Community recognition to Olympic athletes

As part of our investigation in to, “Are promising athletes are being driven out of athletics by litigious sponsors?”

I posted ‘Tweet pics’ on Twitter of Usain Bolt, RebeccaAdlington, and Richard Whitehead, to see if these Olympic athletes were recognised within the public, if they could be identified as Olympic players, and if the community were aware of who these athletes in particular are sponsored by.

However due to our shortage with followers on twitter, and low responses, I decided to visit TCAT college in Telford, and ask 150 students there who are either studying sport at the college, or part of Team 19, if they could identify Usain Bolt, Rebecca Adlington and Richard Whitehouse by picture.

Team 19 is part of the SportsAcademy at TCAT College, and allows students participating in any course, to also take part in football, rugby, basketball, netball and disability sport at the college.

I showed 150 students studying sport and part of a sports related activity, three pictures, one of Usain Bolt, Rebecca Adlington, and Richard Whitehead, I asked each student if they could 'identify the name of the athlete in the picture and who sponsored them?'

Results for Tally  

 

Usain Bolt – Out of 150 students questioned, 138 of them recognised the image, as Usain Bolt. The remaining 12 students, recognised his face, but couldn’t remember his name at that particular time.  However, only 42 students could identify a company Usain is sponsored by, naming ‘Digicel’ and ‘Puma’. The remaining 108 either shook their heads as an ‘unknown’ gesture or simply responded that they ‘didn’t know.’

Rebecca Adlington - Out of 150 students questioned, 89 of them recognised the image as Rebecca Adlington. The majority of the 61 remaining, were uncertain with her name, or would guess her name with hesitation.

53 students identified Rebecca to either be sponsored by the companies ‘Speedo’, ‘British Gas’ or ‘Caburys’. The remaining 97 students were completely unsure who she was sponsored by, or again would take a guess.
 

Richard Whitehead - Out of 150 students questioned, 64 of them could identify the image as Richard Whitehead. The 86 students remaining were unaware of his name, the majority in which couldn’t even recognize his face.

17 students identified Richard to either be sponsored by ‘Powerade’ or ‘BP’, the 133 students remaining was completely oblivious to his sponsors, took a guess at his sponsors or shrugged their shoulders, as an unknown gesture.
 

Summarising Findings

Out of the 150 students questioned, Usain Bolt was the most identified for his face, name and sponsorship endorsements, Rebecca Adlington also was widely recognised among the students by her face and name. However just fewer than half the students questioned could identify who Richard Whitehead was, and a niche amount of ‘17’ were able to name his sponsorship endorsements with other companies.

What are your views on either, Usain Bolt, Rebecca Adlington or Richard Whitehead? Tweet us, or comment below.