Dear all,
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.
And remember, if you’re not already hooked up to one of the social media outlets that we utilize, for now they are Facebook, LinkedIn and X, you’re missing quite a lot of information from idrottsforum.org that never appears on the website. So, if that is the case, check out, by clicking on the names, our Facebook, LinkedIn and X accounts.
Have a great week,
Kjell Eriksson
Editor
Research Article
From Kilometers to Kudos: A Study of Runners’ Online Interaction on Strava
With inspiration from Erving Goffman’s theory, this peer review study by Mathilde Hallgren, Nanna Rønne and Ulrik Wagner investigates how online interaction affects Strava-users’ running experiences and self-presentations. Through semi-structured interviews supplemented by netnographic observations, Strava is analyzed as a performative scene where physical and social ideals are staged and negotiated. The study identifies how Strava’s visual feedback mechanism and interactions from other users both strengthen motivation and create performance pressures. (Published in Scandinavian Sport Studies Forum, 260512.
Book Reviews
An excellent exploration of the development, transformation, regulation and promotion of fitness over time
In When Fitness Went Global: The Rise of Physical Culture in the Nineteenth Century (Bloomsbury), Conor Heffernan shows how the 19th century was critical for the development of the modern fitness industry, and how the globalization of physical culture was entangled in, and spread by, concepts of nationalism, gender, race, empire and medicine. Joe Piggin is our reviewer, and he soon found that his own interest in fitness resonates with the author’s. The book, he contends, is an illuminating education into how and why we hold the ideas we do about fitness, and why we devote so much of our time and energy to it. (Review in English, published 260513.)
Straightforward historical account that would have benefited from a broader perspective
In his new book Blue Chippers from the Emerald Isle: A history of Irish footballers and scholarships in the USA in the twentieth century (Peter Lang Publishing), Conor Curran focuses on how players were recruited, their playing and educational experiences of the soccer scholarships, and the extent to which their scholarships facilitated their employment in professional football and in work related to their degrees after leaving university. Our reviewer Hans Bolling would have liked to see the study situated within a wider educational and career history framework. (Review in English, published 260514.)
Scholarly Journals
Since its inception 23 years ago, idrottsforum.org has been proudly presenting every new issue of almost all scholarly journals within the field of sport studies, widely defined. However, after carefully considering the whole situation – with increasing number of journals and number of issues per journal – we have decided to let go of the original ambition; it has become too time-consuming. Henceforth we will publish alerts about new journal issues on our social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn and X), and also special alerts when particularly interesting articles in scholarly journals are published online, giving priority to open access publications. The Scholarly Journals page will list all journals within the extended sport studies field for your information, and we will endeavor to update it with any new titles being launched.
News items (calls for papers, vacancies, etc.)
- Public defense of doctoral thesis | Overuse injuries, urinary incontinence and menstrual symptoms among Norwegian rhythmic gymnasts and dancers by Marte Charlotte Dobbertin Gram, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, May 19, 2026 (260512)
- Call for Participation | “The Olympic Stadium as Home: Architecture, Memory and Belonging”, Online Event organised by the Olympic Studies Research Centre at University of East London, June 3, 2026, 6–7.30PM (BST/GMT+1) (260513)
