Sport promotes enjoyment, social interaction, embodied learning, and health. At the same time, it serves as a setting where people learn and navigate certain ideals and norms. Given the physical nature of sport, body norms and their impact on performance are particularly central. These body norms are intrinsically linked to gender norms. Most sports follow a binary structure, categorizing athletes as male or female, shaping expectations of how bodies should look and perform. Coaches play a key role in reinforcing these norms. For example, they have been shown to encourage weight-controlling behaviors and demand extreme weight loss, arguing that it enhances performance. Research on the athleteâs body and its role in body-critical coaching practices has primarily focused on womenâs sports. This study aims to provide in-depth knowledge about the positioning of elite athletes as masculine-gendered beings in sports in relation to norms surrounding the masculine body.Building on the importa