tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/tiger-woods-7876/articlesTiger Woods – The Conversation2021-02-25T04:52:20Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1560292021-02-25T04:52:20Z2021-02-25T04:52:20ZTiger Woods’ car crash injuries explained, according to a trauma surgeon<p>Tiger Woods’ medical team has <a href="https://twitter.com/TigerWoods/status/1364447580520738820/photo/1">released a statement on Twitter</a> to explain the injuries he sustained <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/23/us/tiger-woods-car-accident-intl-spt/index.html">in his car crash</a> earlier this week.</p>
<p>The statement was from the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, a trauma centre, where golfer Woods was taken for emergency treatment after the <a href="https://www.espn.co.uk/golf/story/_/id/30951717/tiger-woods-hospitalized-vehicle-rolls-crash">single-vehicle accident</a>.</p>
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<p>I’m a practising orthopaedic surgeon specialising in trauma surgery and I lecture nationally and internationally on the orthopaedic treatment of fractures. </p>
<p>Here’s my explanation of some of the technical terms in the statement, and what this might mean for Woods’ recovery.</p>
<h2>What were his injuries?</h2>
<p>It appears from the statement his injuries were confined to his right lower leg. This may appear surprising to many who have seen the footage of the accident and heard that his vehicle rolled over. </p>
<p>However, it is common these days to have people admitted after bad car accidents with only injuries to their lower leg. This is because of seat belts, airbags and vehicle construction. These have done a lot to prevent the previously common facial injuries (from windscreens and steering wheels) and head, chest and abdominal injuries.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/smallpox-seatbelts-and-smoking-3-ways-public-health-has-saved-lives-from-history-to-the-modern-day-128300">Smallpox, seatbelts and smoking: 3 ways public health has saved lives from history to the modern day</a>
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<p>The statement says he had “comminuted open fractures affecting both the upper and lower portions of the tibia and fibula”.</p>
<p>Let me break that down. “<a href="https://medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/1096.htm">Comminuted</a>” means the bones had broken into many fragments, the opposite of a “simple” fracture where the bone breaks into two parts. </p>
<p>The “upper and lower portions” suggests he has what is called a “<a href="https://pssjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13037-015-0086-1/figures/13">segmental</a>” fracture, where the bone is broken in two separate locations.</p>
<p>The comminuted and segmental nature of the injury is not unexpected after high-energy injuries like car accidents and doesn’t change the treatment too much.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-we-have-bones-90246">Curious Kids: Why do we have bones?</a>
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<p>People place a lot of importance on how many pieces bones are broken into, but as long as the bones heal, they all end up in one piece regardless of how many pieces there were to start with. </p>
<p>The fact that it was a bad fracture, however, means it might be harder to get it to heal and that it might take longer. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases--conditions/open-fractures/">Open</a>” fractures mean the skin overlying the broken bone was broken. The main concern is that having an open fracture increases the risk of infection. However, given Woods remained in the vehicle (he had to be broken out of it with special equipment), there is unlikely to be any dirt or highly contaminated material involved.</p>
<h2>How did doctors treat his injuries?</h2>
<p>The tibia and fibula are the two bones that link the knee to the ankle, the tibia being the much larger, main bone. His tibia and fibula were “stabilized by inserting a rod into the tibia”. </p>
<p>It is routine to treat fractures like this with a rod inserted inside the bone from top to bottom to line it up. The rod only needs to go into the tibia because the fibular usually follows the tibia into alignment, as the two bones are connected.</p>
<p>The statement also said that trauma to the soft-tissues of the leg required “surgical release of the covering of the muscles to relieve pressure due to swelling”. </p>
<p>This refers to a procedure called a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556153/">fasciotomy</a> which is performed for actual or impending “<a href="https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases--conditions/compartment-syndrome/">compartment syndrome</a>” — a build-up of pressure in the leg.</p>
<p>We do not have information on whether the muscle was damaged as a result of the increased pressure (in which case there could be permanent weakness) or whether the muscle is intact. If the fasciotomy was done early and adequately, it is likely there will be no permanent muscle damage.</p>
<h2>Will he recover?</h2>
