Speakers
Description
In this presentation, we explore why a select group of women who achieved belonging to or at least positions in an Olympic national team choose karate as their sport, and how they dealt with the experience of pain and suffering from training sessions and competitions. We researched the Spanish women’s Olympic karate team in their preparation for the Tokyo 2020 (2021) Olympic Games. We conducted an ethnographic project with auto-ethnographic elements, since the original plan was not possible for full completion given the advent of COVID-19. The first author of the chapter has been a karate practitioner for several years counting then in her experience in order to question, corroborate, and deepen understanding of the data offered by athletes. Even though she was always an amateur athlete, proceeding from the Global South, data evidenced that her experience regarding training sessions, the tradition of martial art, experiences of a woman performing in a masculine environment, the motivation to start and keep training, some strategies to deal with challenges, pain, suffering, weight, defeat, among other elements, found shared meanings with elite athletes from the Global North. She built herself as a karateka in Brazil, and between 2018 and 2022 she trained in karate in Spain, Scotland, Italy, and Australia, which enables her to analyse karate experiences internationally.
In conclusion, we reflect on the somewhat precarious situation of women in the hyper-masculine environment of karate and the conditions that need to be in place to ensure their full and valued participation.
