Miracle Miles, Gender Verification, and the Golden Age of Track and Field: Looking Beyond Equity in Elite Athletics in Canada and Abroad (original) (raw)

2017, Topia: The Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies

In 1954, Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Scholars have since identified Bannister's run as the most significant event in the golden age of track and field. This article explores the various ways we commemorate this era, and maps the intersections between these celebrations, gender verification , inequities in elite track and field, the presence of mythic barriers (that is, time barriers that athletes strive to surpass, and when they do, this becomes important to the history of that sport) in athletics, and the inscription of geopolitical concerns onto the bodies of female athletes. While these phenomenon may seem relatively unrelated, placing gender verification and mythic barriers in conversation with our ideation of track and field's golden age reveals the racist and sexist scripts that continue to inform elite athletics. This article is guided by two central arguments. First, imagined athletic barriers are male-centred, which erases the accomplishments of female runners, a situation that is reinforced by inequities such as unequal prize money and promotion for female runners. Second, liberal feminist interventions such as demands for equal prize money, promotion, and mythic barriers that women can also attempt to surpass will not lead to equity for female athletes. Rather, equity is only possible if the termination of all forms of gender verification accompanies these strategies. Otherwise, the athletics oval will never become a safe space for women to challenge the imagined limits of their ability. RÉSUMÉ In 1954, Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Scholars have since identified Bannister's run as the most significant event in the golden age of track and field. This article explores the various ways we commemorate this era, and maps the intersections between these celebrations, gender verification , inequities in elite track and field, the presence of mythic barriers (that is, time barriers that athletes strive to surpass, and when they do, this becomes important to the history of that sport) in athletics, and the inscription of geopolitical concerns onto the bodies of female athletes. While these phenomenon may seem relatively