That Was The Week That Was,
February 16–22, 2026

Dear all,

It’s been quite a busy week here at idrottsforum.org, in terms of publishing. Next week we’ll devote a full two days at getting review copies out to reviewers, thus a more modest output but guaranteeing book reviews for the future.

Apart from all the stuff listed below to show how industrious we’ve been this past week, there’s more: On our social media accounts, with Facebook, Bluesky, LinkedIn and X, we published no less than 44 updates on each, of which only 16 related to things published on idrottsforum.org. Which means that the people following idrottsforum.org on anyone of our social media get no less than 28 other things to enrich their lives, e.g., Conversation pieces, new articles alerts, new journal issues alert, and whatever else that comes our way that doesn’t qualify for publication on our website. So if you’re not presently following idrottsforum.org on one of our social media accounts, now is the time to act!

Last week the following items were published on idrottsforum.org (see below; language and publication dates, YYMMDD, in brackets). Click on the red headings to go to content. Utilize the Google Translate service to turn Scandinavian language pages into (some sort of) English.

Have a great week,
Kjell Eriksson
Editor

Feature Article

How the IOC scored an own goal by banning Vladyslav Heraskevych at the Winter Olympics

In this article, Jim McKay analyses how banning Vladyslav Heraskevych at the Winter Olympics for portraying victims of Russia’s war on Unkraine on his helmet backfired by making Heraskevych a national hero, and causing condemnation of the IOC by human rights organisations and the media. He concludes by indicating some implications of the debacle for how the IOC will placate an authoritarian populist like Trump at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. (Published in English 260218.)

The Williams Brothers: Afro-Basque Hybridity

Brothers Iñaki and Nico Williams play football for Athletic Club de Bilbao in Spain. With African roots—their parents migrated from Ghana—and a Basque-Navarrese upbringing, they symbolize a new era in the ideology of the club and the region. Although the brothers were brought up in the region and hence qualify, they break the mould in racial terms, incarnating a cultural hybridization that redefines Basque identity. In this feature article, Toby Miller, Joan Pedro-Carañana and Israel V. Márquez present the historical background to this development and its consequences for the future. (Published in English 260218.)

SpikeBoarding is Skiing: Mechanical Equivalence of Poling-Driven Propulsion on Roller Skis and Skateboards

This article by Enrique Cubillo, creator of SpikeBoarding, argues that the two primary techniques of SpikeBoarding—Stand Up Spike (SUS) and Cubi-X-Cross (CXC)—constitute skiing under any biomechanically coherent definition. The distinction between ‘roller skiing’ and ‘SpikeBoarding’ is categorical, not mechanical. Cubillo presents video evidence demonstrating the presence, stability, and repeatability of the coordination patterns measured in the roller-ski literature, concluding that SpikeBoarding is skiing. (Published in English 260220.)

Book Review

Sport history, gender studies, and African cultural history

In Kenya’s Running Women: A History (Michigan State University Press), historian and former professional runner Michelle M. Sikes details the triumphs and many challenges the pioneer generation of Kenyan female runners faced, from the advent of Kenya’s athletics program in the colonial era through the professionalization of running in the 1980s and 1990s. Sport historian Christoph Wagner is impressed and highly appreciative of Sikes’ groundbreaking study of the Kenyan running women phenomenon – a work of labour but also a labour of love. (Review in English, published 260217.)

Highly uneven collection of texts on intersectionality in sport studies

Intersectionality is increasingly used in sport studies and the sociology of sport to move beyond one-dimensional views of inequality and discrimination. The edited volume Not Playing Around: Intersectional Identities, Media Representation, and the Power of Sport by Andrew M. Colombo-Dougovito, Tracy Everbach & Karen Weiller-Abels (Lexington Books) aims to explicate the use of intersectionality in sport studies; however, according to our reviewer Greta Bladh, with very varying degrees of success. What all contributions manage to emphasize, though, and with excellence, is the power of sport. (Review in English, published 260219.)

New Issues of Scholarly Journals

• European Journal for Sport and Society, Vol. 22, 2025, Issue 4 (260216)
• The Sport Psychologist, Volume 39, 2025, Issue 4 | Competing and Working in Performance Sport: A Special Issue on Mental Well-Being, Part 2 (260216)
• International Journal of Sport Communication, Volume 18, 2025, No. 4 (260216)
• Sports Coaching Review, Volume 14, 2025, Issue 3 (260222)
• The Physical Educator, Vol. 82, 2025, No. 6 (260222)

News items (calls for papers, vacancies, etc.)

• Drafting the Basketball Collective | Call for expressions of interest and papers/presentations to participate in an inaugural meeting at Loughborough University | Friday 8th May or Monday 6th July (260216)
• Call for Participation | Cricket, Caribbean Migration, and the Remaking of Postwar England | Zoom Seminar, February 24, 2026 (260216)
• Call for Participation | Geography and Sports Studies | Webinar, March 4, 5 and 6, 2026. Registration required (260216)
• Call for Papers | ISHPES Gigliola Gori young scholar award 2026 | Call ends April 10 2026 (260220)
• Lediga platser | Doktorand i pedagogiskt arbete, område idrottsvetenskap, till Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för pedagogiska studier. Ansök senast den 31 mars 2026 (260221)
• Call for Papers | “Null Results in Sport Management Research”, Special Issue of the Journal of Sport Management | Call ends January 1, 2027 (260222)