Stáří na startu a v cíli: sport a závodění v seniorském věku. Sportující muži 60+
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Sports and racing are areas that we generally do not associate with senior age. Moreover, one becomes a senior at the top level of sport several decades earlier than when we generally understand old age or older age. At the same time, many sports are expanding the opportunities for participation at older ages in disciplines primarily designed for the young rather than disciplines created specifically for seniors. In my paper I look at competitive sport as a specific area where age and old age are negotiated and viewed through a different lens than the usual one. I observe how this sporting optic of age interferes with and adjusts the aging coping of male athletes and their perception of themselves as (pre-)older people. To do so, I use data from in-depth interviews with men (aged 50-75) who participate in competitions in different sport disciplines. My sample is heterogeneous in terms of the participants' sport biography and their motivations for participating in races, but sport seems to bring about a different perception of age identity. I discuss this specific lifestyle in the context of notions of 'successful' ageing. |
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