Portuguese Olympic and Paralympic athletes’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of the Tokyo-2020 Olympic Games

ABSTRACT

For the first time in history, the Olympic Games were postponed due to the dissemination of the new coronavirus, which has physically and psychologically affected all involved in sports. Understanding how Olympic and Paralympic athletes experienced this crisis was of utmost importance in this context. The current article aimed to explore the experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Portuguese Olympic and Paralympic athletes, focusing on their perceptions and emotions. Therefore, using a qualitative methodology, data were collected through semi-structured online interviews with 15 athletes (M = 29,9 ± 5,5 years) from both sexes (n_male = 9), including 13 Olympic athletes and two Paralympic athletes of various sports. Overall, the content analysis suggested that participants had multiple perceptions regarding the postponement, which impacted their social and personal life and their sports careers, affecting both training and competition. More importantly, results seem to suggest that although the postponement of the Olympic Games negatively affected athletes, it was also perceived as an opportunity for growth and development. Regarding emotional reactions, athletes reported more negatively-toned emotions, especially anxiety, while also mentioning positively-toned emotions. This one-time event created an opportunity to study the situation from the athletes’ points of view. The results reassure the individual, dynamic, and complex nature of athletes’ experience. Findings may also provide important cues to help athletes and sports agents deal with other stressful events, regardless of their level of competition.

KEYWORDS:

• Olympic Games
• COVID-19
• perceptions
• emotions
• qualitative

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the participants who took their time to collaborate in this study. We would also like to thank Professor Natalia Stambulova for the help and support in revising this manuscript.

Data availability statement

The data supporting this study's findings are available from the corresponding author, R.S., upon reasonable request. The data are not publicly available because it could compromise the privacy of our research participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).