부산대학교 도서관

The purpose of this study is to explore the historical transformation process of the sports department, the root of the elite sports system in Korea, and to examine the structural problems of the elite sports system, which is being dismissed by the relatively recently formed “student athlete” discourse. To this end, the analysis was focused on media press releases and academic discourses after the National Sports Promotion Act was introduced in 1962, which was the starting point of the elite sports system. As a result of the study, the early sports department was described as a poor group, but afterwards, it established itself as a sports expert and secured an official path to acquire educational capital through individual athletic abilities. The micro-discourse about athletic journalists can be summed up as a'hungry spirit'. Since then, the elite sports system has evolved, and sports experts have been portrayed as beings who promote national prestige, but the launch of professional sports has opened up a path for individuals' performance to become economic power without going through academic capital. Since the 1990s, as neoliberal projects have been put into operation in our country, microscopic cracks have progressed in the state-centered elite sports system. Representatively, amateur sports have been reduced, and the national policy for fostering national representatives has been changed to “cultivation of elite few”. Individuals build a path to success without going through formal institutions such as school or elite sports system. Representatively, the era of family management to foster elite athletes is progressing. In conclusion, it was argued that the recent popular discourse of student athletes rather leads to a result of overlaying the structural problems of the elite sports system on the individual's enthusiasm.