Posthuman Podiums: Cyborg Narratives of Elite Track and Field Athletes

Abstract

This paper examines the cyborg identities of 7 elite track and field athletes using a paradigmatic analysis of narratives (Polkinghorne, 1995, 1997). Following a discussion of philosophical and cultural studies conceptualizations of technology, and a brief overview of various types of sport technologies, I present several themes that emerged through an analysis of the collection of stories told by participants during in-depth interviews. In general, while participants engaged with a range of technologies, their stories dealt predominately with the tensions within world-class athletics between modernist notions of the “natural” body and postmodern conceptualizations of corporeality. The paper concludes with comments about the ongoing politics of sporting cyborg bodies and the increasing relevance of cyborg theory to critical sport studies work.