Sport Stars

In a culture obsessed with celebrity, sportmen and women are some of the highest profile figures. We are fascinated by sport stars' lifestyles, love lives, and earning power. Sport Stars investigates the nature of contemporary sporting celebrity, examining stars' often turbulent relationships with the media, and with the sporting establishment. Through a series of case studies of sporting stars, including Diego Maradona, Michael Jordan, Venus Williams and David Beckham, contributors examine the cultural, political, economic and technological forces which combine to produce sporting celebrity, and consider the ways in which these most public of individuals inform and influence private experience.

David L. Andrews is an Associate Professor of Sport and Cultural Studies in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland at College Park and a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at De Montfort University, Bedford. Steven J. Jackson is Senior Lecturer in Sport and Leisure Studies in the School of Physical Education at the University of Otago, New Zealand.

Introduction 1. Michael Jordan: Corporate Sport and Postmodern Celebrityhood Mary G. McDonald and David L. Andrews 2. Excursions into Otherness: Understanding Dennis Rodman and the Limits of Subversive Agency Melisse Lafrance and Genevieve Rail 3. Andre Agassi and Generation X: Reading White Masculinity in 1990s America Kyle W. Kusz 4. America's New Son: Tiger Woods and America's Multiculturalism Cheryl L. Cole and David L. Andrews 5. From 'Child's play' to 'Party Crasher': Venus Williams, Racism and Professional Women's Tennis Nancy E. Spencer 6. Postmodern Blackness and the Celebrity Sports Star: Ian Wright, 'Race' and English Identity Ben Carrington 7. Evil Genie or Pure Genius?: The (Im)moral Football and Public Career of Paul 'Gazza' Gascoigne Richard Giulianotti and Michael Gerrard 8. Punishment, Redemption and Celebration in the Popular Press: The Case of David Beckham Garry Whannel 9. The Spectacle of a Heroic Life: The Case of Diego Maradona Eduardo P. Archetti 10. Gretzky Nation: Canada, Crisis and Americanization Steven J. Jackson 11. Hideo Nomo: Pioneer or Defector? Hajime Hirai 12. Global Hingis: Flexible Citizenship and the Transnational Celebrity Mike Giardina 13. Nyandika Maiyoro and Kipchoge Keino: Transgression, Colonial Rhetoric and the Postcolonial Athlete John Bale 14. Imran Khan: The Road from Cricket to Politics Peter Corrigan 15. Brian Lara: (Con)testing the Caribbean Imagination Hilary Beckles 16. Cathy Freeman: The Quest for Australian Identity Toni Bruce and Christopher J. Hallinan