ABSTRACT
In modern society, one of the key areas of biopower, or the relationship between the state and the human body, is sports. Since the mid-nineteenth century, an era marked by the rise of nationalism, states have used physical exercise, gymnastics, and games to foster national unity and build the nation’s political body by creating and motivating individual bodies (Arnold 2021). This link between sports and the nation was further enhanced in the twentieth century with the rise of the international Olympic movement. This is particularly visible if we consider the totalitarian machines applied in fascist Germany, the post-World War II USSR, and many other socialist countries such as East Germany, Romania, and Cuba, or if we look at the practices in China today.
