Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the reasons why athletes participating in European Cross Country Championships held in capital Belgrade of Serbia in the date of December 8, 2013 from different countries tended towards sports, why they still engage in athleticism and their expectations from sports. Method: "Sports Tendency and Expectation Survey", developed by Bayraktar and Sunay (2007) was used in order to collect data. After obtaining expert opinion, survey was adapted to athleticism. Target population of the research consists of 175 athletes participating in European Cross Country Championships in Serbia in the date of December 8, 2013, research sample consists of total 126 athletes consisting of 45 female and 81 male athletes to whom survey was made. The data that was obtained from the survey was described and interpreted by considering sorting status according to frequency, percentage and significance level. One-way analysis of variance and t-test were used in order to determine whether differences between opinions of athletes participating in the survey according to their genders, statuses of receiving sponsor support, educational backgrounds and nationalities are significant or not. Findings and Result: Among the reasons for starting athleticism, the item having the highest priority is "the impact of the family". The leading reason for engaging in athleticism is "loving athleticism". Item having highest priority related to expectation from athleticism is "to be healthy and to protect the health".
