Patrice Blouin's 'Images du sport' Examines Sport-Image Nexus

Patrice Blouin's 'Images du sport', published by Bayard, is a theoretical and historical analysis of how modern and contemporary sports have been shaped by images. The book argues that since the emergence of television and digital technologies, images have become constitutive of sport, reconfiguring its forms. Blouin examines discourses (Roland Barthes, Éric Rohmer, Walter Benjamin), places (stadiums, swimming pools), devices (airbags), and gestures (the panenka) to show how sport redefines itself in relation to images. Case studies include Zinedine Zidane's headbutt, Thierry Henry's handball, Hawk-Eye in tennis, and driving simulators. The essay introduces two theoretical frameworks: 'quadriphonie' and 'fantasmagorie'. Christophe Kihm notes the book is not about images or sport per se, but a plan of thought revealing the impure constructions that govern their production and intelligibility.