<p>The interesting thing about Woods’ injuries is that, while the “open” and “comminuted” fractures of the tibia and fibula sound very bad, if he can avoid the early problem of infection, these injuries on their own do not necessarily mean that he will have any permanent problems. </p>
<p>Once healed, the leg can potentially be just as straight and strong as it was before. Muscles can be strengthened and skin and bones usually heal.</p>
<p>The point of most concern relating to his long-term function is the part of the statement that said: “additional injuries to the bones of the foot and ankle were stabilized with a combination of screws and pins”. </p>
<p>Injuries that involve the joints — the parts where one bone joins another bone — are the ones that commonly lead to long-term problems. This is especially the case in the foot and ankle, as these joints take our whole body weight when walking. And these joints allow us to not only walk normally, but also swing a golf club. </p>
<p>If, for example, he has fractures that involve the ankle joint or any of the foot joints, this can result in permanent loss of flexibility and pain on walking.</p>
<h2>Did Woods get special treatment?</h2>
<p>People may be wondering if Woods got <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC315491/">special treatment, or was even overtreated</a>, which is something that can occur with famous people, and when people seek treatment and have the resources to pay for it. </p>
<p>With trauma though, particularly the type of trauma in this case, the treatment usually follows fairly standard practice. Although some surgeons and hospitals vary in exactly how they treat certain injuries, the management of these lower limb injuries is fairly uniform. So it is unlikely he was treated differently to any other patient who would present to that hospital.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156029/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Harris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Once his leg fracture heals, his leg can potentially be just as straight and strong as it was before. But his foot and ankle are more of a worry.Ian Harris, Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1452332020-09-01T19:13:47Z2020-09-01T19:13:47ZWith Kamala Harris, Americans yet again have trouble understanding what multiracial means<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355624/original/file-20200831-21-1j3dgxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C29%2C2436%2C1590&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/democratic-vice-presidential-nominee-sen-kamala-harris-news-photo/1228230133?adppopup=true">Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>News that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/us/politics/kamala-harris-vp-biden.html">Sen. Kamala Harris was Joe Biden’s choice for the 2020 Democratic vice presidential nominee</a> drove speculation and argumentation about her identity. The big question appeared to be, “Is Kamala Harris truly African American?” </p>
<p>There were numerous articles and opinion pieces about whether Harris can legitimately <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/14/nation/kamala-harris-is-black-woman-its-not-complicated/">claim to be African American</a>; the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/08/the-wikipedia-war-over-kamala-harris-race/615250/">authenticity of her Black identity</a> if she has an Indian mother; what it means for her to be <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/8/14/21366307/kamala-harris-black-south-asian-indian-identity">biracial</a>; and other articles opining and speculating about her racial, ethnic and even <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/some-questions-kamala-harris-about-eligibility-opinion-1524483">national</a> identity. </p>
<p>Harris, the daughter of immigrant parents from Jamaica and India, identifies as <a href="https://www.harris.senate.gov/about">Black/African American while also embracing her Indian heritage</a>. Yet the questions in social media and news outlets swirling around her identities demonstrate a continued misunderstanding of race and mixed-race people.</p>
<h2>Where do loyalties lie?</h2>
<p>While the debates about Harris’ racial identities may seem new given the recent media attention focused on her, they are similar to the commentary other high-profile mixed-race people have received. </p>
<p>When I did research for my chapter on Tiger Woods in my book “<a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/racial-ambiguity-in-asian-american-culture/9780813570693">Racial Ambiguity in Asian American Culture</a>,” I found much criticism of Woods’ calling himself “Cablinasian” (a word Woods made up as a teen to account for his Caucasian, Black, American Indian and Asian heritages) and for not solely identifying as Black. Several articles expressed <a href="http://www.espn.com/gen/s/2002/0521/1385355.html">confusion about his multiraciality</a> – the uncertainty over the most accurate racial category to fit him into. </p>
