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doi:10.22028/D291-30642
Title: | The rich get richer and the poor get poorer - the Matthew mechanism as an Approach to explain selection effects and the occurrence of multiple medallists in the "production" of international success in alpine ski racing |
Author(s): | Barth, Michael Güllich, Arne Emrich, Eike |
Language: | English |
Title: | Current issues in sport science : CISS : the official journal of the sport scientific societies of Austria and Switzerland |
Volume: | 3 |
Startpage: | 1 |
Endpage: | 14 |
Publisher/Platform: | University of Innsbruck, Department of Sport Science |
Year of Publication: | 2018 |
Publikation type: | Journal Article |
Abstract: | The study addresses two questions that are under debate in the literature and exemplifies their examination in alpine ski racing. Firstly, are successful athletes the product of a long-term continuous intervention and/or socialization process or do they rather emerge via repeated selection processes? Secondly, to which extent is a nations’ collective success composed of many athletes’ singular successes or of a few athletes’ multiple successes? The study involved the national squad of the Austrian Ski Federation. Data collection comprised membership in a national squad and World or Olympic medal success and was carried out via document analysis (seasons: 1986-2016). The mean annual athlete turnover rate ranged from 24-57% across squad levels while the turnover rate varied substantially over time within each squad level. Among all national squad athletes, the incidence of being a successful (i.e., medal winning) National Team athlete was 8.9% (95% CI: 6.0%; 12.5%). Twenty-eight athletes won a total of 112 medals, 21 athletes achieved winning two or more medals. The six most successful athletes won 56 medals, comprising 50% of all medals won. The study suggests that successful elite athletes emerge from repeated selection and filtering processes. The observation of multiple medalists and a high concentration of exceptional success among a few athletes is reflected with regard to potential causes that rest on characteristics of the individual athlete, on social mechanisms (e.g., Matthew mechanism) of the elite sports system, or both. |
DOI of the first publication: | 10.15203/CISS_2018.008 |
URL of the first publication: | https://webapp.uibk.ac.at/ojs2/index.php/ciss/article/view/2046 |
Link to this record: | hdl:20.500.11880/28993 http://dx.doi.org/10.22028/D291-30642 |
ISSN: | 2414-6641 |
Date of registration: | 16-Apr-2020 |
Faculty: | HW - Fakultät für Empirische Humanwissenschaften und Wirtschaftswissenschaft |
Department: | HW - Sportwissenschaft |
Professorship: | HW - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Eike Emrich |
Collections: | SciDok - Der Wissenschaftsserver der Universität des Saarlandes |
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