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Global Celebrity Athletes and Nationalism

2002; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 26; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/0193723502262004

1552-7638

Lloyd Wong, Ricardo Trumper,

Canadian Identity and History

Globalization scholars have pointed to a world of increasing transnationalism and deterritorialization that contributes to new meanings of identity and citizenship as the nation-state declines. Sports, and their transnational labor migration, play an important role in both undermining and strengthening nations and national identities. In this context, this article examines two superstar and global celebrity athletes in the sports of fútbol and hockey: Iván Zamorano and Wayne Gretzky. The article shows that although Zamorano and Gretzky are prime examples of transnational citizens and global business persons, living in both national and transnational spaces, it is ambiguous, paradoxical, and contradictory that in Chile, Zamorano represents and symbolizes the essence of Chileaness and that in Canada, Gretzky is usually offered as the symbol of a true Canadian. These two global celebrity athletes embody transnational cultural and capitalist business practices and, at the same time, willingly serve as national cultural icons for the formation and reaffirmation of national identities.