Participant Info

First Name
Georgia
Last Name
Cervin
Country
Australia
State
Affiliation
University of Western Australia
Website URL
Keywords
Sport, gymnastics, coaching, gender, femininty, masculinity, sports diplomacy, athlete rights, athlete abuse, Olympics, Cold War
Availability
Media Contact
Additional Contact Information
PhD
PhD

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

Drawing on my experience as an international gymnast, my work has focused on sport as a lens through which past cultures are revealed. My research on gymnastics, in particular, has investigated the internal politics of the sport, the effect of global conflict on gymnastics, and the role of gymnastics and broader international sporting institutions in Cold War diplomacy. I have also explored questions of femininty and masculinity as performed through sport, mediated by athletes and defined by rules. This historical work has led to further research on more contemporary issues in gymnastics around coaching, bodies, policy and abuse. I continue to work on both historical and sociocultural inquiries of gymnastics, in addition to research on women’s sport and gendered sporting cultures more broadly.

Recent Publications
  • Cervin, Georgia, Claire Nicolas, Sylvain Dufraisse, Anais Bohuon and Gregory Quin. ‘Gymnastics’ Centre of Gravity: The Federation Internationale de Gymnastique, its Governance, and the Cold War 1956 – 1976.’ Sport in History (September 2017): 1-23.
  • Cervin, Georgia, Roslyn Kerr, Natalie Barker-Ruchti, Astrid Schubring, and Myrian Nunomura. ‘Growing Up and Speaking Out: Female Gymnasts’ Rights in an Aging Sport.’ Annals of Leisure, special issue: leisure as a human right, (April 2017).
  • Kerr, Roslyn and Georgia Cervin. ‘An Ironic Imbalance: Coaching Opportunities and Gender in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics in Australia and New Zealand.’ The International Journal of the History of Sport, special issue: trans-Tasman sport, (April 2017).
  • Cervin, Georgia. ‘Gymnasts Are Not Merely Circus Phenomena: Influences on the Development of Women’s Artistic Gymnastics During the 1970s.’ The International Journal of the History of Sport, 32, no. 16 (2016): 1929-1946.
  • Kerr, Roslyn, Natalie Barker-Ruchti, Astrid Schubring, Georgia Cervin and Myrian Nunomura. ‘The Role of Setting in the Field: The Positioning of Older Bodies in the Field of Elite Women’s Gymnastics.’ Sociology, (December 2016).
  • Cervin, Georgia. ‘Making Meaning of the 1970s East-West Gymnastics Tours.’ Sporting Traditions, 31, no. 2 (November 2015): 85-100.
Media Coverage
Country Focus
Expertise by Geography
Australia, New Zealand, United States
Expertise by Chronology
19th century, Modern, 20th century, 21st century
Expertise by Topic
Diplomacy, Gender, Sports, Women