Sharapova’s suspension leaves questions unanswered

March 12, 2016

The admission by tennis star Maria Sharapova that she has tested positive for the banned drug meldonium offers its share of ironies.

Sharapova – the world’s most financially successful female athlete – has always benefited both by her talent and her looks.

But what looks good on the outside is not necessarily healthy on the inside. Sharapova – a Russian who trains in the U.S. – has a history of irregular EKGs and a family history of diabetes. There are conflicting reports about whether the drug, also known as mildronate, can actually alleviate those conditions. Its reputation as a performance enhancer stems from its ability to increase blood flow. ...

Gods among us: Male beauty and ‘Dieux du Stade’

February 17, 2016

What would Abigail Solomon-Godeau make of “Dieux du Stade,” the new book by photographer Fred Goudon, inspired by the “Dieux du Stade” calendars featuring members of the Stade Français Paris rugby club and athletes from other disciplines?

In her 1997 book “Male Trouble: A Crisis in Representation” (Thames and Hudson), the feminist art historian suggests that the nude male has been the primary sex symbol throughout art history, reaching an apotheosis in Neoclassical (turn-of-the-19th-century) Paris in the work of such artists as David, Ingres and especially Girodet, who often portrayed their subjects in the languid pose of women offered up for the male gaze. ...

‘Downhill racer’ indeed

January 25, 2016

I didn’t want another day to elapse without acknowledging the passing of skier Bill Johnson, who died Jan. 21 in an assisted living facility in Gresham, Ore. at age 55. Johnson was in deteriorating health for a number of years following a stroke. But I think that many would say that life killed Bill Johnson.

If you are of a certain vintage, then you remember the moment – the Olympics, Bjelašnica, Sarajevo, 1984 – when brash Bill, in Joe Namath/Muhammed Ali fashion, announced that the gold in the men’s downhill was his and everyone else was skiing for silver. No American man had won the gold in the downhill. But on that day, Johnson was better than gold. He was as good as his word. ...