From thoughts to action: Athletes’ perspectives on anti-doping legitimacy, and their behavioral support for anti-doping policies

Legitimacy is fundamental for the stability, trust, and effective functioning of organizations. Still, little is known about athletes’ perspectives about anti-doping (AD) policies. We aimed to address this gap by investigating a broader set of personal and contextual features connected to athletes’ perceived legitimacy of AD policies. The sample consisted of 110 competitive level athletes from six European countries (<i>M</i> = 25.45 years, <i>SD</i> = 5.28). Athletes took part in focus group interviews including questions about knowledge of AD policies, involvement in doping control procedures and general evaluation of AD policies. Using template analysis, we generated four main themes; (a) Guardians of fair play (personal responsibility, and authorities’ responsibilities for keeping sport clean and fair), (b) All athletes are equal, but some are more equal than others(negative perceptions about the AD system and its efficacy in protecting sport), (c) Integrity under scrutiny (concerns about the fair and effective implementation of AD policies) and (d) Athletes as advocates of doping-free sport (motivation and actions to support clean sport). These findings suggest that policy makers should pay attention to ways to enhance athletes’ perception of legitimacy of the AD system, including improvements in the system as well as communicating these better to athletes and other stakeholders. Sport psychologists should be aware of and able to address athletes’ concerns about the AD system to support athletes in coping with the demands of high-performance sport which include the demands and stress from constant vigilance and anti-doping rule compliance. The study suggested that personal and authorities’ responsibility are important for keeping sport clean and fair. Participants felt that anti-doping is necessary, and they were willing to support clean sport initiatives, but expressed negative perceptions about the anti-doping system and raised concerns about the fair and effective implementation of its policies. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICEAthletes may comply with anti-doping rules either due to personal values and respect for the rules, or fear of consequences, or the combination of these.Legitimacy concerns may increase the stress and anxiety athletes experience over the demands placed on them by the anti-doping system.Improving the legitimacy perceptions of anti-doping policies will encourage athletes to support clean sport.Anti-doping education needs to recognize that compliance with anti-doping, clean sport behavior and support for anti-doping are different behavioral goals. Athletes may comply with anti-doping rules either due to personal values and respect for the rules, or fear of consequences, or the combination of these. Legitimacy concerns may increase the stress and anxiety athletes experience over the demands placed on them by the anti-doping system. Improving the legitimacy perceptions of anti-doping policies will encourage athletes to support clean sport. Anti-doping education needs to recognize that compliance with anti-doping, clean sport behavior and support for anti-doping are different behavioral goals.