ABSTRACT
The golden triangle has fueled commercial expansion of sport that has opened up opportunities for many from less advantaged backgrounds. This democratization has even affected some of the most elite sports, such as yachting. Of course, as we saw in the last chapter, this democratization has been largely confined to those who play or coach the games, and has had relatively little effect on the composition of the elites who control sports. The public face of sport today nevertheless is much more diverse than in the past in terms of social class and in a number of other ways, too. This is because the American Sports Dream is true for at least some of those from less advantaged and minority backgrounds and women. We considered the myths and realities of social class and mobility and sport in the last chapter. In this chapter, we will look at how factors such as gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and physical disability have influenced participation in the sports of the golden triangle.
