Fastest, Highest, Strongest: a Critique of High-Performance Sport Is a Truly Radical Text
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Fastest, Highest, Strongest Fastest, Highest, Strongest presents a comprehensive challenge to the dominant orthodoxy concerning the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport. Examining the political and economic transformation of the Olympic Movement during the twentieth century, the authors argue that the realities of modern sport require a serious reassessment of current policies, in particular the ban on the use of certain substances and practices. The book includes detailed discussion of: ● The historical importance of World War II and the cold war in the develop- ment of a high-performance culture in sport. ● The changing Olympic project: from amateurism to a fully professionalized approach. ● The changing meaning of “sport.” ● The role of sport science, technology and drugs in pursuing ever-better performance. ● The major ethical and philosophical arguments used to support the ban on performance-enhancing substances in sport. Fastest, Highest, Strongest is a profound critical examination of modern sport, of interest both to students and scholars in the field of sport studies, as well as soci- ologists, political scientists, policymakers, sports administrators, and athletes themselves. Rob Beamish is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology at Queen’s University, Canada. Ian Ritchie is Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Education and Kinesiology at Brock University, Canada. Routledge critical studies in sport Series editors: Jennifer Hargreaves and Ian McDonald University of Brighton The Routledge Critical Studies in Sport series aims to lead the way in developing the multi-disciplinary field of sport studies by producing books that are interrog- ative, interventionist and innovative. By providing theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded texts, the series will make sense of the changes and challenges facing sport globally. The series aspires to maintain the commitment and promise of the critical paradigm by contributing to a more inclusive and less exploitative culture of sport. Fastest, Highest, Strongest A critique of high-performance sport Rob Beamish and Ian Ritchie First published 2006 by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2006 Rob Beamish and Ian Ritchie Excerpt from Animal Farm by George Orwell, © 1946 by Harcourt, Inc. and renewed 1975 by Sonia Orwell, reprinted by permission of the publisher. This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. The publisher, editor and typesetter make no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Beamish, Rob. Fastest, highest, strongest : a critique of high-performance sport / Rob Beamish and Ian Ritchie. p. cm. – (Routledge critical studies in sport) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–415–77042–4 (hardback) – ISBN 0–415–77043–2 (pbk.) 1. Doping in sports. 2. Olympics. I. Ritchie, Ian, 1964– . II. Title. III. Series. RC1230.B45 2006 362.29–dc22 2006001561 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN10: 0-415-77042-4 (hbk) ISBN10: 0-415-77043-2 (pbk) ISBN10: 0-203-96785-2 (ebk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-77042-2 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-77043-9 (pbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-96785-0 (ebk) Contents Foreword vi Preface viii Acknowledgements xii Introduction 1 1 From Coubertin’s dream to high-performance sport: the shifting dynamics of Olympic sport 11 2 Steroids: Nazi propaganda, cold war fears, and “androgenized” women 31 3 “Sport,” German traditions, and the development of “training” 46 4 From Stalingrad to Helsinki: the development of German sport systems 66 5 “Something had altered in the faces of the pigs ...:” converging sport systems in the GDR and FRG 85 6 Ethics reconsidered: the spirit of sport, the level playing field, and harm to the athlete 105 Conclusion: the brave new world of high-performance sport 136 Notes 145 Index 187 Foreword In A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Karl Marx argues that “To be radical is to grasp the root of the matter”. Without doubt, Fastest, Highest, Strongest: A Critique of High-Performance Sport is a truly radical text. It is an empirically informed, penetrating critique of the structure and culture of high-performance sport that lays bare one of the most controversial and intractable issues to have plagued sport in the post-war period: performance- enhancing drugs. Copious amounts of time and space have been devoted to the problem of doping in sport by policy-makers, the media and academics. Often the “debate” is polarized around one question: are you for or against drug taking in sport? But, as Beamish and Ritchie explain, doping is symptomatic of the quest to be the fastest, highest or strongest in high-performance sport. It is a package deal. If one accepts the culture of high-performance sport, it makes lit- tle sense to ask the “for” or “against” question. The key is to situate the use of performance-enhancing substances in the totality of the sport–culture–society nexus. Based on a critique of the romanticized and highly ideological notions of Olympian internationalism, and framed by a concern with the human rights of athletes, Fastest, Highest, Strongest situates the use of performance-enhancing drugs in its socio-historical context. Drawing on original archival research, Beamish and Ritchie set out their critique of an incoherent doping policy which itself is an expression of the contradictions between sporting ideologies, capital- ist modernity and the culture of high-performance sport. However, the authors do not allow the complexities of analysis to detach them from an engagement with the pragmatic world of sport policy. Beamish and Ritchie outline three general criteria that should shape the debate on performance-enhancing sub- stances: first, the starting point has to be an understanding of the socio-historical reality of performance enhancement as the basis for formulating policy, rather than the ideologically mystifying notion of the “spirit of sport”. Second, given the reality of high-performance sport, a frank discussion needs to occur about the safeguards required to protect athletes’ health. And third, ath- letes themselves must be centrally involved in any policies related to their training and work conditions. This is a text that takes the debate on drug taking in sport to new and more meaningful levels. Foreword vii Fastest, Highest, Strongest powerfully exemplifies the rationale for the Routledge Critical Studies in Sport series. In the series, our intention as editors is to tackle some of the big questions facing sport and society, to question assump- tions about sport, to critique established ideas, and to explore new ones. We are keen to encourage the production of texts that are empirically grounded and socially relevant, challenging and innovative, in particular through their engage- ment with issues concerning relations of power and discriminatory practices. The series as a whole aims to challenge complacency and encourage reflection, and should assist students, researchers, policy-makers and professionals to make sense of the changes, challenges and crises facing sport. The guiding philosophy for the series can be summarized as: ● Interrogative: challenging common sense ideas and exposing relations of power in the world of sport. ● Interventionist: highlighting the relationship between theory and practice and providing arguments and analyses of topical and polemical issues. ● Innovative: seeking to develop new areas of research, and stimulating new ways of thinking and studying about sport. In Fastest, Highest, Strongest: A Critique of High-Performance Sport, Rob Beamish and Ian Ritchie have certainly produced a text that is interrogative, interven- tionist and innovative. We are proud to include it in the series. Our hope is that this book will provoke and stimulate discussion both inside the academy amongst students, teachers and researchers, and outside amongst policy-makers, athletes and journalists. Ultimately the aim of this book and of our series as a whole is to spark dialog across the academic–non-academic divide in the world of sport, to help develop a more humanistic and empowering vision for sport. Jennifer Hargreaves and Ian McDonald University of Brighton Series Editors Preface The seeds of this study date to long before we began this as a joint project and well before the first words were written. Though never the primary, or even a major impetus for writing this book, the events surrounding Ben Johnson and the 1988 Seoul Summer Games did, nevertheless, play a critical role for several reasons. First, although athletes had tested positive for banned substances before Johnson, and drug controversies in high-performance sport had come and gone many times – and will continue to do so into the future – Johnson’s perfor- mances leading up to, and at the Games, crystallized the key issues lying at the center of high-performance sport in the modern era. Johnson’s 100 meter vic- tory in 9.79 seconds clearly demonstrated the phenomenal athletic feats that high-performance athletes can achieve, but his positive test left people won- dering how and why an athlete would so single-mindedly pursue the outer limits of athletic performance.