“The gym became a bit of a lab”: International Olympic Weightlifting coaches’ situated knowledges of training women athletes

In this paper, we extend gender-responsive coaching literature by examining how coaches’ learning processes influence their knowledges about sex, gender and athleticism. Our analysis draws upon semi-structured interviews with 10 coaches of elite women Olympic Weightlifters from eight countries: Aotearoa New Zealand, Botswana, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, the Philippines and the United States. Using Haraway’s concept of “situated knowledge”, we discuss how coaches’ knowledges were shaped by their national sport systems, gender norms within their national contexts, and their bodily experiences of Olympic Weightlifting. Exploring the contradictory understandings of women’s bodies, minds and motivations that these coaches relayed, we discuss whether any of these knowledges can be considered “better” than the others. We conclude that while coaches’ contradictory knowledges may be constructed in response to the diverse gendered bodies and identities that they encounter, they may still be critiqued based on the futures they imply for women athletes.