The Analysis of Athletic Sports in Iran: SWOT Analysis

The purpose of this study was to analyze the athletic sports in Iran by SWOT analysis.
The research method was descriptive-analytical. In terms of the purpose, it was an applied study. Data collection included library research, Delphi method and finally a structured questionnaire. Using Cronbach's alpha, the reliability value of the questionnaire was 0.96. The statistical population consisted of staff managers and operational managers of the ministry of youth affairs and sports, managers and executive board of national Olympic committee, managers of national Olympic Academy and Paralympics, heads of federations, experts of national Olympic committee, and informant faculty members of physical education. In this study, the sample size was determined equivalent to the research population size. Out of 302 distributed questionnaires, the 238 questionnaires were filled in (79 percent). For data analysis, descriptive statistics and inferential tests including the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, one sample t-test and Friedman's analysis of variance were applied.
The results showed that championship sport in Iran was in defensive strategy position (WT). The most advantageous point of championship sport in Iran is the existence of potential talents in some individual sports, while the main drawback is the lack of attention to school sports as the basis of championship sport and lack of talent identification. The most important opportunities of championship sport are that the population is young; whereas the most important threats lay in inappropriate administrative management system for sports in the country.
Thus, according to the defensive position of national athletic sports, the practitioners are recommended to use strategies to reduce losses resulting from threats and weaknesses in this domain.