The degree to which people identify with the sporting component of their self-concept is known as athletic identity, and this construct helps guide and organise the processing of self-related information following events of national importance. Athletic identity was assessed among countries with candidate cites bidding to host the 2012 and 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Candidate cities had significantly lower athletic identity levels across the population three months before and after the decision to host the event, except for the country with the elected host cities which had athletic identity levels that did not significantly change. These results indicate the importance of the effects of events of national importance on the degree to which individuals identify with the sporting component of their self-concept.
Athletic identity; Olympic games; Paralympic games