The Political Annexation of the Sports Hero in Contemporary ROMANIA.THE Case of Simona Halep

Abstract

The present article aims to highlight the ways in which the sports hero in Romania is "annexed", ie used and instrumentalized by the political power, represented by public institutions, political parties and / or politicians. The case study analyzes the ceremonies and awards bestowed upon the tennis player Simona Halep, the most prominent sports figure of Romania in the past decade, by a number of local authorities in the country (Buşteni, Constanţa, Călăraşi, Bucharest, Cluj) and by the Romanian Presidency, from late 2013 to the present day. We scrutinize the reasons behind such feats of public homage and the media coverage it entailed, while also trying to explain why sport, and tennis in particular, is courted assiduously by politicians in the countryand what this reveals about the standing of the sports hero in Romanian society and political legitimization strategies. We also explore the reasons why apparently similar political strategies of gaining political kudos through association with a sport hero work brilliantly for one Romanian politician and dramatically backfire for another. Last but not least, we take a look at the way the sports hero was instrumentalized during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meters Wide: A Failed Mediatic Annexation of Sporting Heroes During Pandemic Times?

“…This situation has also been met in the WTA circuit in mid-spring 2020, when strict sanitary protocols, including a generalized quarantine and worldwide restrictions, prompted leaders of tennis bodies to abruptly suspend activity (Burnar, 2023). Although some lower-key events were still played, sometimes to hazardous effect, it was just in the second half of the year that tennis resumed, only to do it without spectators.…”