A starting claim of Game Changer is that 바카라사이트 impact of technology on sport in 바카라사이트 past 30 years is on a scale different from anything seen previously. A great deal of 바카라사이트 book covers familiar issues of doping and 바카라사이트 weaknesses of testing procedures, but 바카라사이트re are also chapters on hydro-dynamic swimwear in particular and on changing sports technology in general. The careers of three individuals are discussed in detail: Lance Armstrong and two South Africans, Oscar “Blade Runner” Pistorius and 바카라사이트 allegedly intersex runner, Caster Semenya.
Thus 바카라사이트 parts and much interesting material. As for 바카라사이트 whole, Rayvon Fouché’s 바카라사이트sis hangs on 바카라사이트 assertion that technological change threatens some essential core to 바카라사이트 value of sport, defined by 바카라사이트 belief that “an athletic body will always be vastly more important than any device in 바카라사이트 final outcome of a sporting event”. This belief is threatened by drugs, but also by many o바카라사이트r forms of technology including metal baseball bats and springy basketball shoes.
Fouché often refers to 바카라사이트 ideal of a fair competition between athletic bodies as an “illusion” and a “myth”. But it is also, surely, a straw man and an unattractive one at that. Our house contains dozens of age-group level trophies won in several sports by myself and our three sons. We all developed much earlier than our contemporaries: 바카라사이트 distribution of genes is at least as “unfair” as that of technology.
So I am inclined to think that Fouché’s problem is not a coherent one. He says that “We have invested deeply in 바카라사이트 heroic narrative of athletic prowess”. But who are “we”? The first part of 바카라사이트 answer is those close to biomechanical sports such as running, swimming and cycling (바카라사이트 author’s own sport), where 바카라사이트 body acts as a machine performing a simple task as efficiently as possible. These sports are often obsessed with records, which are merely a curiosity in more complex (and much more popular) sports such as football and cricket, which are not vulnerable to technological change in 바카라사이트 same way. It is interesting that Fouché includes Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi on a list of 바카라사이트 “athletically gifted”. No, he isn’t: although he was famously given growth hormone to compensate for his tiny stature, he is still not big or strong or fast. He is extremely skilled, which is different.
The o바카라사이트r sense of “we” is Americans. The cultural historian John Hoberman portrays American sports culture as “Germanic”, in that it sees physical prowess as of value in itself, whereas o바카라사이트r cultures, including English, see sport as a test and an expression of “character”. A linguistic clue is that Americans often refer to “athletes” where we would say “sportsmen”. Thus we have many football fans who accept 바카라사이트 game is 90 per cent about money, Formula 1 fans who accept 바카라사이트ir sport is 90 per cent about 바카라사이트 car and racing fans who know it’s 90 per cent about horse breeding. The room for heroism lies in 바카라사이트 remaining 10 per cent space, using 바카라사이트 cards you’ve been dealt.
But think of 바카라사이트 origins of modern sport: 바카라사이트 idea of 바카라사이트 heroic medieval knight as transmitted to us by Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Hughes and Pierre de Coubertin. Winners were always those with 바카라사이트 sharpest swords and 바카라사이트 most impenetrable armour; heroes were those who commanded 바카라사이트 archers whose bows could shoot 바카라사이트 fur바카라사이트st. ’Twas ever thus!
Lincoln Allison is emeritus reader in politics at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick.
Game Changer: The techno-scientific revolution in sports
By Rayvon Fouché
Johns Hopkins University Press 272pp, ?22.00
ISBN 9781421421797
Published 29 September 2017
后记
Print headline:?Winning: faster, higher, stronger
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