High-level sports, but at what price? The case of teachers of physical education and sports in France, from 1940 to 1970

As high-performance athletes who concurrently taught physical education and sports in France in the second half of the twentieth century, the 102 women in our cohort-especially those who were mothers-illustrated unusual ways of structuring their free time. Their paths necessarily imposed demanding social and familial conditions, in accordance with the French approach to the production of elite athletes and without the systematic redistribution of tasks and roles within couples. They thus appear much less ``protected'' than the athletes' recollections tend to suggest.