Be(coming) clean: Confessions as governance in professional cycling

Sefiha, Ophir; Reichman, Nancy E.

doi:10.1386/cjcs.6.2.177_1

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…As opportunities for surveillance increase, so to do the points of resistance. Consider, for example, how personal videos are shared through social media to monitor the work of police (see Schneider, ; Taylor, ; Trottier & Fuchs, ) or how athletes find creative ways to resist the surveillance pressures of the anti‐doping regime (see Sefiha & Reichman, ; Henne, ). These examples demonstrate how new surveillance technologies can be simultaneously oppressive and liberating for all citizens.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, athletes' social media posts that demonstrate compliance with drug testing such as posting clean test results, announcing oneself as aligned with “clean sport” organizations, and even calling out “suspect” athletes, serve as lived evidence of one's anti‐doping beliefs. Athletes seeking to return to sport following a positive test often use social media to post displays of contrition, frequently explaining their behavior as a lapse in judgment or moment of weakness (Sefiha & Reichman, ). Contrition also involves willingness to act as a “cautionary tale” for young athletes.…”

Section: Social Media and The Regulation Of Deviance In Sportmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social media and the doping of sport surveillance

Sefiha

Reichman

2017

Sociology Compass

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Reviewing literatures from sociology of sport, surveillance, and internet studies, we consider the processes by which social media regulate the behavior of athletes. Nowhere is this more evident than in the current regulation of anti-doping in elite sport where athletes 0 social media postings have been highly critical of fellow competitors. As social media becomes increasingly blended into everyday routines, this form of surveillance extends the gaze of those who watch and increases the pressure for online disclosure while making traditional distinctions between formal and informal social control less meaningful. Contemporary social media acts as a form of social control that has become more preemptive and grassroots. When athletes internalize surveillance and disclosure as consistent with their professional norms, the power relationships that surround sport performance become increasingly difficult to discern. This article helps to illuminate the ways in which surveillance through social media have become a part of everyday routines, extends and amplifies the power of more traditional agents of surveillance, and calls for continued research into the role of contemporary social media as a surveillance practice. | FROM OMERTA TO SPEAKING IN A LOUD VOICEAs the Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova raised her hand to display the universal "number one" gesture after winning a preliminary race at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, the American swimmer, 18-year-old Lilly King, shook her head and wagged her own finger at Efimova 0 s televised representation. This scene, live captured on television and broadcast globally, became a major news story from the 2016 Rio games, encapsulating the simmering tensions regarding the exclusion of many of Efimova 0 s compatriots following revelations of a Russian state-sponsored doping program. In stark contrast to the long held omerta or silence that characterized athlete public responses to performance-enhancing drug (PED) use, King openly criticized Efimova calling her a "drug cheat" and questioning why she was allowed to compete at all. Almost completely absent was coverage of Efimova 0 s backstory and King was generally lauded on social media for "standing up" to "dopers."Drawing from surveillance, social media, and sport literatures, our experiences as cyclists and internet users, as well as our research involving professional cyclists and sport sponsors, we reflect on how social media logic transforms the social control of professional athletes. Examining how the assemblage of surveillance made possible by athletes 0 use of social media changes the very dynamic of social control, we argue that social media amplifies the evidence in ways similar to consuming the blood boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO): It does not introduce new types of evidence, just as EPO does not introduce a new drug into one 0 s system. Rather, both fortify and "boost up" an already existing product. In the case of EPO, it is the augmentation of red blood cells. In the case of social media, it is the continual stream o...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social Media and The Regulation Of Deviance In Sportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social media and the doping of sport surveillance

Sefiha

Reichman

2017

Sociology Compass

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“…Those who were competing in the 1990s up to the Festina affair in 1998 were operating in a culture where taking substances were a necessary and open part of the job (Aubel and Ohl, 2014). Since the Armstrong case in 2012 there has been a new narrative formed of cyclists' confessional accounts calling for 'clean' cycling (Sefiha and Reichman, 2014). Since 2012 there has also been little increase in the speed of winning cyclists, suggesting anti-doping policies are becoming more effective (Lippi et al, 2014).…”

Section: Study Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tour du dopage: Confessions of doping professional cyclists in a modern work environment

Smith

2016

International Review for the Sociology of Sport

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Despite the widespread condemnation of blood doping in sport, since Lance Armstrong's acquittal in 2012, a flurry of riders' confessions have emphasized the omnipresence and normalization of the practice within cycling. Drawing an analogy between the origins of capitalist society and sport, this paper analyses doping cyclists' confessions in the media.Whilst there are many justifications for why cyclists might dope, little is known about the reasons and processes regarding how and why individuals portray this behavior as legitimate.To show this, the study draws on concepts of neutralization theory and performance at work to introduce the notion of 'performance egoism'. Findings show how doping and 'cheating' is legitimated by cyclists operating on three levels of spectacularised work, concerning individual's performance, their team's success and the grand spectacle of the Tour de France.It is concluded that the commodification of cultural performance at work breeds an environment of legitimated cheating.

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“…By rendering athletes' actions and ethics visible through surveillance, testing, and sanctions, the regime has fostered a culture of suspicion in the name of safeguarding ethics (Sefiha and Reichman ; Henne and Troshynski ). Others highlight that reforms developed to enhance antidoping regulation have actually made doping more dangerous, because they incentivize the development of more potent substances that the body can absorb and discharge more quickly so as to avoid detection (Beamish and Ritchie ).…”

Section: Targets Of Transparency In Sportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reforming Global Sport: Hybridity and the Challenges of Pursuing Transparency

Henne

2015

Law & Policy

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In light of recent controversies in global sport, this article surveys the challenges of pursuing transparency in this particular domain of governance. Although corruption in sport is attracting more scholarly attention, there remains little sociolegal research that reflects critically on corporate governance in sport and its implications. This article outlines current calls for greater transparency in global sport and considers how capitalistic underpinnings and distinct hybrid arrangements complicate the task of transparency. It concludes by reflecting on how insights from studies of regulatory capitalism can inform alternative approaches to transparency and accountability in global sport.

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Be(coming) clean: Confessions as governance in professional cycling

Cited by 10 publications

References 26 publications

Social media and the doping of sport surveillance

Social media and the doping of sport surveillance

Tour du dopage: Confessions of doping professional cyclists in a modern work environment

Reforming Global Sport: Hybridity and the Challenges of Pursuing Transparency

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