ABSTRACT
Sport has become the largest entertainment industry in the world. For example, an estimated television audience of over three billion people, around half of the world’s population, watched the final of the 2002 soccer World Cup in Japan and Korea. As sport continues to play a significant role in popular culture, there is increasing interest in the personal and professional lives of sporting superstars. The riches available to those who are successful in the sporting domain have also risen markedly in recent years and many sports performers now enjoy the lifestyle and media attention once the sole preserve of stars from the popular music and film industries. An issue of significant intuitive interest is what makes these athletes ‘great’? Why are these performers at the peak of their sport whereas others have fallen by the wayside at various points in the journey from tentative beginner to supreme international superstar?