<p>The discussions of Woods mirror the critiques of Harris. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355625/original/file-20200831-20-n61bfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tiger Woods." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355625/original/file-20200831-20-n61bfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355625/original/file-20200831-20-n61bfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355625/original/file-20200831-20-n61bfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355625/original/file-20200831-20-n61bfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355625/original/file-20200831-20-n61bfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355625/original/file-20200831-20-n61bfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355625/original/file-20200831-20-n61bfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Golfer Tiger Woods has undergone scrutiny similar to Harris about his multiracial identity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tiger-woods-of-the-united-states-looks-on-from-the-seventh-news-photo/1269527580?adppopup=true">Stacy Revere/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The competing interpretations of Harris’ identity, like with Woods, seem to be a function of her multiple, intersecting identities (including race, class and gender) as well as the public’s <a href="https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1748&context=dissertations_mu">deep discomfort with people who don’t fit into fixed boxes</a>. </p>
<p>For example, some people want to <a href="https://apnews.com/afs:Content:9220904531">disavow Harris’ Blackness</a> because of her multiple ethnic and racial affiliations. Others claim her as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/12/politics/kamala-harris-heritage/index.html">Jamaican</a> or <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/how-sen-kamala-harris-indian-heritage-pioneering-mother-propelled-her-n1237347">Indian</a>, which serves as evidence of her success as a member of an ethnic group or which celebrates a shared cultural connection with her. </p>
<p>Some see her Jamaican and Indian ethnicities as diminishing her claim to a Black American experience, unlike those who are known as <a href="https://ados101.com/about-ados">“ADOS,”</a> or American Descendants of Slavery. Because Harris’ ancestors do not include those who were enslaved in the U.S., <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/controversial-group-ados-divides-black-americans-fight-economic/story?id=66832680">ADOS’s concern</a> is that neither she nor her family can know the deep historical pain of U.S. anti-Black racism.</p>
<p>Embedded in this concern are echoes of the questions Black Americans face who have <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/what-is-racial-passing-ijx09h/">passed</a>, who <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/passing-passing-peculiarly-american-racial-tradition-approaches-irrelevance/">chose whiteness</a> to escape slavery or the Jim Crow South or those who choose multiraciality to flee the social stigma of Blackness. Questioning Harris’ <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/14/why-some-african-americans-are-questioning-kamala-harriss-blackness/">bona fides to being a Black American</a> is questioning where her loyalties lie. </p>
<h2>‘100% Black and 100% Japanese’</h2>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/opinion/kamala-harris-black-identity.html">political reasons why some may want to discredit Harris’ claims to Blackness</a>, believing that saying she’s not truly Black means she shouldn’t be relatable to Black voters.</p>
<p>But the desire to see Harris as only Black or worry that she is not truly African American derives from the racist U.S. past of the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/mixed/onedrop.html">one-drop rule</a> of racial impurity, which sociologist F. James Wood has described as the idea that “a single drop of ‘black blood’ makes a person a black.” That was an ideology from the majority of U.S. history – from its founding through to the Jim Crow era – when race was firmly believed to be a matter of blood. </p>
<p>Scientists for well over half a century have <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/race-is-a-social-construct-scientists-argue/">disproven any link between race and genetics</a>. Scholars have been writing and researching, for decades, about how <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/without-prejudice/201612/race-social-construction">race is a social construction</a> rather than a biological absolute.</p>
<p>But in public discussion in the U.S., race is treated as an entity that can be measured and labeled. That is why people are questioning the validity of Harris’ African American identity. They believe that her racial affiliation can somehow be quantified and weighed on a scale of <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/kamala-harris-not-black-ados-reparations-movement.html">authenticity</a>. </p>
<p>Underlying these questions of authenticity are questions of legitimacy. <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/06/11/multiracial-in-america/">Multiracial people are constantly confronted by</a> those who question their whole selves and their choice to authentically identify with multiple races. For these critics, to qualify for membership in a race or ethnicity means one must be 100% of that group. Anything less means you cannot be a real member of any given culture, ethnicity or race. </p>
