There certainly seems to be a lot of sporting legends around these days, from grassroots, to retired greats and professional athletes. With the Olympics and Paralympics around the corner, we can look forward to a showcasing of elite athletes competing across diverse sports. But how do we define elite to legitimise the “elite” label? It is time to broaden our elite lexicon, but agreeing upon the standard is more complex than it seems.
Sport, after all, is a pervasive ecosystem, extending from grassroots community sports, to the professional arena and world championships. How do we assess elite across different sports, leagues, team and individual performance? Is elite the end game or the journey or both?
A dictionary definition of elite refers to outliers and winning, or the best in a cohort, embodying a narrow definition focussed upon performance outcomes, rather than the journey and the unique outlying physical and psychological attributes required.
The UCLA track team has even adopted the term “E.L.I.T.E.” as its mantra and deploys it as an acronym for mindset, comprising Energy, Leadership, Integrity, Toughness and Excellence. This approach is emblematic of a broader meaning of elite that represents the foundation of performance, rather than the performance itself and makes sense.
Research on elite sport has adopted a range of definitions, with no consensus. A recent systematic review of 91 studies found 8 different definitions adopted by research focussed upon elite sport. Various conceptualisations of elite include world record holders, Olympic gold medallists, physiological measures such as anaerobic and aerobic capacity, endurance, strength and stability, varsity athletes, professional athletes, athlete experience, national rankings and participation in the highest professional league. But all of these definitions are problematic by failing to capture a richer understanding of what it really means to be elite.
Some researchers have argued that the standard should include multifaceted descriptors including absolute performance, competitive capability, the role of an athlete on a team, years of preparation, extent and consistency of training and competitive level. Each of these and other dimensions exist on a spectrum along which definitions of elite vary, but taking a more multi-dimensional view of elite resonates. If we can reach a consensus on the definition of elite, along with its drivers, then it can become a tangible, albeit aspirational goal. Elite may even be trainable.
Ask any winning athlete how they made the podium, and they’ll tell you it was hard work, often overcoming extreme adversity and failure along the way. While a podium athlete might be an outlier physically in strength, reaction times, endurance or coordination, they are also bound to be outliers in mental strength and resilience. And when we embrace this more multi-layered standard, then we embrace all athletes.
Take a high needs Paralympic athlete for example. I learned from my friend, Associate Professor Sean Tweedy, an expert in the ParaSTART Program at the University of Queensland, just what it takes to train and compete, let alone win in a Paralympic higher classification category. This journey is extraordinary and warrants elite acknowledgement in every respect, from the management of pain, overcoming deficiency in gross motor skills, alternative and innovative communications in coaching, monitoring of breathing and health, support to enter the training venue be it pool, track or court and interaction with assisted devices and technologies. These challenges translate to increased time costs for any given training session from arrival and preparation to participation and departure. And that’s before we consider the sheer mental grit required to do this on average an estimated ten times the time commitment of other athletes, deal with the recovery process and then do it all again and again and again, to attempt to be the best in the world in their classification. This is surely elite.
If common definitions of elite signal winning, then it is time we consider the suffering, tenacity and commitment that comes before this as well. Is this mental grit and character enough to qualify as elite, irrespective of the winning? The stories of these athletes are astounding in terms of performance and are exceptional- or elite. It’s a shame we don’t hear more about them and their remarkable achievements.
Studies point to the role of media in influencing perceptions of elite by portraying a narrow version of athlete, which is not inclusive of Paralympians, female athletes, diverse ages and cultures across diverse sports. And yet many of these athletes make extraordinary commitments, indeed rising to be the best in their competition- and are absolutely deserving of an elite title and accessibility through media coverage.
Embracing and agreeing upon a clear definition of elite sport that is broader than winning is important, for researchers who base empirical samples upon a definition of elite, which has been demonstrated to have no consensus even in the research community. It is also important for algorithmic training data, increasingly permeating sport and health, focussing upon genomic sequencing of outliers like elite athletes to map as extreme cases. It underpins funding decisions in relation to high performance pathways and training facilities. It is important for equality in our society to recognise, celebrate and emulate a broader identification of elite in our sporting heroes and it is important to athletes, who deserve an elite label, for their commitment to training and results, constant improvement, health and wellbeing and outstanding performance in their competitive category, irrespective of their particular competition.
Muhammad Ali rightly captured this broader identity of an elite athlete in his words,
“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses-behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”
It’s time to agree upon a unifying definition of elite that embraces a more realistic and holistic athlete narrative in media and in our perceptions.
About the Author
Professor Sarah Kelly, renowned for her global academic, leadership and governance expertise across education and sports management, drives forward-thinking initiatives to the world stage. A distinguished ‘prac-academic’, commercial lawyer and champion for inclusivity, Sarah leads with innovation and insight. For exclusive updates on the latest in sport, management, leadership, education, innovation, and research, subscribe at DrSarahKelly.com.au