Embodiment and Athletic Identity

• In Event: 2447 - Agency and Embodiment

Abstract

This study examined the construction of retirement identity among former Olympic athletes to understand the process that follows from inhabiting a privileged body to moving into a state in which one’s social purpose must be reconstructed. In our excitement to celebrate winning in sports, we often ignore the lessons that can be associated with loss and adaptation to new physical states. This paper develops analogies between the ways society all but abandons the athlete whose body no longer performs at peak ability and the aging individual who must adapt to imposed changing identities. Findings from this study shed new light on retirement identity by integrating theoretical work from embodiment theory to highlight the value of sharing retirement stories, demonstrating that drawing strength from loss and from generative desires for social engagement can be fundamental retirement experiences.

Author

• Michelle Pannor Silver, University of Toronto