<p>Yet the reality and experiences of multiracial people’s lives, like that of Harris, suggest that basic math cannot capture the realities of what it means to embody multiple races and ethnicities. As one subject of multiracial artist Kip Fulbeck’s photo installation of mixed-race Asian Americans in <a href="http://kipfulbeck.com/the-hapa-project/">The Hapa Project</a> states, “I am 100% Black and 100% Japanese.” </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>Evolution of racial categories</h2>
<p>Racial identity is not only about external features (eye shape, hair texture, skin color) and ancestral lines. It is about the cultural and social habits and rituals that people participate in as they claim their affiliations with ethnic and racial groups.</p>
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<p><a href="https://youtu.be/xz7rNOAFkgE">The Indian food that Harris consumes</a> speaks volumes about the ethnic influences she embraces, as does <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/16/kamala-harris-grew-up-mostly-white-world-then-she-went-black-university-black-city/?arc404=true">the Black sorority she pledged and the historically Black college she attended</a>. </p>
<p>Anyone confused about Kamala Harris’ multiraciality may recall that the U.S. is a nation that was not built by a single ethnic or racial group. </p>
<p>Indeed, U.S. land was taken from various Indigenous nations and built by the enslaved labor of people from multiple African nations and tribes for the benefit of others who hailed from a variety of European nations. And other immigrants from Latin America and the Pacific Rim settled in North America and made the U.S. their home. </p>
<p>Harris, as the U.S.’s first multiracial, multiethnic female vice presidential candidate, reflects the evolution of racial categories, which coincides with an ever-evolving understanding of race and racism in the 21st century.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Ho is the current president of the Association for Asian American Studies.</span></em></p>While the debates about Kamala Harris’ multiraciality may seem new, they are similar to the commentary other high-profile mixed-race people in the US have received about their racial identities.Jennifer Ho, Professor. Asian American Studies, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/439512015-06-29T05:11:49Z2015-06-29T05:11:49ZFor sporting greats, knowing when to quit is the hardest challenge of all<p>When the men’s seedings for Wimbledon <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2507321-wimbledon-2015-full-draw-results-list-of-seedings-and-brackets">were published</a>, they contained something that was both telling and inevitable. Rafael Nadal, winner of the tournament in 2008 and 2010, was ranked just 10th. No one could doubt that the Spaniard is one of the most formidable players ever to have held a tennis racquet. His 14 grand-slam wins stand second equal with Pete Sampras in the <a href="http://www.tennis28.com/slams/wins_alltime.html">all-time men’s rankings</a> behind Roger Federer’s 17. But at the age of just 29, the growing sense is that his best years are behind him. </p>
<p>To draw an analogy with another sport, it reminds me of the <a href="http://myliverpoolfc.org/quotes.htm">famous quote</a> from the great Liverpool manager Bill Shankly: “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that”.</p>
<p>How true his words have been for many who have tried to walk away from the game. Take the sad case of Clarke Carlisle, the former Blackpool and Burnley defender, who finished playing in 2013 and went on to chair the Professional Footballers’ Association. The following December, suffering from depression, <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/6324657/Clarke-Carlisle-I-leapt-in-front-of-lorry-hoping-to-die.html">he attempted to</a> take his own life by stepping out in front of a lorry. </p>
<p>Carlisle is far from alone. Many high-profile sportspeople face profound psychological struggles at the conclusion of their careers. Retirement comes much earlier than in other professions, where not so long ago people didn’t retire at all. In most sports, even relatively late retirements such as footballer <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2942004/Secrets-Sir-Stanley-Matthews-revealed-50-years-retired-50.html">Sir Stanley Matthews at 50</a> and cricketer <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/14504753">Brian Close at 55</a> are of a bygone age. Nowadays it is rare for the “oldies” in any sport to play in the same draw as the best in the world. </p>
<h2>Gravity catches up</h2>
<p>The longevity of a player’s career is largely determined by the physical demands of the sport, of course. Rugby players can lengthen their career by carefully limiting the number of games played each season. But for most by the time they reach their mid–30s, the repeated collisions have taken their toll. They are likely to be being outperformed by younger players, who inevitably recover more quickly. </p>
<p>Endurance sports such as running and rowing demand such heavy training that early retirement is a wise long-term health decision. More than 25 years of training have left marathon-runner Paula Radcliffe with a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/21919132">chronic foot injury</a>, for example. Each mile for Paula is around 450 foot strikes – and during heavy training periods she runs more than 100 miles a week for months on end. She will carry that injury for the rest of her life. </p>
