"Shut up! Don't look at me!": A qualitative description of body image and attention among elite athletes

Elite athletes face pressures related to body weight, shape, and performance that may be heightened by scrutiny from media, spectators, opponents, teammates, coaches, and family. Body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and negative body-related emotions are common among elite athletes and may contribute to body surveillance and self-monitoring. Although attentional disruption is widely recognized as detrimental to sport performance, little is understood about how body-related thoughts, emotions, and contextual pressures specifically influence athletes' focus in elite sport. Eight elite athletes (Mage = 26.25 years; two cisgender men, six cisgender women) participated in semi-structured interviews as part of a qualitative description study exploring the perceived experiences of how body image influenced their focus in sport. Inductive qualitative content analysis identified three dominant themes: (1) pressures related to appearance and body presentation, (2) efforts to maintain performance focus while managing body-related distraction, and (3) internal and external supports that helped athletes foster more adaptive body image and attentional regulation. Findings highlight body comparisons, uniforms, perceived scrutiny, and weight-related pressures as distinct sources of body-focused distraction that can compete with task-relevant focus. Athletes also described strategies such as mindfulness, self-compassion, and coach support as helpful for redirecting focus toward performance. These findings provide novel insight into body image as an embodied and contextually embedded source of attentional interference in elite sport, with implications for athlete well-being and performance.