When performance is not enough: elite sport systems during prolonged crises

Abstract

Elite sport systems operate within increasingly complex environments shaped by interactions between organizational, political, economic, and social factors (1)(2)(3)(4). While international sporting success remains the primary objective of most national sport systems, the conditions in which athlete preparation takes place have become progressively less stable. In recent years, elite sport has been affected by global health emergencies, geopolitical instability, economic uncertainty, and armed conflicts, creating challenges that extend beyond the traditional boundaries of sport policy and management (5)(6)(7). The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how vulnerable training can be to external disruption. Training opportunities, qualification pathways, international competitions, and athlete mobility were affected across the world (6,7). Shortly afterwards, the war in Ukraine exposed additional challenges related to security, infrastructure, resource allocation, and the relocation of athletes and coaches (8)(9)(10)(11). These events highlighted the extent to which Olympic preparation depends not only on factors within sport systems but also on the broader environment in which they operate. Yet how these external conditions should inform the evaluation of elite sport systems remains underexplored. Existing elite sport system literature already recognizes the importance of context (3,4,(12)(13)(14). It shows that sporting success is shaped by wider social, political, and economic conditions. However, less attention has been given to evaluation under prolonged crisis conditions. This is especially important when a crisis changes the basic conditions of …