Purpose: This case study explores the lived experiences of an elite female Paralympic powerlifting athlete. The focus is on restrictions and coping responses employed to manage the daily hassles within the cultural and ethnic requirements for achieving athletic excellence. Methods:With an unstructured interview, the narrative was acquired which ranged to a total of 75 minutes (approx) and 20 single spaced pages. The data was analyzed using Foucauldian discourse analysis in conjuncture to feminist poststructuralist theory. Results:The results highlight the issues relating to femininity, culture and ethnicity with regard to athletic career. The analysis elicits extracts from the narrative to describe the coping functions reflecting proactive coping, anticipatory coping, and preventative coping. Conclusions:The narrative draws attention to the socio-cultural restrictions and coping functions that the athlete adopted to overcome the barriers of femininity, culture, ethnicity requirements and athleticism.

The purpose of this research was to explore, from a cultural psychological perspective, how young Islamic women experience themselves being physically active in the Islamic State of Malaysia. Open-ended, in-depth interviews were conducted with five Muslim women (aged 20-21) who actively participate in sports and physical activities of their choice. Drawing on a feminist poststructuralist perspective, young women’s narratives were examined as cultural manifestations of gender control in the context of sport and exercise through discourse analysis. One narrative explicitly revealed the workings of power in emotion regulation and restriction while other narratives highlighted power mechanisms operating through other forms of emotional constitution of the young female body. This paper is an attempt to (re)construct the compelling case of a culturally constituted expression of joy and enjoyment in the exercise setting. The key findings are discussed in relation to panoptical power exercised through the socio-cultural medium of the Islamic state.

The article examines the influence of socio-cultural practices of Ramadan fasting in competitive sports and adaptation pathway of the athletes. The study describes how the socio-cultural context acts as the social "panopticon" and explains the adaptation pathways among Muslim archers. Foucauldian concept explains individual actions and behaviors within social and cultural settings, and adaptation pathways during Ramadan fasting. Eleven elite Malaysian Muslim archers participated in an open ended interview to identify individual experiences of competing in high level sports while engaging in Ramadan fasting. Relevant quotes were extracted to identify means and methods leading to a pathway toward adaptation. The inductively identified pathway viz. understanding of the context, control and adjustment, willpower and self enhancement, belonging and gravitating, trust and support culminates in the dimension of adaptation. The study highlights how cultural and societal influences have a bearing on actions, behaviors, and decisions of competitive athletes.