Editorial
Sport psychology and the Olympic Games: An introduction in the special issue
Quadrennial in nature, multisport in character, bringing
together several thousands athletes and coaches for highly mediat-
ized elite level competitions within a period of only two weeks, the
Olympic Games certainly are regarded by many as being the
pinnacle of an athletic career. In fact, the Olympic Games are
perceived to be so unique that they are seen as probably the most
challenging and prestigious competition for athletes (Pensgaard &
Duda, 2002).
In order to make it to the Olympic Games and to perform at their
best athletes, teams and coaches face many challenges and needs
that are psychological and psychosocial in nature. Illustrations of
the diversity of these challenges and of their significance to athletes
are of course presented in media reports on Olympic performances.
For example, despite winning a gold and a bronze medal, Dutch
long track skater Sven Kramer was reported to look back at the
2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver with a feeling of disap-
pointment because he unexpectedly failed to win the gold medal in
the 10,000 m – an event Kramer saw as “one of the most important
moments in my life” (Grijsbach, 2010). Biographies of former
Olympic athletes also present a clear picture of the psychological
and psychosocial challenges and needs faced in preparing for and
performing at Olympic Games. For example, five-time Olympic
gold medal winner Steve Redgrave (Redgrave & Townsend, 2001)
refers to a disappointing experience during his first junior world
championships, winning his first Olympic medal, ending the collab-
oration with a rowing partner, and establishing a new rowing part-
nership. But also his decision to continue his career after his fourth
gold medal amid expectations that he would retire, the turbulent
periods in his marriage, and his ‘date with destiny’ when going
for his fifth gold medal at the 2000 Olympic Games. In another
example, twelve-time Olympic medallist Dara Torres (2009)
emphasized, among others, the role of her motherhood, as well
as the social aspects of the age difference with other swimmers
when competing (and winning three silver medals) at the age of
41 in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Her motherhood made
her realize that “becoming a mother changes everything . It forces
you to weed out distractions from your life. It compels you to define
your values, to figure out who you are” (Torres, 2009, p. 79). When
she returned to competitive swimming she found that “I’m a mom
first and a swimmer second” (p. 87).
The interest from the field of sport psychology for the Olympic
Games has been reflected from different perspectives but could
be summarized in two. A first approach lies in the research con-
ducted on Olympians and on Olympic performance as illustrated
in the review and summary of 25 years of research on the psycho-
logical preparation of Olympians published by Gould and Maynard
(2009) after the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Their review allowed
the authors not only to delineate characteristics and the develop-
ment of successful Olympic athletes but also the way in which
Ol
ympians experience and cope with the challenges posed by the
Olympic Games. Also interesting is that Gould and Maynard look
into some of the research on applied sport psychology (ASP)
services provided to Olympic athletes and in this way describe
several best practices on how to support athletes in preparing for
and coping with the Olympic Games. While concluding that
a body of knowledge on readying and supporting athletes and
teams for the Olympic Games was emerging, Gould and Maynard
also noted the need for more research on the characteristics of
effective psychological preparation and influences on Olympic
athletes.
The provision of ASP service provision to Olympic athletes,
teams and coaches has indeed also steadily been growing during
the past decade. This is, in a first example, reflected in the Forum
of Applied Sport psychologists in Topsport (FAST) who, since the
2004 Athens Olympic Games, annually brings together professional
ASP practitioners from around Europe who provide ASP services at
the elite and Olympic level (Wylleman, Harwood, Elbe, Reints, & de
Caluwé, 2010). Based upon their experiential knowledge with the
Olympic Games, the FAST members have used reflective conversa-
tions, case-studies, workshops and peer consultancy sessions, to
discuss aspects of the provision of ASP services to Olympic level
athletes, teams and coaches. These included, for example,
preparing Olympians, on-site ASP service delivery to Olympians,
the functioning of ASP practitioners in multi-disciplinary Olympic
teams, and the coordination of ASP services in view of the 2004
Athens, 2006 Torino, 2008 Beijing, 2010 Vancouver and 2012 Lon-
don Olympic Games.
A second example includes the recently developed continued
professional development Psychological Excellence for Elite Perfor-
mance (PE4EP) program (FEPSAC, 2012). The initial edition of
PE4EP, organized at the start of the Olympic year 2012, provided
an international selection of elite coaches and sport and perfor-
mance psychologists working at the elite and Olympic level with
a multiday applied program on conflict and crisis management in
elite and Olympic sport. In an interactive way, experts and partici-
pants discussed and used best practice models and real case illus-
trations for handling conflicts and crises, for example, in athlete-
coach relationships, in teams, in view of the junior-to-senior tran-
sition and during injury and rehabilitation.
While in essence focused on the propagation and application of
best practices and the provision of ASP support services, it was
interesting to note that from ASP-oriented initiatives a need for
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Psychology of Sport and Exercise
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psychsport
Psychology of Sport and Exercise 13 (2012) 658–659
1469-0292/$ – see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2012.04.004