Natalie's research into women's artistic gymnastics has examined high-performance gymnasts' training experiences, with a particular focus on how today's gymnastics ethos, relationships and practices shape gymnasts and create particular learning experiences. Natalie has also studied women's artistic gymnastics' changes during the 1970's, the representation of gymnasts in professional sports photographs and contemporary gymnastics governance. Her theoretical lenses have included Foucauldian theories, gender theory and cultural theory of learning. Natalie is the founder of ISCWAG.
Elizabeth's gymnastics research focusses on the Russian Federation in the present, and the Soviet Union in the past, covering the years 1952-present. She is editor of the blog Rewriting Russian Gymnastics and is interested in all aspects of the sport in Russia, but in particular oral histories of Soviet era gymnasts and coaches, the development of the sport in the Russian Federation, and the globalisation of the sport since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1992.
Georgia is an historian whose research on WAG has primarily focused on its past. Her work explores gymnastics’ development as a sport, and provides insight into the various social, cultural and political factors that have shaped it throughout the twentieth century. Offering historical context to shed light on contemporary issues in the sport, her work has covered issues of international governance and Olympic politics, gendered sporting design, media coverage and coaching practices.
Inger Eliasson is Associate Professor in Education at the Department of Education, School of Sport Sciences, Umeå University, Sweden. Her main research area is in child and youth sport. Her research projects are about children’s rights perspectives and UNCRC, abusive behaviour towards children and young referees in sports, including gymnastics, the disengagement process and drop-out from youth sport, how to organize and adjust sports to children, strategies for parent-coaches and coach-children. Inger teaches in sport programs such as her university’s Sport Science Program and Physical Education program.
https://www.umu.se/personal/inger-eliasson/
Gretchen’s WAG research addresses emotional abuse within the coach-athlete relationship as well as retirement difficulties experienced by female gymnasts. At an applied level, she has extensive experience as a sport psychology consultant working with elite female gymnasts and serves as the harassment officer for Gymnastics Federations.
Roslyn's WAG research includes cross-cultural systems and perceptions, the involvement of technologies and sport scientists in training programmes, and coaching and training practices. She has worked with Latourian, Foucauldian and Feminist theory, and approaches from history and social psychology. Roslyn was a member of the Board of Directors of GymSports New Zealand from 2013-2014 and a member of the New Zealand Rhythmic Development National Committee from 2007-2013.
Christine is a sociologist interested in socialization processes in the sports world. She has studied gender construction in "masculine" activities, such as football and boxing, and is currently analyzing "feminine" activities, such as gymnastics. She is also interested in the sports socialization of children and its role in the construction of social and gender inequalities.
Myrian’s WAG expertise relates to coaching and training practices; career development; and coach education. She applies qualitative research methods and content analysis as data treatment. Since 2012, she has been a consultant for artistic gymnastics coach education with the Brazilian Olympic Committee.
Mauricio is a former WAG coach and regional judge. His main WAG expertise relates to the training culture, athlete-coach relationship, gymnastics history, sport pedagogy and coaching. He also teaches gymnastics subjects at Federal University of Espírito Santo.
Adriano is a PhD student and has as fields of study and action the relations of gender and sexuality in sports in Physical Education classes and high performance sports, specifically in the Olympic Games. He is developing a genealogy of interdictions, and segregations in the process of evolution in artistic gymnastics. In this way, it aims to identify and analyze the main control technologies existing in artistic gymnastics and how they operate to maintain the social order of the gender and sexuality.
Claudia’s expertise relates to pain and injury, and abuse in WAG. She employs figurational sociology and qualitative research methods. She is currently part of a small research group that is designing a research project concerning drop-out from gymnastics. This research is being conducted on behalf of the Portuguese Federation of Gymnastics.
Diana's gymnastics research is focused on the aesthetics part of the sport. One of her main interests is the study of the roots of the classical ballet in the USSR since 1917. She is also interested in how the discipline has changed due to the fall of the Soviet Union and how the contemporary stage of the process of Sport Globalization is being transformed into an Entertaining Product. Diana has an Olympic Diploma in Atlanta'96 with the artistic gymnastics National Spanish Team.
Laurita’s WAG expertise relates to coaching and training practices and gymnast career development. Her research is qualitative and based on oral histories to explore the gymnast perspective.
Astrid’s WAG expertise relates to growth problems of adolescent gymnasts; the sociology of health and illness in sport; athletes’ career development; knowledge constructions in coaches; socio-cultural theories, and qualitative research methods. She has extensive experience in transferring research findings to stakeholders in sport.
Froukje's WAG expertise relates to a multi-actor (athletes, parents, coaches, administrators) research approach of practices in elite women's gymnastics, and the maintenance and challenge of abusive practices. She uses Sense Making and Foucauldian theory.
Carly’s WAG expertise relates to embodied experience and the construction of body-self relationships and associated identities over time. She employs narrative inquiry to collect, analyse and understand data as storied. She is currently working with university gymnasts and former gymnasts to explore their transitions over time and how they contemplate a future with/without gymnastics to understand the role university plays in prolonging or prohibiting gymnastics careers.
Diana's gymnastics research is focused on the aesthetics part of the sport. One of her main interests is the study of the roots of the classical ballet in the USSR since 1917. She is also interested in how the discipline has changed due to the fall of the Soviet Union and how the contemporary stage of the process of Sport Globalization is being transformed into an Entertaining Product. Diana has an Olympic Diploma in Atlanta'96 with the artistic gymnastics National Spanish Team.
