ASSEMBLING HIGH PERFORMANCE: AN ACTOR NETWORK THEORY ACCOUNT OF GYMNASTICS IN NEW ZEALAND A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology at the University of Canterbury by Roslyn Kerr University of Canterbury 2010 ii Abstract During every summer Olympic Games, the sport of gymnastics rises briefly to the world’s attention as the public admire the incredible skills and feats performed by fit muscular bodies on a range of apparatus. The gymnastics they watch consists of performances in which bodies assemble with apparatus. This thesis utilises an Actor Network Theory (ANT) perspective to follow this assembling of gymnastics in the five codes of competitive gymnastics competed in New Zealand: women’s artistic gymnastics, men’s artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampolining and competitive aerobics. This thesis is a descriptive ethnography of the world of high performance gymnastics. It begins by examining some of the controversies that have operated to both criticise and rework the sport. Next, the gymnasts are followed through the selection processes that lead them to become members of national squads and teams. It then moves to the training gymnasium and examines the variety of non-human actants that work in the gymnasium to assemble gymnastics. The next two chapters examine how gymnasts are found to enrol and assemble with video technologies and sports science professionals in their efforts to improve performance. Following this, gymnasts are observed to produce a routine at a competition which is translated into a score and ranking through the highly complicated and laborious process of judging. Finally, the thesis concludes with the story of Angela McMillan, New Zealand’s most successful athlete within the gymnastic codes. Throughout are a range of accounts from participants, together with observations, describing attempts to secure the stabilisation of gymnastics as an actor-network that produces internationally successful athletes. All the networks followed involve a continual process of enrolling, un-enrolling, translating and mediating, with power constantly shifting and being shared between various heterogeneous actants including coaches, parents, the national federation and the international federation. At times these networks stabilise with particular actants, such as sports scientists or technologies, being enrolled, while at other times the paths of the networks come to an end as particular assemblages or actants, such as physical ability tests, are no longer enrolled. In contrast to a perception that successful high performance sports include key actors and resources, this thesis shows how the networks that produce high performance gymnasts are highly unpredictable and messy, with humans and non-humans both equally influential in affecting every branch of the networks. Processes such as talent identification, training and judging are found to be complicated and unstable. iii Acknowledgements This study would not have been possible without the immense support of many individuals from both the gymnastics community and the University of Canterbury. Firstly, thank you to my supervisors Camilla and Terry. Camilla - As you know I was determined not to begin my thesis until I had found the perfect supervisor. Therefore, whether you knew it or not, upon locating you at Canterbury, you were placed in the impossible position of living up to my expectations of perfection. The remarkable thing is that you did. I feel incredibly lucky to have had a supervisor whose door was always open to me, quite literally, who satisfied my greedy demands for both criticism and praise, who published with me and who carried my bags to Copenhagen! Thank you for so very much, working with you has been a pleasure and I hope that we can continue to publish together for many years. Terry – I am in awe of your immense academic knowledge, your depth of insight and your ability to glance at something once and immediately see the significance and meaning within it, and I feel honoured to have had you contribute to my thesis. I cannot thank you enough for introducing me to Latour and convincing me to take a new and interesting approach in sociology of sport. My thesis would have been a boring piece of drivel were it not for your brilliant introduction to ANT. I am also indebted to your heart attack - I think if every student were forced to teach an Honours course on their methodology, the standard of postgraduate research would go through the roof! To the many students who have passed through the grad room or the school in the last four years including Kate, Susannah, Yan, Nathaniel, Abi, Jenny, Mike, Aline, Michelle, Tanisha, Trina, Jennifer, Sarah, Rochelle, Angel, Elaine, Jo, Nina, Raewyn, Laura, Anika, Evelyn, Deborah, Hazel, Anton, Simon, Karen, Steve, Peter, Ira, Huia, Hong, Lydia, Eva, Amba, Annette, Rebecca, and