During the Cold War, the Romanian school of gymnastics represented a superpower in the world of WAG and became a part of Romania’s international politics strategy. This ascension started under the supervision of Bela Karolyi, the coach of the Romanian team between 1972 −1981. Bela Karolyi represented the type of coach who used tactics to produce performance. Forced by Securitatea surveillance, the political police of the communist government, Bela Karolyi had to constantly adapt the technologies of power to have the best tactics to win. By using the hierarchical power of communist government against the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, Bela Karolyi was able to build his tactics until the moment it ran against the government strategy. Forced to defect to the other side of the Iron Curtain, Bela Karolyi continued to improve his technologies of power and tactics that transformed the United States WAG team in a superpower.
Barker-RuchtiN. (2009). Ballerinas and pixies: A genealogy of the changing female gymnastics body. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 26(1), 45–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523360802500089
2.
Barker-RuchtiN. (2011). Women’s artistic gymnastics: An (auto-)ethnographic journey. Gesowip.
3.
Barker-RuchtiN.TinningR. (2010). Foucault in leotards: Corporal discipline and coaching practice in women’s artistic gymnastics. Sociology of Sport Journal, 27(3), 229–250. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.27.3.229
CervinG. R. (2017). A balance of power: Women’s artistic gymnastics during the Cold War and its aftermath (PhD thesis). School of Humanities, The University of Western Australia.
6.
ChisholmA. (1999). Defending the nation: National bodies, U.S. borders, and the 1996 U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 23(2), 126–139. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193723599232002
7.
CrabtreeB.MillerW. (1999). A template approach to text analysis: Developing and using codebooks. In CrabtreeB.MillerW. (Eds.), Doing qualitative research (pp. 163–177). Sage.
8.
DalyJ.KellehearA.GliksmanM. (1997). The public health researcher: A methodological approach. Oxford University Press.
9.
DenhollanderR. (2019). Wshat is a girl worth?: My story of breaking the silence and exposing the truth about Larry Nassar and USA gymnastics. Tyndale House Publishers.
10.
DungaciuP. (1955). Despre aplicarea eforturilor mari in gimnastică. 3, March 1955, 16.
11.
DungaciuP. (1967). Aspecte ale antrenamentului modern in gimnastica. Editura Uniunii de Cultura Fizica.
12.
FoucaultM. (1978). The history of sexuality, volume 1: An Introduction. Penguin Books.
13.
FoucaultM. (1983). The subject and power. In DreyfusH. L.RabinowP. (Eds.), Michel Foucault: Beyond structuralism and hermeneutics (2nd ed., pp. 208–226). University of Chicago Press.
14.
FoucaultM. (1991). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Penguin Books.
JohnsD. P.JohnsJ. S. (2000). Surveillance, subjectivism and technologies of power: Ananalysis of the discursive practice of high-performance sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 35(2), 219–234. https://doi.org/10.1177/101269000035002006
17.
KarolyiB.RicharsonN. A. (1994). Feel no fear: The power, passion, and politics of a life in gymnastics. Hyperion Books.
18.
KerrG.BattagliaA.StirlingA. (2020). Maltreatment in youth sport: A systemic issue. Kinesiology Review, 8(3), 237–243.
19.
KerrR. (2006). The impact of Nadia Comaneci on the sport of women’s artistic gymnastics. Sporting Traditions, 23(1), 87–102.
20.
KerrR. (2014). From Foucault to Latour: Gymnastics training as a socio-technical network. Sociology of Sport Journal, 31(1), 85–101. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2013-0015
21.
KerrR.ObelC. (2015). The disappearance of the perfect 10: Evaluating rule changes in women’s artistic gymnastics. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 32(2), 318–331. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2014.974031
22.
LenskyjH. J. (2020). Educating youth through sport. In The Olympic games: A critical approach (society now) (pp. 121–144). Emerald Publishing Limited.
23.
MarkulaP.PringleR. (2006). Foucault, sport and exercise: Power, knowledge and transforming the self. Routledge.
24.
MountjoyM. (2019). ‘Only by speaking out can we create lasting change’: What can we learn from the dr. Larry nassar tragedy?British Journal of Sports Medicine, 53, 57–60. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2018-099403
25.
NaurightJ.ParrishC. (2012). Sports around the world: History, culture, and practice. ABC-CLIO.
26.
PodlahaR. (1950). Exerciţiile impuse şi liber alese in gimnastica sportive. Cultură Fizică şi Sport, 11, 637.
27.
RiceP.EzzyD. (1999). Qualitative research methods: A health focus. Oxford University Press.
28.
RodenbergR. M.EaglemanA. N. (2011). Symposium: Uneven bars: Age rules, antitrust, and amateurism in women’s gymnastics. University of Baltimore Law Review, 40(4), 587–606.
29.
RyanJ. (1995). Little girls in pretty boxes: The making and breaking of elite gymnasts and figure skaters. Doubleday.
30.
ShoganD. (1999). The making of high performance athletes: Discipline, diversity, and ethics. University of Toronto Press.
31.
SmithL. R.PegoraroA. (2020). Media framing of larry nassar and the USA gymnastics child sex abuse scandal. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 29(4), 373–392. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2019.1703233
32.
StirlingA.TamA.MilneA.KerrG. (2020). Media narratives of gymnasts’ abusive experiences. Keep smiling and point your toes. In KerrR.Barker-RuchtiN.StewartC.KerrG. (Eds.), Women artistic gymnast. Socio-cultural perspectives (pp. 65–87). Routledge.
33.
Sundgot-BorgenJ.GartheI. (2011). Elite athletes in aesthetic and Olympic weight-class sports and the challenge of body weight and body compositions. Journal of Sports Sciences, 29(sup1), S101–S114. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2011.565783
34.
UdowitchH. (2020). The larry nassar nightmare: Athletic organizational failures to address sexual assault allegations and a call for corrective action. DePaul Journal of Sports Law, 16(1), 93–146.
35.
VancA. M. (2014). The counter-intuitive value of celebrity athletes as antidiplomats in public diplomacy: Ilie Nastase from Romania and the world of tennis. Sport in Society, 17(9), 1187–1203. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2013.856591
36.
VonnardP.QuinG.SbettiN. (2017). Beyond boycotts - sport during the cold war in Europe, 85-108. De Gruyter.
37.
WaggS.AndrewsD. L. (Eds.) (2007). East plays west: Sport and the cold war. Routledge.
38.
WoodM. A. (2010). Superpower: Romanians Women Gymnastics during the Cold War (PhD thesis). University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign.