<p>Regardless of whether you are forced out by injury, however, retirement from sport is rarely simple. There are no clear statistics on what proportion of players make the choice to end their career, but in all cases the implications are the same – to withdraw from an activity which has given day-to-day life meaning and structure from childhood is incredibly difficult. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Sport_Psychology.html?id=k8RpQgAACAAJ">early research linked</a> retirement from sport with the emotional grieving process experienced by people who have received a terminal diagnosis. It <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1469029202000481">argued that</a> you could apply the famous <a href="http://www.businessballs.com/elisabeth_kubler_ross_five_stages_of_grief.htm">Kübler-Ross</a> stages of grief from 1969 in the same way: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. This <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1469029202000481">has been criticised</a> by many researchers and applied practitioners, but they do help us to understand the emotional complexity of the experience. </p>
<p>For many, the big hurdles to overcome are psycho-social – the extent to which the performer viewed themselves as a performer, the loss of their “sporting identity”, the structure the sport gave them and the social contact with people with whom they have shared a very significant part of their emotional lives. Such people often feel irreplaceable, at least in the short term. And to make all this worse, by withdrawing from regular training, players are not getting their neurochemical “fix” of endorphins, dopamine and serotonin. The world seems a bleaker, less exciting and more stressful place as a result.</p>
<h2>When to go</h2>
<p>The public spectacle of players coping with the end of their careers can be painful. Putting his <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/golf/tiger-woods-ex-wife-elin-nordegren-3528429">personal life</a> to one side, watching Tiger Woods’ <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2402402-tiger-woods-rapid-decline-is-not-as-shocking-as-it-may-seem">current struggle</a> undermines the memories of when he dominated the world of golf. His body has been battered into submission and he needs to stop. </p>
<p>There are always a lot of retirements after a major game – partly becuase goals have been achieved, but also because there is a “pause” to reflect on how much commitment and sacrifice is required for the next peak. There is often a sense of relief that it’s over. The question I pose to athletes at this stage is, are you ready for this? To approach that I begin with a simple decisional balance of the push factors and the pull. This can be extremely revealing as it clarifies the performer’s motives in their mind and how much commitment is required.</p>
<p>This is exactly the sort of thought process that Rafael Nadal should begin. <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/rafael-nadal-long-road-back-20150120">His knees have been</a> his Achilles heel for almost a decade now. He has to take regular time out for treatment. Despite his <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-3123597/Rafael-Nadal-lifts-Mercedes-Cup-winning-final-grass-2010-straight-sets-victory-Victor-Troicki.html">recent victory</a> on the grass at the Mercedes Cup in Germany, he is on borrowed time. Retirement at 29 having achieved everything he set out to achieve is certainly not a failure. The same could be said of Roger Federer, who is ranked second for the tournament a few weeks short of his 34th birthday. If he announced that Wimbledon 2015 was his final appearance, the crowds would flock to salute his achievement and wish him well as he began the next chapter of his life. </p>
<p>And so back to Bill Shankly, a man who, to the surprise of no-one, coped very poorly with retirement. In the years after he <a href="http://www.lfchistory.net/Articles/Article/2410">stepped down</a> from Liverpool in 1974 at the age of 60, he regularly turned up to watch his team train through the fence of the Melwood ground. This is a stark reminder that for many, retirement from a sporting role needs to look beyond sport. The worst thing that you can have is a daily reminder that you are no longer doing what you did best.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43951/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Westbury does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As Wimbledon 2015 gets underway, the writing looks to be on the wall for Rafael Nadal. Will the Spaniard succeed where so many other top athletes have failed?Tony Westbury, Lecturer in Sport Psychology, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/418412015-05-20T13:28:50Z2015-05-20T13:28:50ZAnd the world’s most marketable athlete is … Eugenie Bouchard<p>David Beckham recently celebrated his 40th birthday, which prompted much discussion about the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11578867/Beckham-at-40-pioneering-a-new-kind-of-fame.html">legacy and longevity of “Brand Becks”</a>. Ten years ago, Beckham was arguably at the height of his career, playing for Real Madrid’s galacticos. But now he is reportedly earning more in his retirement <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2997920/50m-year-Becks-makes-hanging-boots-Two-mega-deals-help-make-world-s-second-highest-earning-retired-sportsman.html">than he ever did as a player</a>. </p>
