ABSTRACT
Temperament, sexuality, athletic ability, aesthetic preferences and so on are presumed to be fixed and discernible from the palpable mark of race.
(Omi and Winant 1994: 60)
Our capabilities in sport are often described in physical or psychological terms, ‘natural’ differences. These ‘gifts’ are often identified as the difference between those who are likely to succeed in a given sport and those who are not. This discourse of superiority and inferiority in sport is not dissimilar to other debates in wider society which revolve around genetics and intelligence, and ultimately underpin imperialist ideologies (Goldberg 1993, Essed and Goldberg 2002, Omi and Winant 2002). There is a popular perception in sport that our genes and to a degree our cultural background dictate the prowess of an individual sportsman or woman. This discourse of advantage and of course disadvantage in sport is invariably reduced to ‘harmless’ racial differences, a reduction that suggests, however, a more sinister undercurrent: ‘race’ logic (Coakley 2001), racial discourse (Goldberg 1993), racial formations (Omi and Winant 1994), raciology (Gilroy 2000) and racialisation (Murji and Solomos 2005). The preconceptions we have of Others act as a kind of shorthand for who they are and where they are located in social hierarchies. As Others speak they are gendered, classed and raced in a reflexive moment and beyond that the reality of their circumstances takes much longer to emerge. Omi and Winant (1994) suggest that often people are expected to act out racial identities, and where this does not occur it can be a source of confusion. Athletes such as the African American 400 metre runner Michael Johnson and Garth Crooks, the African Caribbean ex-footballer, contradict crude stereotypes of themselves when offering articulate and cerebral questions and answers on media panels. Oliver Skeets, the African Caribbean show jumper, Darshan-Singh Buller, the Asian contemporary dance choreographer, Tiger Woods and of course all of those white men who can jump, and those Asian women who can Bend it like Beckham, hint at the reality and very real contradictions of the diversity in wider society. The racialised social structures of sport therefore contribute to the way we shape and experience our own and others’ identities.
