ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the relationship between participation as elite or professional athletes and arguably the ultimate health outcome longevity. It focuses on summarizing the limited research done to date on participation in high performance sport and lifespan length while highlighting important areas for further investigation. For example, literature review on the mortality and longevity of elite/professional athletes noted a trend towards endurance and mixed-sports athletes having longer survival rates than the general population. It is important to determine whether relationships between elite sport involvement and mortality benefits have any implications for non-elite athletes who make up vast majority of the general population. In critiquing the sport-health relationship through the lens of athlete maltreatment, the potential for negative emotional health consequences resulting from athletes' experiences of emotional abuse in the coach-athlete relationship is undisputed. However, while recognizing the potential for harm as a consequence of emotionally abusive experiences, some high performance athletes have claimed that they experience success, personally and athletically.
