A comparative analysis of national Olympic swimming team members’ and para-swimming team members’ psychological profiles

Written by Péter Szájer, László Tóth, Ágnes Szemes, Nikoletta Nagy, Borbála Zala, Ferenc Köteles, Attila Szabo on 12 December 2019. Posted in Volume XXIII, Nr 4

Authors

Péter Szájer¹*, László Tóth², Ágnes Szemes², Nikoletta Nagy¹, Borbála Zala², Ferenc Köteles³, Attila Szabo³

¹Department of Swimming and Water Sports, University of Physical Education, Budapest
²Department of Psychology and Sport Psychology, University of Physical Education
³Institute of Health Promotion and Sport Sciences, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

Abstract

Being an elite Para-athlete requires coping with unique challenges beyond those posed by performance improvement. In the current study, we aimed to reveal possible differences in various psychological profiles between elite Para-swimmers (n = 18) and able-bodied swimmers (n = 35) competing at Olympic level to identify the yet unknown psychological drawbacks of being a disabled elite swimmer. An additional aim was to explore possible gender differences and differences between successful and less successful swimmers too. Using several measurements, we assessed 10 sports-related psychological constructs: cognitive anxiety, self-confidence, somatic anxiety, coping with adversity, peaking under pressure, goal setting/mental preparation, concentration, freedom from worry, self-confidence/achievement motivation, and coachability. Able-bodied swimmers scored lower on somatic anxiety and higher on self-confidence, freedom from worry, and self-confidence/achievement motivation than Paralympics swimmers. When the tests were repeated separately for men and women, the results remained unchanged for women, whereas able-bodied male athletes only scored significantly higher than male Para-swimmers on self-confidence and freedom from worry. Furthermore, medal winning athletes, in the overall sample exhibited less cognitive and somatic anxiety than those ranking fourth or lower at the Olympic Games. Para-swimmers with different levels of disability did not differ from each other in any of the measures. The findings show that Para-swimmers experience psychological disadvantages in contrast to able-bodied swimmers that should be addressed in their training regimen.

Keywords: athlete, Para-athlete, disabled, elite, mindset, sport

PAGES:299-311

doi:10.24193/cbb.2019.23.17

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