Roles and influences of Olympic athletes’ entourages in athletes’ preparation for career transition out of sport

The aims of the present study were to examine roles and influences of Korean and Irish athletes’ entourages (i.e. people associated with the athlete who promote their sporting career) in the process of athletes’ career transitions. Both Olympians (N=4) and their entourages (N=7) from the Republic of Ireland and South Korea were invited to the study. Data were collected through individual interviews and analysed via thematic analysis. The findings indicated that athletes had a low degree of readiness for retirement and had relatively small social support networks. The findings also revealed that Ireland and Korea have different sport contexts and the existence of the support programme influenced athletes’ career transition experiences.