Perfil de triatletas brasileiros e relação entre motivação e histórico esportivo

Abstract

Triathlon includes three sports: swimming, cycling and running. Motivation for the practice of this sport has been considered an intervening variable in the adherence and success of the athlete or the team. Goal: Analyzing the profile of Brazilian amateur and professional triathletes and investigating the relationship established by them between motivation and sports trajectory. Method: This investigation is characterized as sequential mixed and was divided into two stages. 411 triathletes of both sexes over 18 years of age participated in the first stage. The Participation Motivation Questionaire (PMQ) was applied to assess motivation, a sociodemographic and a socioeconomic questionnaire. Descriptive and comparative analyzes were performed. In the second stage, 12 amateur and professional triathletes were interviewed throughout a semi-structured interview. Data analysis was performed by Content Analysis and the categories were grouped by similar themes. Results: Regarding Step 1, women had higher scores than men in the categories of group activity, emotion and technical competence. Professional athletes had higher scores in the social recognition and competition dimensions and lower scores in the physical fitness dimension, when compared to amateur athletes. Younger triathletes had higher averages in the social recognition and competition categories, when compared to older ones. In Step 2, based on the dimensions of the PMQ, eight categories were found: social recognition; group activities; physical aptitude; emotion; competition; technical competence; membership and amusement. In addition to these, three others emerged: training sheet; competitions and the COVID-19 pandemic. It was found that Triathlon athletes start their sporting journey late in life, because of social factors related to studies, family and work, or for initially dedicating themselves to an isolated modality. There is also greater social and sporting value for long competitions to the detriment of short distances. There was a great appreciation and desire of athletes to complete an Ironman, especially the Kona World Championship. By submitting their training sheets, triathletes expressed the benefits and complaints of maintaining a disciplined and dedicated life to the sport. Finally, the condition of home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic was recurrently reported by all the interviewed athletes, since their training and competition routines were totally affected. Conclusions: Brazilian triathletes are mostly men, aged between 30-40 years, amateur level, employed and economically advantaged. They have unique and singular characteristics and draw an intimate relationship between the practice of Triathlon and their respective sports trajectories. They are motivated by different reasons, both intrinsically and extrinsically.