Badass Athena triathletes: Athletic performativity and embodiment

Embodied subjectivity and athletic performativity require both mind and body to work together to achieve athletic goals and move beyond cultural barriers. This is perhaps best demonstrated by Athena triathletes, the category of women racers who compete at a weight of at least 165 lb. The experiences of Athena triathletes remind us of the very real structural barriers that mainstream culture produces to constrain, limit, and reduce women’s bodily capacities, rendering women’s bodies as objects. Athena interviewees in this study demonstrated a strong sense of self-empowerment and attributed it to their experience as members of active triathlon and multisport communities. Profiling this empowerment is a focal point of this study. A secondary focus describes Athena racers’ athletic performativity in terms of their embodied experience while training and racing. The author also explores how competing as Athena category racers makes them feel and how triathlon has influenced what they say or think about their bodies. Finally, the author discusses the structural barriers faced by Athena racers inside the sport of triathlon and within the context of U.S. culture.