Involvement, detachment, and the emotional dynamics of UK Olympic sport policy

Despite estimates that Olympic and Paralympic sports account for more than half of all sport employment in the UK, there is still a relative paucity of research relating to workers within administrative and managerial roles. Starting from an ontological position that sports governance is fundamentally an emotive, relational process, this paper proposes that the primacy of rational management practices and codification of governance are potentially limiting factors in the efficacy of interventions. Instead, this paper applies the process sociological concept of ‘involvement and detachment’ to explore how sports policy workers navigate their interdependence with others and the impacts of working in a deeply involved way. This article draws upon 27 semi-structured interviews with senior figures within UK NGBs conducted as part of a Doctoral study between 2020–2023. This research demonstrates the necessity of putting people and their relationships at the centre of our understanding of sport policy, as identity, emotion and affect play a far greater role in policy processes than the literature typically accounts for. As structural and processual features of the Olympic sport policy process contribute to the experiences of individuals, so emotion management and navigating the emotions of others are revealed as key competencies for policy work. Together, these findings suggest that the study and design of Olympic sport policy could be enhanced by a more overt consideration of the feelings and relationships involved.