Negative Social Media Commentary and Its Impact on Professional Sprint Athletes

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to determine whether there is a direct correlation between negative social media commentary and an athlete's performance, specifically sprint athletes. In this study, two well-known sprint athletes, Noah Lyles and Sha'carri Richardson, are examined. A mixed-method approach was used as both quantitative and qualitative data were used for the analysis and findings. Preformance times after periods of controversy were looked at and compared to personal best times of each athlete to gather quantitative data. To gather qualitative data, key quotes from each athlete's interview they partook in were analyzed to find common themes. In the quantitative part of the results section, it was found that Richardson did well after facing constant negativity on social media while Lyles had a slight decline. Qualitatively, both athletes claim that social media does not affect them mentally after doing a thematic analysis of famous interviews these athletes participated in. The findings suggest that it varies between athlete to athlete on how much they let media negativity get into their head.