Why did Michael Jordan quit basketball and take up baseball? Why was Martina Navratilova so successful as a professional tennis player? Why did Diego Maradona take performance-enhancing drugs during the 1994 soccer World Cup? Why did ice-skater Tonya Harding involve herself in physical attacks on her Olympic rival Nancy Kerrigan? These and many other aspects of motivation and emotion in sport are addressed in this book.

Exercise dependence or addiction has been described as a 'positive addiction', but it can have links with damaging dysfunctional and excessive behaviours, including eating disorders. Clinical and sport psychologists now acknowledge the condition and report that it can be found in recreational exercisers and competitive athletes.

This is the first text to provide a comprehensive guide to exercise dependence. The text contains case studies and reviews research into exercise dependence in both 'exercise' and 'sports' contexts. The authors examine the condition in the widest sense,...