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STRESS FACTORS AND HIGH PERFORMANCE
A CHILEAN SPORTSMAN
IN THE 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES OF SYDNEY
ROAD TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES
By Mr Felipe SOTO (CHI)
The particular situation that a Chilean sportsman has to confront daily to carry
out a sport in a level of high performance makes of the competitive preparation
a situation non-easy of developing.
Historically the Chilean level in the elite sport has not been a prominent aspect
in the social and cultural context of your country, it is for this reason that the
agents involved in it don't have the economic support and the social recognition
that they deserve for being developing a highly valued profession by the benefits
that can be obtained from it.
By knowing this serious situation it is not difficult to understand the reason of
our low competitive level.
However it cannot e ignored that there are some institutions and people that
have fought and they continue making it to foment and to develop this activity
with a lot of success and dedication, that makes me think that with a good national
sport system our reality could take better directions.
Next I will relate my experience in the Olympic Games and the conclusions
that I could obtain of the whole previous process that I had to experience to
arrive to this instance.
The geopolitical situation of Chile is one of those reasons; our country is
located in a continent where most of the countries don't have an important
economic development that makes that the social priorities of more difficult and
more urgent solution, inside those which still is not the sport, have priority in the
elaboration and distribution of the government resources. This fact affects all whoa
are participating in some or another way in the sport environment in such a way
that the competitions are not organised with the frequency wanted and also with
the level required when existing few resources, that forces to the sportsmen to
move to the big centres of the sports, call you these Europe, Asia and North
America mainly. Evidently that this situation requires of a bigger investment that
the one surrendered by the government for the preparation of an elite athlete,
this fact forces to the sportsman to look for the alternatives that allow him to
cover in someway the expenses of his preparation, for example; part time jobs,
countless meetings with possible sponsors with some private company, etc., all
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