Chile's social outburst: Major arguments and demands by athletes, coaches, and leaders of the Chilean Olympic Movement

Abstract

The social upheaval in Chile, mainly attributed to inequalities, injustices and inequities, and protected by a political, social and economic systems, among others, was not alien to the Chilean Olympic Committee, its National Olympic Academy and the High Performance Athletes, who convened and developed in Santiago of Chile, the First Citizen Dialogue of the National Federated Sport to address these issues. The purpose of this study, unprecedented for the Chilean situation, was to analyse different points of view and identify the most important and salient arguments relevant to understanding the main demands and proposals made on behalf of Chileans stakeholders. As a methodological approach, the interpretive paradigm was utilized, along with a qualitative approach, based on hermeneutic phenomenology and associated to the main thematic components in Citizen Dialogues. The discussion group comprised athletes, coaches, and national leaders, forming a sample of n = 285 people that congregated in discussion groups. Grounded Theory was used in the analysis, which led to the determination of conclusions regarding the problems facing sport and then, improvements were proposed. In general, there is consensus among the opinions and arguments of the different actors, and very few disagreements. In conclusion, it is clear that sports activity in Chile is still in a precarious stage, with certain characteristics of amateurism in the various spheres, with the absence of adequate resources and an insufficient institutional and organizational framework which has not ensured adequate policies, security, and incentives to the different taking part actors. In-depth measures are clearly needed.