Abstract
This paper explores the multifaceted role of the organizational body work of top athletes, who continuously work in the realms of rivalry. Drawing on a sample of 34 interviews with men and women active top athletes, we examine how these high-ranking individuals engage in organizational body work and the constitution of their social identities at work. Our theorization builds on the emerging strands of literature on organizational body work and rivalry within organization and management studies. We introduce a novel, high performance context, that due to its distinct nature offers opportunities to develop the empirical understanding of organizational body within highly pressured, competitive organizational settings. Based on narrative research, we identified three different forms of organizational body work that both women and men engaged with, including personal, interpersonal, and systemic body work. Our empirical results contribute to the dynamics of rivalry and 'embodied' labor. Taken together, we discuss the complexity and challenges faced when the top athletes are called up to organizational body work and the consequences for organizations in high performing sports and beyond.