Evaluating the experience of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the career histories of elite equestrian athletes By Donna de Haan A Doctoral Thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University March 2015 © D. de Haan 2015 ABSTRACT Equestrian sport has been present on the Modern Olympic programme since 1900 with Para-Equestrian Dressage making its debut at the 1996 Paralympic Games. Due to the combined governance of Olympic and Paralympic versions of the sport, the mixed gender of competition and the potential age range of competitors, equestrian sport provides an opportunity through which to understand a unique context of athlete experience. This thesis has sought to identify and evaluate athlete experience within the context of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and to place this experience within the wider career histories of members of the British Equestrian Team. This study utilised a combination of a systematic literature review methodology and ethnographic data collection and analysis with a critical realist approach, creating a framework that values interpretive insights into how the subjects perceive and construct their world whilst at the same time considering ways in which the literature and individual subjects identify, comment on, and frame the reality of the world of equestrian sport. This study has resulted in the emergence of six themes pertaining to experiencing the games; equestrian sporting culture, identity, values, challenges, performance support and success. Results show many similarities and shared experiences for both the Olympic and Paralympic equestrian athletes. The differences regarding the lived experience for these athletes are predominantly associated with the development of the sport, the relative short Paralympic history of equestrian sport in comparison to the Olympic disciplines, and the place of the Games in the context of the riders’ career histories. Recognising and understanding the kinds of satisfactions and challenges that individuals experience, the significant features of their athlete identity, and the structural constraints and opportunities of their environment may help identify and design the services and provision required to support the athletes through this elite sporting experience. Keywords: Equestrian sport, athlete experience, Olympic, Paralympic, career history I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This PhD journey has taken me 7 years from start to finish, although during that time I took a few breaks, to have babies, move countries, change jobs! I can safely say the production of this PhD has most definitely remained firmly on my to-do list for this period of time. I am incredibly grateful to have even made it this far and there are so many people I would like to thank, without whom this wouldn’t have been possible. Firstly I want to thank my supervisor Professor Ian Henry, who generously took me on at a time when he didn’t really have capacity, and at a point when I had already had to make somewhat of an unsupervised start. I know I have never been a straight forward case, complicating things by breaks in my registration and leaving the country and my inept use of the apostrophe, but he never lost patience and his unconditional guidance and general support has kept me going through all the inevitable PhD wobbles. Through this process I have truly found a great mentor and colleague and I look forward to continuing working with him in the future. This research would not have been possible without the support of the British Equestrian Federation and I would like to thank them for granting me access to all the amazing individuals I met through the duration of this project, the inspiring athletes, the hard working support staff and dedicated management team. Not only did they provide me with the opportunity to do this research, they gave me an insight into the fascinating world of elite sport. I would also like to acknowledge the fact that it has taken a ‘virtual village’ to get me to the end of this journey. I am extremely grateful for the support shown to me from friends around the world, some of whom have gone through this journey themselves and have kindly shared their own experiences, reassuring me that every moment of writers block could be overcome, and others who have no idea what I have really been doing all this II time but have none-the-less cheered me on from the side-lines. Thank you for all the handholding, pushing, formatting, general words of encouragement and the simple reminder to pull my power pants up! A special thank you also goes out to all my academic mum friends who know just how hard it is to balance a life of theoretical frameworks and toddler tantrums! Finally I would like to thank my family. I’m so sorry I just couldn’t complete this in time for my dad to see me graduate. Although he hasn’t made it to the end with me his support and love of sport continue to inspire me and have never left me. I am grateful for my mums’ unquestionable pride despite not really understanding what I’m doing and the fact that she has always taught me that hard work pays off, this work ethic has certainly got me to this final stage. And last but by no means least; I want to thank my amazing husband and children. Johan, you have supported me in every way possible and I am eternally grateful, this has truly been a long and difficult journey and I simply could not have got through it without you. Miller and Emme and baby bump number three, you have all been on this journey with me, I have had the honour of feeling each of you kick and wriggle inside me through the production of various chapters and your little visits up to my office for quick kisses and cuddles have meant the world to me. You’re too little to understand what this is all about but one day I will show you with pride what mummy did! III TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract....................................................................................................................... I Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... II Table of Contents .................................................................................................... IV List of Tables ........................................................................................................ VIII List of Figures.......................................................................................................... IX CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction: the context and development of equestrian sport in the modern Olympic Games ......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research question and focus of the thesis ........................................................... 4 1.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION TO OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC EQUESTRIAN SPORT ... 10 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 10 2.2 The socio-cultural context of equestrian sport .................................................. 12 2.3 Militarism in equine sport ................................................................................. 17 2.4 Gender and the development of the sport .......................................................... 25 2.4.1 Sex integration in equestrian sport ............................................................ 31 2.4.2 Lack of participatory parity in equestrian sport ......................................... 33 2.4.3 Gendered discourse in equestrian sport ..................................................... 36 2.4.4 Notions of masculinity and sexuality in equestrian sport .......................... 42 2.5 Equestrian sport at the Paralympics .................................................................. 44 2.5.1 Classification of Para-Equestrian riders .................................................... 46 2.6 Social class and the economic structure of equestrian sport ............................. 48 2.7 Governance and structure of Equestrian Sport .................................................. 59 2.8 Competition experience ..................................................................................... 66 2.9 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 80 IV CHAPTER 3: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW METHODOLOGY ................................................. 82 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 82 3.1.1 Systematic Literature Review – a clinical approach .................................. 83 3.1.2 Systematic Literature Review – across the convergent-divergent dimension ............................................................................................................ 85 3.2 Stages of a Systematic Literature Review ......................................................... 88 3.2.1 Stage One: Planning the Review ............................................................... 88 3.2.2 Stage two: Conducting the Review ............................................................ 93 3.2.3 Stage three: Reporting and Dissemination ...............................................