Characteristics of learning and training of elite athletics in Brazil: the perspective of experienced coaches

The present study sought to verify the perspective of the coaches regarding the teaching, learning and training process in Brazilian Athletics. Semi-structured interviews were applied to six Brazilian athletics coaches with participation in the Olympic Games. From the interviews, two categories were defined: formation and development of athletes; talent and long-term training. About the age indicated to start in athletics, the coaches reported that the ideal (f = 56.90%) is that the athlete starts in the sport in the youth. However, they chose not to stipulate a single age group to start in the sport. Characteristics that induce the organization of a work model in athletics (f= 26.14%) were frequent in the speeches. There was a lack of specific parameters on how the profession of coaching should be exercised - in this case athletics - it is necessary to have structures that enable the development of the coach’s career.

Suicidal thoughts (ideation) among elite athletics (track and field) athletes: associations with sports participation, psychological resourcefulness and having been a victim of sexual and/or physical abuse

ObjectiveTo examine associations between suicidal ideation and sexual and physical abuse among active and recently retired elite athletics (track and field) athletes.MethodsThe study population consisted of all athletes (n=402) selected for a Swedish Athletics team between 2011 and 2017. Data on suicidal ideation, suicidal events (estimated through the 1 year non-sports injury prevalence), lifetime abuse experiences, sociodemographics, sense of coherence and coping strategies were collected using a cross-sectional survey. The data were analysed using binary logistic regression with suicidal ideation and non-sports injury as outcomes.Results192 athletes (47.8%) returned data. The prevalence of suicidal ideation was 15.6% (men 17.4%; women 14.2%) and the non-sports injury prevalence was 8.0% (men 11.6%; women 5.7%). Among women, suicidal ideation was associated with having been sexually abused (OR 5.94, 95% CI 1.42 to 24.90; p=0.015) and lower sense of coherence (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.96; p=0.001) (Nagelkerke R2=0.33). Among men, suicidal ideation was only associated with use of behavioural disengagement for coping (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.95; p=0.001) (R2=0.25). Among women, non-sports injury prevalence was associated with having been sexually abused (OR 8.61, 95% CI 1.34 to 55.1; p=0.023) and participating in an endurance event (OR 7.37, 95% CI 1.11 to 48.9; p=0.039 (R2=0.23), while among men, having immigrant parents (OR 5.67, 95% CI 1.31 to 24.5; p=0.020) (R2=0.11) was associated with injury outside sports.ConclusionsAbout one out of six international athletics athletes reported having experienced suicidal ideation. World Athletics and National Olympic Committees need to include suicide prevention in their athlete protection programmes.

Unwarranted and Invasive Scrutiny: Caster Semenya, Sex-Gender Testing and the Production of Woman In ‘Women’s’ Track and Field

This article discusses the imbrication of racialising and sexualising scientific practices of gender testing and verification in elite athletics competition, and their intersection with social politics, using as a theoretical frame the feminist, anti-racist work of Hortense Spillers (2003), Judith Butler (1990, 1993a, 1993b, 2004) and Anne Fausto-Sterling (2000), among others. It traces the practice of sex-gender testing of ‘women’ at sanctioned International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) track and field competitions in order to contextualise South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya’s experiences at the 2009 Berlin World Championships and the subsequent spectacularisation of her body through the discursive practices of representation.