<p>This says something about the equity that Beckham built up in his brand over a 22-year playing career. In terms of where next, Brand Beckham has entrepreneur, sports diplomat and fashion leader among his many options. While Becks and his advisers contemplate these issues, Sports Pro magazine has just revealed the latest list of his heirs apparent in its 2015 <a href="http://www.sportspromedia.com/most_marketable">Most Marketable Athlete</a> chart. Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard has topped this year’s list, with Brazilian footballer Neymar coming in second and American golfer Jordan Spieth third.</p>
<p>The list is partly based on the <a href="http://celebritydbi.com/celebrity-dbi/">Celebrity Davie-Brown Index</a>, which measures consumer perceptions of more than 5,600 celebrities in 15 markets around the world. This involves surveys run every month, capturing data from a nationally representative sample of 500 people in each market.</p>
<p>On an annual basis, that’s a significant amount of data and, in spite of Eugenie Bouchard appearing at Number 1, there remain some crucial questions such as “where are the women?” (only 12 of the 50 people on the list are female). But the most fundamental question is, when people judge athletes as marketable, what are they actually judging? </p>
<h2>The top stars</h2>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.econ.upf.edu/docs/seminars/chadwick.pdf">previous study</a>, a colleague and I identified a mnemonic to aid understanding of athlete brands and the basis upon which people engage with them. This was TOPSTAR: team, off-field activity, physical characteristics, success, transferability (of their appeal across different markets), age and reputation. Further work in this area dictates that TOPSTARRRS is now more appropriate – with representation of the athlete, receptiveness to their becoming involved in commercial activity and social media savvy also playing an important role in the strength of an their brand and its marketability.</p>
<p>For sports personalities who are part of a team, their association with and position in the team in question sends a powerful message about the nature and positioning of their brand. It is no coincidence that at the time David Beckham was at the peak of his commercial appeal, he was playing for the world’s most commercially appealing and successful teams – Manchester United and Real Madrid.</p>
<p>And then, as Beckham emerged as the epitome of a naughties metrosexual male, his destinations became Milan and Paris, two of the world’s most important fashion capitals. In between, Becks headed to LA Galaxy, intent on building his US profile ahead of a potential post-career transition to sports entrepreneur. </p>
<p>As family Beckham headed west, they were repeatedly photographed with Tom Cruise and his then wife Katie Holmes. This was great brand visibility and association, particularly in the way that it conveyed a set of values and associations to consumers in the target markets of North America. Off-field activities are important. </p>
<p>Top level success in sport is a seductive, compelling element of any athlete brand – just ask Roger Federer. Some celebrity lists have estimated the Swiss tennis player <a href="http://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/athletes/tennis/roger-federer-net-worth/">to be worth US$300m</a>. It is far easier to sign lucrative business deals and sell products branded with your name on them if you are hugely successful in a sport with a strong global profile.</p>
<p>Nowhere is this more apparent than with Tiger Woods. Now fading somewhat, following personal transgressions and a dip in form, he is still the most significant commercial phenomenon <a href="http://www.sportsmuntra.com/tiger-woods-net-worth-2015/">in the history of golf</a>. There are many reasons why Woods became such a compelling brand proposition, but one of them has been his transferability – the ability to appeal to a wide audience. </p>
<p>As someone of mixed heritage, Woods’ brand transcended golf’s traditional marketplace, taking the sport into new territory. This is something one of his main sponsors, Nike, was well aware of and made effective use of in its “I’m Tiger Woods” advertising campaign.</p>
<h2>Going the distance</h2>
<p>For any athlete brand – injury and indiscretions aside – one of the biggest threats is age. A time will inevitably come when the brand begins to lose its lustre as the athlete gets a little slower and their qualities a little less seductive than perhaps they once was. Enter the likes of Eugenie Bouchard and Neymar onto the stage in place of Federer and Beckham.</p>
