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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Bangor University: eBangor / Prifysgol Bangor Olympic Trials Claire Rhiannon Dias Bangor University School of English (PhD, Creative & Critical Writing) October 2014 Dias 1 Abstract Olympic Trials is a literary thriller that explores the dark side of sporting culture, including the many sacrifices, dysfunctional relationships and extreme behaviours that are common aspects of participating in a high performance sport environment. Juxtaposed with the stories of the athletes, there is the tale of an aspiring terrorist. His relentless devotion to a coach-like cult leader, and his physical, spiritual and psychological struggles on his journey to the Olympic Games mirrors the challenges of the athletes. The research portion of the thesis examines many of the texts generally included in the canon of sport fiction. Paramount here is the emergence of the anti-hero typology, figured within the framework of a quest narrative. These fictional athletes are depicted as inhuman⎯distinct in nature to the average citizen. Though these protagonists possess heroic strength or skill, they simultaneously demonstrate an inability to harness those attributes. They are distinctly flawed characters, who operate outside of acceptable moral parameters and the social norms of a community, although their misbehavior, including misogyny, homophobia and violence, is often endorsed by society. They live life at the mercy of sporting culture and their insatiable desires. Dias 2 Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 3 Declaration and Consent .......................................................................................................... 4 Olympic Trials ............................................................................................................................ 7 Opening Ceremonies: Part One ....................................................................................................... 9 Winter-Spring 2011 ......................................................................................................................... 12 Summer 2011 ..................................................................................................................................... 71 Fall 2011 ........................................................................................................................................... 144 Winter 2012 ..................................................................................................................................... 188 Spring-Summer 2012 ..................................................................................................................... 200 Opening Ceremonies: Part Two .................................................................................................. 230 The Athlete as Alien: Anti-Heroes in Sport Fiction ...................................................... 239 Narrowing the Scope: From Epic Games to Contemporary Sport ..................................... 241 Sport Fiction, the Athlete-Hero, and Anti-Hero ...................................................................... 242 The Athlete as Prisoner: Alienated, Exiled, and Incarcerated ............................................. 250 Caged Animals ................................................................................................................................ 263 Displays of Disordered Masculinity ........................................................................................... 268 Conclusion: Failed Myths, Failed Heroes ................................................................................. 279 Works Cited ..................................................................................................................................... 285 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 290 Dias 3 Acknowledgements I am grateful for the skilled guidance of my advisor and coach Professor Ian Gregson. I would not have made it across the finish line without his input and encouragement. Thank you to Katharine Barrette and Sarah Hutchings for their assistance in sourcing some of the articles I needed for my research. I am grateful to Joe and Sophie for their hospitality on my trips to the UK, as well as for their genuine interest in my writing and research. A hearty thanks to the Smith family for letting me take over their quiet (and lovely) cottage in the final phases of this project. Thanks to my extended family, children, colleagues and friends for their patience and words of encouragement as I completed this labour of love. I would also like to thank my writing group for their honest and constructive feedback on my work. Most of all, I would like express my appreciation to my beloved and long-suffering husband, Douglas, who was a great sounding board throughout this long writing process. Dias 7 Olympic Trials A Novel Dias 8 The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. —Pierre de Coubertin Dias 9 Opening Ceremonies: Part One Dias 10 Sam In the Olympic stadium, a cheer rose like a loud exhalation into the dull grey London sky. The British athletes had just entered the Opening Ceremonies—the last country in the Parade of Nations. Outside, Sam checked his watch, turned away from the crowd’s breath, and wrapped his fingers tightly around the mobile phone in his pocket. His breathing was short, shallow. A cold sweat gathering on his forehead. His body thin, chilled and shaking beneath his loose security guard uniform. Hadn’t Eli prepared him for this moment? If he were here, Eli would have enfolded Sam in his arms. He would have touched his face and called him “Chosen.” Sam’s mind had begun to follow the rhythm of his quickened heartbeats. It landed on the image of the female security guard twenty feet away, as she bent over and picked up an empty water bottle. It jumped to the weight of the mobile in his pocket. To the scent of wet grass. Then his thoughts turned inward to consider the imagined tableau of British athletes entering the stadium, the lightning storm of camera flashes. To his brother Brent’s little-boy eyes, upside down, peering from the top bunk. His mother’s gaunt, sad face. To the growing pain in his chest. To Eli, cross-legged on the floor of his Toronto apartment telling Sam to reject all these images and focus on the prize. The mysterious blessing. To Eli’s slim, strong hand, holding out a ring. He tried to freeze this image, but lost it in the trying. This must be like what happens when athletes choke. Thoughts clogging the brain. Sam had visualized this moment and imagined that it would be easier. That he’d be ready. Now he wanted to run. Eli, help me. He checked his watch again; ten seconds to go. As he counted down, he ran a trembling fingertip over the four gold bands hanging on the delicate chain around his neck. His other hand clenched the phone. He didn’t think he could do it. His vision narrowed as the countdown progressed. It was time. Sam peered up at the sky, in a final, unexpected plea. No stars, no apparitions, no miraculous guidance. His pulse pounded loud in his ears, and he could not summon Eli’s voice. His eyes burned with tears. Pain ripped across his chest. He turned away from the closest security camera. Dias 11 A memory came to mind. He was seven, standing on the three-metre diving board, ready to jump off for the first time. With every second of hesitation, he felt the board rise higher, the water retreat. His knees knocked together almost audibly as he leaned forward and looked down. His six-year-old brother Brent waited in the water below, laughing. Sam swallowed, and his fingers found the right key on the dial pad. The sensation of falling through air. Dias 12 Winter-Spring 2011 Dias 13 Jayna For the second time in a week, Jayna arrived drunk to her university basketball team practice. It was 5:50 a.m., and the previous night’s make-up was still evident on her face. There were mascara smudges under her eyes and dried-up pink lipstick residue around the edge of her mouth and on the tips of her teeth. She had somehow managed to change out of her clubbing clothes and into an oversized green sweatshirt, old black tear- away pants, and court shoes. Her practice gear was underneath. She couldn’t remember where she had gotten changed. In the sticky bathroom at the club? In the parking lot? Clothing, practice kits, and stretching teammates sat in quiet lumps around the gymnasium. Steading herself against the closed bleachers, Jayna scanned the edges of the gym for a spot to stretch in silence for the remaining ten minutes before practice. She dropped her large bag in a heap on the floor, a red high-heeled shoe poking out where the zipper should close, and faced the cinder-block wall. She placed her large palms flat against its cold grey surface and leaned forward to stretch out her hamstrings. The painful discipline of staying awake. Worse than thirty chin-ups. She studied her anklebones. They stick

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