most particularly Bindy and Jamie - every one of you has added something to my thesis. Bindy – your assistance with getting my head around ANT and your general support was invaluable. Jamie – our discussions over the last year about what is a PhD thesis, and our games of “my thesis is better than your thesis” have been both hugely enjoyable and helpful in reaching the end. To all the sociology and anthropology staff –I have at times talked with every single one of you about my thesis and I have received nothing but support from you all. I have loved every minute of being a student in sociology at Canterbury. At every one of the five times I have presented at either the mini-conference or when I gave a seminar, I have gained useful advice, feedback, questions etc. You have been nothing but encouraging and supportive in every way. iv Thank you to my innumerable participants, who welcomed me into your gymnastics clubs and allowed me to interview you. I hope I have done justice to your wonderful world, but would not have been able to paint such a detailed picture of its often bizarre workings without all your stories. In particular thank you to Angela McMillan for allowing me to tell your story in your own words. Thank you to everyone at Olympia who has patiently listened to my ideas, theories and thoughts about high performance. In particular to Sasha who taught me the meaning of high performance and provided me with access to so many gymnasiums. To my suffering friends Sharyn and Barbara who answered every one of my stupid questions about trampolining and rhythmic rules, and to Kathryn, Aliona, Beck and Galina who have never hesitated to freely discuss high performance for hours on end! Thank you so much to NZG, now called GSNZ, for your support. All five of the CEO’s who have run the organisation over the last four years have supported me. Also to SPARC and the Health Research Council, who generously funded part of this research. A most enormous thank you to Jane, for always being only an email away and consequently keeping me sane. You have been my proof reader, my confidante about all gymnastics matters and the very best of friends. You have lived this thesis with me and unfailingly been there for me, always listening patiently to my whining about my progress or whatever else was on my mind. Last but most importantly, I thank Richard, who I wouldn’t have started this PhD without. There is no better preparation than watching someone else complete one first! Thank you so much for your encouragement, support, constant interest and love throughout the last five years. You have supported me in every possible way. v List of Publications Kerr, Roslyn (2008) Doing gender right but doing sport wrong: Rhythmic gymnasts’ experiences of playing a “feminine” sport, Women in New Zealand Sport, Obel, C. Bruce, T. and Thompson, S. (Eds) Obel, Camilla and Kerr, Roslyn (2007) The sporting body: Whose body is right for sport? Sport in Aotearoa/New Zealand society, Collins, C. And Jackson, S. (Eds), Thomson: Melbourne. Kerr, Roslyn (2006) The impact of introducing real-time computer vision technology into an elite sport training environment Proceedings of the 8th Australasian Conference on Mathematics and Computers in Sport Ed. Hammond, J. and de Mestre, N., 3 – 5 July 2006, MathSport: Coolangatta, pp. 99 – 108 List of Presentations Kerr, Roslyn (2007) Barbie The Sportswoman: Women Who Choose To Play “Feminine” Sports, Sport in a Global World – Past, Present and Future, 31 July – 5 August 2007, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Kerr, Roslyn and Obel, Camilla (2007) When Technologies And Bodies Come Together: Assembling Gymnastic Performances, Sport in a Global World – Past, Present and Future, 31 July – 5 August 2007, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen vi Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii List of Publications v Table of Contents vi List of Figures vii List of Tables vii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Circulating Controversies 26 Chapter 3: The Selecting and Sorting of Bodies 54 Chapter 4: Training and its Many Mediators 86 Chapter 5: To Video or not to Video? That is Not the Question 114 Chapter 6: Expert Knowledge and Professional Confrontations 140 Chapter 7: The Art of Judging Art: Unpacking the Orange Box 166 Chapter 8: The Networks of a World Champion 196 Chapter 9: Conclusion 229 References 240 vii List of Figures Figure 1.1 Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Apparatus 2 Figure 1.2 Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Apparatus 4 Figure 1.3 Rhythmic Gymnastics Apparatus 5 Figure 1.4 Trampolining Apparatus 7 Figure 1.5 The Aerobics stage at World Championships,