Understanding the Characteristics That Contributed to Québec Athletes’ Olympic Successes
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Understanding the Characteristics that Contributed to Québec Athletes’ Olympic Successes Moving Into, During, and Out of the Olympic Games by Jacob Dupuis-Latour A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Human Kinetics (M.H.K.) The Faculty of Graduate Studies Laurentian University Sudbury, Ontario, Canada © Jacob Dupuis-Latour, 2018 THESIS DEFENCE COMMITTEE/COMITÉ DE SOUTENANCE DE THÈSE Laurentian Université/Université Laurentienne Faculty of Graduate Studies/Faculté des études supérieures Title of Thesis Titre de la thèse Understanding the Characteristics that Contributed to Québec Athletes’ World Success Moving Into, During and Out of the Olympic Games Name of Candidate Nom du candidat Dupuis-Latour, Jacob Degree Diplôme Master of Department/Program Date of Defence Département/Programme Human Kinetics Date de la soutenance juin 18, 2018 APPROVED/APPROUVÉ Thesis Examiners/Examinateurs de thèse: Dr. Robert J. Schinke (Supervisor/Directeur de thèse) Dr Georges Kpazaï (Committee member/Membre du comité) Dr. Kerry McGannon (Committee member/Membre du comité) Approved for the Faculty of Graduate Studies Approuvé pour la Faculté des études supérieures Dr. David Lesbarrères Monsieur David Lesbarrères Dr. Carsten Hvid Larsen Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies (External Examiner/Examinateur externe) Doyen, Faculté des études supérieures ACCESSIBILITY CLAUSE AND PERMISSION TO USE I, Jacob Dupuis-Latour, hereby grant to Laurentian University and/or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or for the duration of my copyright ownership. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also reserve the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department in which my thesis work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that this copy is being made available in this form by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner. ii Abstract The current study examined the characteristics that influenced four of the most successful Québec athletes’ performances moving in, during, and out of the Olympic Games. Their experiences were explored using media data (i.e., newspapers articles from the province of Québec) through an inductive thematic analysis. Seven main practical conclusions were created from this study with the first five relating to the three meta-transitions explored, and the last two relating to limitations created by the the methodology used in the study. The conclusions are: 1) Developing an empowering coach-athlete relationship in order to facilitate the athletes’ performances, 2) Starting a competition easy to finish strong, 3) Creating realistic but challenging goals for every step of the Olympic season, 4) Consciously learning form success and failures/mistakes, 5) Using mainly intrinsic motivation when competing, 6) The unmentioned importance of sport psychology services, and 7) The omission of information about provincial versus national pride. Key words: Olympic Games, elite Québec athletes, Olympic meta-transition, media data iii Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Robert Schinke who permitted me to rise my standards and the quality of my work throughout my Masters degree and offered me many opportunities to enrich my academic curriculum vitae. The support of my committee members Dr. Kerry McGannon and Dr. Georges Kpazaï was also greatly appreciated and helped clarify and strengthen my Master’s project. Thank you all for the great support. I would also like to acknowledge the continuous support of my family who believed in me and provided me with the right environment to put my studies as a priority. My journey through my master’s degree would not have been as enjoyable without their support. Finally, I would like to thank the Social Science and Humanity Council (Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s Program) as well as the Government of Ontario (Ontario Graduate Scholarship) for the financial support towards this project. Those two scholarships permitted to reduce any financial worry and fully focus on my studies. My sincerest thanks. iv Table of Contents Thesis Defence Committee Form ................................................................................................... ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ vii CHAPTER ONE: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Purpose ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Significance................................................................................................................................. 4 Operational Definitions ............................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER TWO: Review of literature .......................................................................................... 8 Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Olympic Context ......................................................................................................................... 8 Characteristics Influencing Performance at the Olympic Games ............................................. 11 Transitions................................................................................................................................. 24 Types of transitions. .............................................................................................................. 24 Transition for Olympic athletes. ........................................................................................... 26 Culture and Athletes’ Careers: Reasons to study a subculture ................................................. 33 Media data in sport psychology ................................................................................................ 35 Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER THREE: Methodology ............................................................................................... 39 Context Setting.......................................................................................................................... 39 Media Outlets ............................................................................................................................ 41 Situating Myself ........................................................................................................................ 42 Participants ................................................................................................................................ 44 The athletes. .......................................................................................................................... 45 Data Collection ......................................................................................................................... 48 Thematic Analysis .................................................................................................................... 51 Authenticity............................................................................................................................... 53 CHAPTER FOUR: Results ........................................................................................................... 56 Focused preparation for the Olympics: Developing skills and feelings of being at your top ... 56 Building self-confidence during races and competitions ...................................................... 57 Establishing best practices. ................................................................................................... 65 To the Olympic podium: Managing the magnitude of the Games............................................ 76 Having clear goals for the Olympics. ................................................................................... 77 Facing and managing the distractions of the Games. ........................................................... 83 Building