<p>Whether as a young hell-raiser, an esteemed mid-career professional or a wise old campaigner, one’s reputation is always important. Fans, commercial partners and other customers seek image benefits through being associated with an athlete. In the same way, an athlete can build a brand on the basis of either a perceived or constructed reputation – Beckham was the good father; Bouchard is part fashion icon, part social media sensation; and Neymar is all brooding attitude.</p>
<p>While the raw materials might be in place for an athlete’s brand to be created and successfully exploited, it is increasingly important that an intermediary or agent represents an athlete’s interests to get the best deals with commercial partners. In David Beckham’s case, his commercial breakthrough came when he signed with 19 Entertainment. This is the company set up by Simon Fuller, former manager of the Spice Girls, and which now boasts a roster including the likes of Lewis Hamilton.</p>
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<p>The final element in this elaborate mix of ingredients that make up an athlete brand is something that, when my colleague and I wrote our first paper was still to take hold – social media. Here Eugenie Bouchard thrives. Active on both <a href="https://twitter.com/geniebouchard">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/geniebouchard">Instagram</a>, she is credited in Sports Pro’s write up of her for “sharing what life as a young professional athlete looks like.” Being active, communicating something relevant and actively engaging with followers have brought a particularly vibrancy to brands like hers.</p>
<p>And so, at least for the next 12 months, Eugenie Bouchard sits at the top of the pile with her combination of success, and off-court activity, and representation. Bouchard is clearly one of sport’s TOPSTARRS and is likely to be so for years to come. As a result, we can expect the young woman from Montreal to be harvesting revenues while her brand remains at its peak.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41841/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard has topped the list of most marketable athletes.Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sport Business Strategy, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/199992013-11-11T15:01:50Z2013-11-11T15:01:50ZPuma leaps out of South Africa amid rising market morality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34927/original/g2jwrnc4-1384181654.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tarnished brand: South African football.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shine</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>German sportswear company Puma recently <a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/sport/soccer/2013/10/17/puma-cuts-bafana-bafana-sponsorship-over-match-fixing-claims">ended its contract</a> with the South African Football Association (SAFA), after football’s world governing body, FIFA, found that there was “<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/matches-were-fixed-before-2010-world-cup-says-fifa-8420032.html">compelling evidence</a>” that four of the South African national team’s games in 2010 were fixed.</p>
<p>Puma stated that it “abides by a code of ethics in all areas of its business operations and expects its partners to adhere to the same values”. Given the company has over the last decade made a significant strategic commitment to African football, this was a drastic move.</p>
<p>Yet Puma is not alone in taking such action; indeed, arguably the most (in)famous case in recent sporting history is that of Dutch bank ING <a href="http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78831">terminating its sponsorship deal</a> with the Renault F1 team after a proven case of race-fixing at the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008. Following an instruction from his team chief, driver Bruno Senna deliberately crashed his car thereby allowing his team mate to pass and win the race.</p>
<h2>Minor blips</h2>
<p>The edginess of sponsors is hardly limited to match or race-fixing though, as the cases of Lance Armstrong, Oscar Pistorius and Tiger Woods prove. The common denominator between the three is Nike; in Woods’ case, the golfer became embroiled in controversy in the light of his infidelities and subsequent separation from his wife. In this case, then Nike CEO Phil Knight described Woods’ behaviour as “a minor blip” and the company stayed loyal to the golfer, honouring its contract with him.</p>
<p>For many years, Nike remained totally steadfast in its support of Lance Armstrong. This was despite several high profile reports that Armstrong was involved in doping and had won many races and competitions by using drugs. Indeed, Nike strengthened its relationship with the cyclist by allying itself to his “Livestrong” cancer charity. Yet when the truth eventually emerged and Lance met Oprah, Nike withdrew from its contract with Armstrong.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34926/original/8jsh5ns7-1384175097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34926/original/8jsh5ns7-1384175097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34926/original/8jsh5ns7-1384175097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34926/original/8jsh5ns7-1384175097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34926/original/8jsh5ns7-1384175097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34926/original/8jsh5ns7-1384175097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34926/original/8jsh5ns7-1384175097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34926/original/8jsh5ns7-1384175097.