Troubling Sport: Sport and Health in Historical and Contemporary Perspective

Is sport good for you? The answer to this question is usually an emphatic yes. But is this always so?

When the mental and physical health of elite athletes is considered, the answer is more complex. Athletes put themselves at considerable physical risk in both training and competition, where one misstep can result in career-ending injury or extensive surgeries and painful rehabilitation.

Athletes’ bodies endure continuous stresses and strains, which can contribute to everything from chronic joint pain to debilitating neurological disease. In recent years, athletes have become more forthright about the toll sport takes on their mental health, with everything from braving internet trolls and the pressure to win at all costs to coping with long-term injury and worries about retirement contributing to mental health problems.

By using health as a lens through which to understand elite sport, this project seeks to challenge the role of sport in society.