The Examination of the Relationship Between Exercise Addiction and Performance Enhancement in Elite Athletes

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between exercise addiction level and performance enhancement in elite athletes. Seventy-four athletes participated in the study. The participants were asked to present their best official competition ranks in order for the years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. “Exercise Addiction Scale” was used for data collection. t test, ANOVA and post hoc statistics were used to analyse the research data. The study found that the mean exercise addiction score of the participants was (55.67 ± 20.83). Although addiction levels of the athletes with the lowest performance enhancement were significantly higher compared to other participants, no significant difference was found between gender and exercise addiction (p > 0.05). Consequently, in the study, it was related that the athletes with high levels of exercise addiction displayed poor performance in all branches of track and field. Addiction may stand out among the factors that have a negative impact on athlete performance.