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Oscar Pistorius, in more market-friendly times.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Walton/PA</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In Oscar Pistorius’ case, Nike’s response was immediate and stark. Taken into custody by the police following the death of his girlfriend, closely followed by charges being pressed on suspicion of murder, Nike almost instantaneously ended its deal with the South African paralympian. An interesting moral barometer: Nike finds allegations of murder and proven doping to be unacceptable, but unproven doping, infidelity and a sex addiction to be acceptable.</p>
<p>And it is not just athletes who have been exposed to action by sponsors. Skins, a manufacturer of cycling clothing, ended its sponsorship deal with the sport’s world governing body the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) after the UCI was accused of failing to deal with doping effectively. Skins even sued two UCI officials for $2m, claiming <a href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/11/news/aussie-clothing-company-skins-sues-uci-for-2m-in-damages-over-management-of-cycling_263729">damage to its brand</a>.</p>
<p>In football, several FIFA sponsors have sought to distance themselves from the sport’s governing body after a series of allegations of corruption (some now proven). For instance, Emirates Airlines announced their <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/nov/19/fifa-sponsors">disappointment</a> when two senior FIFA officials were handed lengthy bans for breaching the football governing body’s ethical code.</p>
<h2>Taking the good with the bad</h2>
<p>Sponsorship can ensure that people are readily able to associate brands with particular, desirable sporting properties. The psychology extends to a phenomenon often referred to as “image transfer”. This entails people processing the image of, say, an athlete or an event and then ascribing this image to the sponsors with which they are associated. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, this process also works the other way: a team’s poor image can project back onto the sponsor, casting them in the same light. For the likes of a bank, an institution historically viewed as being safe, trustworthy and (by some) honest, to be associated with a deviant activity such as race-fixing potentially does huge damage to image, reputation and business, hence ING’s withdrawal from Renault in 2008.</p>
<p>At the same time, such is the global prominence of sport in the 21st century that everyone knows Woods, Armstrong and Pistorius. These people have been icons, role models, sporting heroes – but when they fell, awareness and recall tended towards negative associations. In turn, this inevitably sets a path back to sponsors. Remember the murder charges or the transgression? Remember the brands they are connected to?</p>
<h2>Morals of the market</h2>
<p>So we are witnessing the emergence of a new kind of morality in sport. This is not a morality defined in absolute terms by religion or by society. Rather, it is a market-driven morality – a morality driven by the commercial concerns and bottom-lines of companies that have sought to associate themselves with sport through sponsorship.</p>
<p>In the case of Nike, its barometer of morality is very clear: where the company deems something is too deviant, too socially unacceptable, or simply just too bad, it withdraws from the sponsorship. Nike has done this because of its perceptions about what consumers in markets across the world might be thinking and feeling about them. If there is a chance that consumers will view Nike negatively and therefore stop buying its training shoes and football boots, then the moral decision is effectively made for the company by the market place.</p>
<p>But this is not just about Nike. It is also about ING, Skins, Puma, Emirates Airlines and the rest. This market-driven morality is likely to have a profound effect – and for some time to come. As social media gives individuals a greater platform than ever before, it won’t be managers making sponsorship termination decisions; it will be consumers on Twitter and Facebook.</p>
<p>Moreover, athletes, teams, competitions and governing bodies will not only be assessed by fans of sports for their successes, they will be judged by customers for their moral standards. The deviants, transgressors and scandalous of sport will therefore need to beware of the impact their dalliances, substance use or financial peccadillos could have.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19999/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Chadwick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>German sportswear company Puma recently ended its contract with the South African Football Association (SAFA), after football’s world governing body, FIFA, found that there was “compelling evidence” that…Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sport Business Strategy, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.