Parry, J. (2006) The idea of the record. Sport in History, 26 (2). pp. 197-214. ISSN 1746-0271
Abstract
This paper examines the idea of the sports record and its relation to our ideas of excellence, achievement and progress. It begins by recovering and reviewing the work of Richard Mandell, whose definition of the record emphasizes three central ideas: statistic, athletic and recognition. It then considers the work of Henning Eichberg, Allen Guttmann and Mandell, from the 1970s onwards, on the genesis of the modern sports record, explaining and developing their ideas via a distinction between descriptive and emulative records, and between different kinds of emulative records. This then permits an analysis of contemporary athletic and sports records. The idea of the significant record will also be advanced, offering the four-minute mile as an example, in an attempt to explicate our continuing fascination with such exceptional achievements. It then considers the contribution of recent discussions of sport technologies and the logic of quantifiable progress, and tries to put our obsession with records in perspective as but one way in which we respond to and evaluate sporting performance.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2006 Routledge. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Sport in History. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science (Leeds) > School of Philosophy (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Leeds Philosophy Department |
Date Deposited: | 05 Oct 2007 09:41 |
Last Modified: | 16 Sep 2016 13:51 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17460260600786864 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Routledge |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | doi: 10.1080/17460260600786864 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:3255 |