Risk Taking and Performance in Multistage Tournaments: Evidence from Weightlifting Competitions

Christos Genakos and Mario Pagliero

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: We analyze the impact of interim ranking on the risk taking and performance behaviour ofprofessional athletes participating in international weightlifting competitions. Weightliftingcompetitions are multistage tournaments with the unique characteristic that the athletes mustannounce in advance the amount they intend to lift at each stage, thus allowing quantification of theriskiness of their choices. We present two key findings. First, risk taking exhibits an inverted-Urelationship with rank: risk taking increases up to rank six, but athletes then revert to safer strategiestowards the bottom of the ranking. Second, athletes systematically underperform when ranked closerto the top, despite higher incentives to perform well. An athlete is more than 30 percent less likely tolift the announced weight when ranked first than tenth. Athletes also underperform in relatively moreprestigious competitions, when the competition is more intense, and when the potential gain from asuccessful lift is higher. Taken together, these findings suggest that athletes may systematically"choke under pressure".

Keywords: Choking under pressure; incentives; performance; risk taking; tournaments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 L83 M52 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: Written
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