Posthuman podiums : the technological life-history narratives of elite track and field athletes

Narrative research has emerged as a powerful means of exploring athletes’ lives through the stones they tell about themselves (Duncan, 1998, Foley, 1992, McDonald & Birrell, 1999, Sparkes, 1999, 2000). In this study I examined the technological life-histories of seven elite track and field athletes using a narrative analysis (Polkinghome, 1997). As Haraway (1985) points out, the "cyborg era" has ushered in multiple modes of subjectivity which are best understood through narratives, the stories we tell within the context of an early 21st century technoculture. Through an analysis of in-depth interviews, observational data, personal photographs, and the application of theoretical concepts related to technology, participants' stories were configured into narrative texts that represent individualized literary portraits of the ways that their lives have been "technologically textured" (Ihde, 1993) since childhood.

The narratives presented in this study illustrate the interpenetration of athletes and technology, and trace the formation and reformation of athletic identities that are informed by and shaped through lifelong encounters with technology. Further, the texts relate to the inherent tensions within the community of Olympic-caliber track and field, in which athletes are driven to employ various technologies in their efforts to perform, yet simultaneously strictly regulated terms of what they can and cannot use by various governing agencies.

The stories participants told generally indicated an appreciation of the role of technology in their sport,but a reluctance to engage with certain technologies that they felt might compromise their own sense of athletic “purity.” Thus, while they were of what I will call “hegemonic humanness,” they generally complicit in the maintenance also demonstrated varying levels of resistance that were contingent on context and their unique life experiences both within and outside of sport. Finally, I hoped that by participating in this study and helping to co-construct their narratives,these athletes would feel compelled to engage in critical dialogues with other competitors and administrators regarding the current and future role of technology in track and field, and how the decision-making process related to the use or restriction of technologies might become more democratic.