TY - JOUR KW - Living heritage KW - Authenticity KW - Commoditization KW - Sporting heroes AU - S. Gammon AB - The paper aims to explore and develop discussion relating to sports heritage by introducing the proposition that sporting heroes can be equated to forms of both tangible and intangible heritage. It begins by identifying the nature and function of sports heroes, while delineating a basic sports hero typology based upon a dialectic process that drives the emotional responses of the spectator and/or fan. Furthermore, the paper explores the commoditization process of the sporting hero that reframes them into heritage “objects”. These “objects” are, in turn, responsible for the intangible heritage achievements produced during their careers. It is argued that sports heroes represent a hitherto unexplored source of tourist interest (specifically related to authenticity and motivation) which may add to our understanding of heritage studies in general. BT - Journal of Heritage Tourism DO - 10.1080/1743873X.2014.904321 LA - English M1 - 3 N1 - Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd. N2 - The paper aims to explore and develop discussion relating to sports heritage by introducing the proposition that sporting heroes can be equated to forms of both tangible and intangible heritage. It begins by identifying the nature and function of sports heroes, while delineating a basic sports hero typology based upon a dialectic process that drives the emotional responses of the spectator and/or fan. Furthermore, the paper explores the commoditization process of the sporting hero that reframes them into heritage “objects”. These “objects” are, in turn, responsible for the intangible heritage achievements produced during their careers. It is argued that sports heroes represent a hitherto unexplored source of tourist interest (specifically related to authenticity and motivation) which may add to our understanding of heritage studies in general. PY - 2014 SP - 246 EP - 256 T2 - Journal of Heritage Tourism TI - Heroes as heritage: the commoditization of sporting achievement. UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85006607532&doi=10.1080%2f1743873X.2014.904321&partnerID=40&md5=bee112e7ce441ec60b37a2b282236723 VL - 9 SN - 1743873X (ISSN) ER -