Idrottsbiografin bortom hjältemyten

After being considered a historiographical relic in the 1960s and 1970s, there have been several recent attempts to revitalise the scientific importance of the biography genre. The results have been partially successful, still biography as a genre still faces some methodological problems. In this article, I discuss the possibilities and pitfalls of the biography genre, based on personal research experiences. The aim is to deepen the discussion about the importance of biography in Swedish sport history, and to point out fruitful directions and approaches that can enrich future sport history research. I believe that sport history should take the individual more seriously by studying agency and how the individual is shaped in relation to cultural, social and linguistic processes.