Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.5673/sip.55.2.2.4
Five Flags, Four Countries, One Citizenship – and whose are the Medals?
Sunčica Bartoluci
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Kinesiology, Croatia
Lorena Draženović
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Kinesiology, Croatia
Abstract
Pistol shooter Jasna Šekarić is an athlete who has, in her exceptionally long sports career,
competed under five different flags and for four different countries without ever changing
her citizenship. The goal of this scientific research was to analyse the influence of sociopolitical
circumstances on the perception of her sport success and the shaping of national
identity during four periods (four countries for which Jasna Šekarić performed). We used
Anthony D. Smith’s dichotomy of civic and ethnic nationalism as a theoretical framework.
We assumed that socio-political circumstances could significantly influence the perception of
a specific sport success, given the fact that the four observed periods witnessed huge social
turbulence and ethnic and civic nationalism. In order to collect the necessary data to confirm
the research hypothesis, the case study qualitative method was implemented. For the analysis
of the case study, various methods were used – three semi-structured interviews with sports
people involved and a discourse analysis (newspaper, magazine and online articles, different
documents). The case study analysis confirmed the expected results. It was shown that
socio-political circumstances indeed affected the perception of Jasna Šekarić’s sport success.
Also, the results showed that in the four studied periods it was not possible to unambiguously
identify characteristics of ethnic or civic nationalism.
Keywords
sport success; national identity; sports; ethnic nationalism; civic nationalism
Hrčak ID:
184309
URI
Publication date:
10.7.2017.
Visits: 2.357 *