: This article investigates the available support services/interventions offered by sporting organisations worldwide for athletes facing career transitions resulting from suspensions due to violating anti-doping policy. The authors aim to provide an overview of existing support systems and raise an awareness of the need of customised and structured support for sanctioned athletes as part of duty of care in sport, Method: Web-based data was initially collected. Following this we contacted each sport organisation by email with a request to answer prepared research questions. Fifty sport organisations were contacted, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and National Olympic Committees (NOCs). The data from 22 sport organisations representing five continents are presented.Results: The data are presented under five main themes: Termination of support, Psychological support, Financial support, Informative support, and Development in progress. The central finding is that none of the sporting organisations in this study has established a structured support programme or system for supporting doping sanctioned athletes to date. Conclusion:In most cases sanctioned athletes are simply cut off from all organisational support and left to cope on their own when they are likely to be vulnerable. We argue there is a need for better awareness and support programmes of the challenges faced by athletes following a competition ban or other forced exit from sport due to an anti-doping violation.

The Formation of Anti-Victim Personality in the Context of Sports

“…However, some of them become demoralized, turning into a victim personality. These conclusions are also supported by other researchers (Hong et al, 2020 Personality complexes lead to the occurrence of the athletes' character traits that are peculiar for victim personality, namely: pride, resentfulness, proneness to conflict, and envy of a winner.…”

Organisational Support for High-Performance Athletes to Develop Financial Literacy and Self-Management Skills

“…It is worth noting that some organisations (e.g., IOC and ONOC) implied that they were willing to learn from others' good practice in in terms of financial support for highperformance athletes. Hong et al (2020) also found that some sport organisations demonstrated an awareness of the importance of supporting sanctioned athletes and that the development of relevant schemes was in progress. In particular, two organisations (ONOC and Sport Ireland Institute) noted that they would like to learn from other organisations' good practice; such practice may be identified from the results of this study (see e.g., Table 1).…”

“…Given the importance of support for high-performance athletes (Lavallee et al 2014), schemes focusing on specific issues (e.g., financial support) require to be further considered and developed. Hong et al (2020) also found that no sporting organisations (n = 22) in their study had developed a structured support programme or system for supporting doping sanctioned athletes at the time of their study. This finding along with the results from the currents study indicates that sport organisations require to consider specific aspects of athletes' needs to ensure quality career development and transitions.…”

“…In this respect, Stambulova (2003) highlighted the importance of athletes developing strategies for their financial independence and seeking financial support where appropriate. In terms of financial support from sport organisations, Hong et al (2020) noted that one sport organisation, NOC*NSF (National Olympic Committee & National Sports Federation), provides financial support to doping sanctioned athletes required to undertake juridical procedure. It is worth noting that the NOC*NSF is included in the current study and that this body has also established support schemes/interventions to enable high-performance athletes to develop financial literacy and self-management skills.…”

“…The research forms part of a larger project on organisational support programmes for high performance athletes across the world, focusing, in particular, on development of financial literacy and self-management skills. Data collection and analysis replicate Hong and Coffee (2018) and Hong et al (2020). Thus the research takes the form of a multiple-comparative case study with the inclusion of multiple cases and imple-mentation based on replication logic (Yin 2003).…”