THE POLITICS OF SPORTS IN LOUISE PAGE'S GOLDEN GIRLS

The 1960s and the 1970s witnessed the transition in British sports from amateurism to professionalism. Thereafter, sportspersons have obtained material opportunities with sponsorships and attracted entrepreneurs. However, since sponsors in this new era have been using sportspersons to manipulate consumer behaviour, the vested interests of capitalists led to the misuse of the media and medical industry at the cost of the health of sportspersons. The commodifcation of sports has put much pressure on sportspersons for sportive success. This pressure, on the other hand, has been tried to be circumvented by the illegal use of doping. Although sportspersons in countries of the Iron Curtain were state sponsored, thus were not pressed by entrepreneurs for sportive success, they faced a similar pressure by their states. To show their political superiority, countries of the Iron Curtain forced their sportspersons to use doping. Louise Page in her Golden Girls (1984) criticises, in a light tone, the politics of sports in the Britain of the 1980s. She looks at the result of the transformation of sports from amateurism to professionalism, deals with the free use of doping in Iron Curtain countries to contrast it with the illegal use of doping in capitalist Britain, and focuses on the topical issues about British sportswomen and the oppression they have felt because of their gender by the male dominated world of sports. Therefore, this article will frst give a brief history of the development of athletics in Britain from the 1960s onwards, then the relationship between media and sports that commodifes sports in the Britain of the 1980s, and lastly the use and effects of doping as they are refected in Golden Girls.

LOUISE PAGE'İN GOLDEN GIRLS ADLI OYUNUNDA SPORUN POLİTİKALARI

1960 ve 1970 arasındaki dönem İngiltere'de sporun amatörlükten profesyonelliğe geçiş dönemine tanık olmuştur. Bundan sonra, sporcular sponsorluklar sayesinde maddi olanaklar elde etmişler ve spor girişimciler için de önemli bir odak haline gelmiştir. Ancak, bu yeni dönemde sponsorlar sporcuları tüketici davranışları tetiklemek ve manipüle etmek için kullandıklarından dolayı, sermaye sahipleri çıkarları doğrultusunda medya ve tıp sektörünü sporcu sağlığını hiçe sayarak kullanmaya başlamışlardır. Sporun metalaşması sonucu sporcu üzerinde baskı yaratılmış ve üzerinde baskı hisseden sporcu bunu yasadışı doping kullanımı ile atlatmaya çalışmıştır. Devlet tarafından desteklenen demir perde ülkelerindeki sporcular serbest girişimciler tarafından sportif başarıya zorlanmamış olsalar da, onlar devletleri tarafından benzer bir baskıyla karşı karşıya bırakılmışlardır. Demir perde ülkeleri siyasi üstünlüklerini göstermek amacıyla kendi sporcularını doping kullanmak için zorlamışlardır. Louise Page Golden Girls (1984) adlı eserinde ince bir alayla sporun politikaları eleştirilmiştir. Page, sporun amatörlükten profesyonelliğe dönüşmesinin sonucu olan İngiltere'deki spor anlayışını, demir perde ülkelerinde serbest doping kullanımı ile bunun İngiltere'de yasak olmasının karşılaştırılmasını kullanarak, İngiliz sporcular hakkındaki güncel konuları ve özellikle kadın sporcuların toplumsal cinsiyetlerinden dolayı sporun erkek egemen dünyası tarafından ezilmesini irdelemiştir. Bu nedenle, bu makale ilk olarak 1960'lardan itibaren İngiltere'de atletizmin gelişimi ile ilgili kısa bir tarih verecek, sonrasında 1980'ler İngiltere'sinde sporu metalaştıran medya ve spor arasındaki ilişki incelenecek, ve nihayetinde Golden Girls'de yansıtıldığı şekliyle doping sorunu ele alınacaktır.

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