‘Šatan is God!’: Re-imagining Contemporary Slovak National Identity through Sport

Abstract

This essay focuses upon how Slovak national identity has been affected by the Slovak men's ice hockey team's rise from international obscurity to being crowned 2002 IIHF World Champions. Following a backgrounding of spectator sports in Slovakia, sport's relatively new role as an identifying marker within contemporary society is examined with an emphasis on the participation of the Slovak population within the mediatized sporting experience. A key contemporary sporting rivalry will be examined through an analysis of the sporting relationship with the Czech Republic and its relevance towards Slovak self-identification in the ‘post-Czechoslovakia’ era. The media image of the Slovak men's ice hockey team will be contrasted with that of the political elite and the team's impact upon broader national mythologies will be examined. In conclusion, this essay will highlight how Slovak national identity has been redefined through the indices analysed.