***Content warning: In this episode, we discuss the ways that individuals used harmful and abusive methods in their coaching tactics and their impact on athletes.***
In this episode, Johanna and Derek are joined by Jennifer Sey, a seven-time member of the United States National Gymnastics team and a 1986 national champion, to discuss her career in gymnastics as well as her work to shed light on some of the harms that have become synonymous with the sport as of late. Since retiring from gymnastics, Jennifer has become a w world-renowned author and producer, publishing the 2008 book Chalked Up: Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams and producing of the recent Netflix documentary Athlete A. Jennifer has also worked at Levis for over 20 years and is currently the company’s Senior Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer.
In the first half of the episode, Jennifer walks us through her experiences as an elite gymnast and the cruelty she faced during her career, before illuminating some of the ways that gymnastics might be considered as a cult. In the second half, we turn our attention to the super-popular Netflix documentary Athlete A and we discuss its significance – both culturally and politically, and some of the ways the sport can move forward despite its problematic past.
Check out Jennifer’s op-ed in The New York Times titled “How Gymnastics Culture Breeds Abuse” and follow her on Twitter @Jennifersey.
For a transcription of this episode, please click here. (Credit @punkademic)
After listening to the episode, check out our recent piece "Canceling the College-Football Season Isn't Enough" published in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
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As always, please like, share, and rate us on your favorite podcast app, and give follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
@Derekcrim
@JohannaMellis
@Nkalamb
@EndofSportPod
www.TheEndofSport.com
Episode 121: Anti-trans Discourse, Sport, and our Fascist Moment
Episode 120: Another College Sport Apocalypse
Episode 119: The End of College Football (A Preview)
Episode 118: What is Hockey Culture? with Kristi Allain
Episode 117: Decoding Racist Representation in Sport with Kelly Wright
Episode 116: A Football Life with Zack Furness
Episode 115: The Sport Management Episode, Part Two
Episode 114: The Sport Management Episode, Part One
Episode 113: Political Transphobia and Sport in New Brunswick with Susan Holt
Episode 112: Black Ball with Theresa Runstedler
Episode 111: How Women’s Swimming Got So Transphobic
Episode 110: Floridian and national athletic anti-fascist resistance with Joel Anderson
Episode 109: On The End of Sport, College Sports, Labor, and Exploitation
Episode 108: On Racism in Canadian Sport with Ian Kennedy
Episode 107: Abuse and Harm in Canadian Sport with Jennifer Fraser and MacIntosh Ross
Episode 106: Historicizing and Theorizing Harm in Youth Sport w/ Dionne Koller
Episode 105: Racial Capitalism and Football with Joshua Myers
Episode 104: We’re back!
Episode 103: Sport and Empire
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