IDENTIFICATION OF FACTORS AFFECTING ANXIETY IN ELITE SPORTSMEN

The purpose of this study was to determine the anxiety the triathlon sportsmen of national teams experience before competitions and the factors that affect this kind of anxiety. This descriptive study was carried out with the voluntary participation of 104 sportsmen who participated in the Istanbul European Cup, Elazıg Balkan Grand Prix and Alanya World Cup in 2014. The data collection instrument was an interview questionnaire developed by the researchers, and the Cronbach alpha of the questions was 0.77. The data were analyzed with a statistical program, and independent samples t-test and ANOVA were used. According to the data, the following findings were identified: the sportsmen of the Turkish national team felt pre-competition anxiety more than the sportsmen of foreign national teams. The female sportsmen experienced the physical symptoms of anxiety more. The younger sportsmen felt more anxious about the fact that they were not going to perform well in the competition. The anxiety of making mistakes decreased with age. Those whose sporting age was lower felt more anxious for not performing well and for making mistakes.