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.
