Drawing on rich empirical material from elite French sport, this book offers a detailed history of how the concept of doping evolved from the twentieth to the twenty-first century. The first study to span the period from 1950 to 2010, it sheds new light on the extraordinary world of elite sport in France - a world governed by its own moral standards and defined by extreme expectations of physical performance and highly medicalised training regimes. Including exclusive insights from athletes and their doctors, it explains how the use of drugs became an integral part of training in elite French sport. Considering the complex and paradoxical moral arguments that frame this phenomenon, it explores the decades-long social and political process that resulted in the normalisation of this doping culture. Drawing on examples from cycling, athletics, weightlifting, wrestling and bodybuilding, this book compares doping practices in these sports and questions the effectiveness of anti-doping policies. This is fascinating reading for all those interested in the use of drugs in sports, the ethics and philosophy of sport, or sports history.

Drawing on rich empirical material from elite French sport, this book offers a detailed history of how the concept of doping evolved from the twentieth to the twenty-first century. The first study to span the period from 1950 to 2010, it sheds new light on the extraordinary world of elite sport in France - a world governed by its own moral standards and defined by extreme expectations of physical performance and highly medicalised training regimes. Including exclusive insights from athletes and their doctors, it explains how the use of drugs became an integral part of training in elite French sport. Considering the complex and paradoxical moral arguments that frame this phenomenon, it explores the decades-long social and political process that resulted in the normalisation of this doping culture. Drawing on examples from cycling, athletics, weightlifting, wrestling and bodybuilding, this book compares doping practices in these sports and questions the effectiveness of anti-doping policies. This is fascinating reading for all those interested in the use of drugs in sports, the ethics and philosophy of sport, or sports history.

Athletes across the globe have engaged in high profile protests against state violence since NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the US national anthem in protest of state violence against Black communities. There is, however, a much longer global history that precedes and follows Kaepernick’s protest. This series of sport protests, across both professional and amateur levels, has invigorated progressive politics around the world and drawn attention to ongoing authoritarianism, state violence, and vigilante violence, as well as the role sport can play in both exposing and combatting such issues. Challenging the dominant Global North narrative, Athletic Activism: Global Perspectives on Social Transformation demonstrates how athletic activism can not only impact global discourse about inequity, but also foster institutional change that advances social justice. This volume uses the term ‘athletic activism’ to understand how athletes, coaches, and sports professionals use sports, sporting institutions, and athletics to engage in conscious, concerted, and sustained efforts to transform the world they inhabit. Borrowing both historical and contemporary approaches to examine grassroots youth sports, quotidian sites of amateur sport, and mega-sporting events, chapters expand on how we conceptualize athletic activism and theorize the transformative potential of sport and sporting participants. Rooting athletic activism in a global, transnational perspective, Athletic Activism: Global Perspectives on Social Transformation broadens the focus on athletic activism from highly publicized, performative forms of protest on the pitch to local grassroots efforts that seek to address issues of race, violence, gender, sexuality, sustainability, identity, and community development.