ABSTRACT

Celebrity athletes have become a popular source for advice on healthy living. However, little research exists on the changing representations of their interventions. This article analyses the case of Dutch top cyclist Leontien van Moorsel, whose celebrity status increased after a highly-publicised struggle with anorexia. By examining biographies, cookbooks, and radio and TV appearances, it traces Van Moorsel’s celebrification and her transformation into an experience-based expert on lifestyle, and more specifically, eating disorders. It argues that, following her ‘anorexic period’, the cyclist’s physical appearance was presented as proof of her embodied expertise on defeating anorexia. Simultaneously, through her TV appearances as a coach for girls engaged in self-starvation, Van Moorsel reveals a tension between her ‘experience’ and her ‘expertise’: her representation as a dispassionate expert on anorexia demanded that she actively distanced herself from her own life story. Hence, the case of Van Moorsel demonstrates the possible contradictions in representations of celebrity athletes’ expertise. However, it also shows that it is likely that the social field of sport will continue to offer unique possibilities for presenting celebrity athletes as experts on healthy living.

摘要

名人运动员已成为健康生活建议的热门来源。然而，很少有关于他们干预的变化表现的研究。本文分析了荷兰顶级自行车手 Leontien van Moorsel 的案例，他的名人地位在与厌食症的高度公开斗争后有所提高。通过检查传记、烹饪书以及广播和电视节目，它追溯了范穆塞尔的成名以及她转变为生活方式经验专家的转变，更具体地说，饮食失调。它争辩说，在她的“厌食期”之后，骑自行车的人的外貌被呈现为她体现的证据战胜厌食症的专业知识。同时，通过她作为自我饥饿女孩教练的电视节目，范穆塞尔揭示了她的“经验”和她的“专长”之间的紧张关系：她作为厌食症专家的表现要求她积极地与自己保持距离生活故事。因此，Van Moorsel 的案例证明了名人运动员专业知识的表述中可能存在的矛盾。然而，它也表明，体育社会领域很可能会继续为将名人运动员展示为健康生活专家提供独特的可能性。