The Games: A Global History of the Olympics

The Games: A Global History of the Olympics
Author: David Goldblatt
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 755
Release: 2016-07-26
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0393254119

“A people’s history of the Olympics.”—New York Times Book Review A Boston Globe Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year The Games is best-selling sportswriter David Goldblatt’s sweeping, definitive history of the modern Olympics. Goldblatt brilliantly traces their history from the reinvention of the Games in Athens in 1896 to Rio in 2016, revealing how the Olympics developed into a global colossus and highlighting how they have been buffeted by (and affected by) domestic and international conflicts. Along the way, Goldblatt reveals the origins of beloved Olympic traditions (winners’ medals, the torch relay, the eternal flame) and popular events (gymnastics, alpine skiing, the marathon). And he delivers memorable portraits of Olympic icons from Jesse Owens to Nadia Comaneci, the Dream Team to Usain Bolt.

Global Olympics

Global Olympics
Author: Kevin Young
Publisher: JAI Press Incorporated
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2005-12-14
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9780762311811

Draws together international scholars on issues that emerge from ancient Olympic contests, and over one hundred years of modern Olympic history, with varied perspectives, while encompassing an assessment of literature and debates on the Olympics. This book serves as a resource for students and researchers interested in significance of the Games.

National Identity and Global Sports Events

National Identity and Global Sports Events
Author: Alan Tomlinson
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0791482480

National Identity and Global Sports Events looks at the significance of international sporting events and why they generate enormous audiences worldwide. Focusing on the Olympic Games and the men's football (soccer) World Cup, the contributors examine the political, cultural, economic, and ideological influences that frame these events. Selected case studies include the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Berlin, the 1934 World Cup Finals in Italy, the unique case of the 1972 Munich Games, the transformative 1984 Games in Los Angeles, and the 2002 Asian World Cup Finals, among others. The case studies show how the Olympics and the World Cup Finals provide a basis for the articulation of entrenched and dominant political ideologies, encourage persisting senses of national identity, and act as barometers for the changing ideological climate of the modern and increasingly globalized contemporary world. Through rigorous scholarly analyses, the book's contributors help to illuminate the increasing significance of large-scale sporting events on the international stage.

The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic System

The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic System
Author: Jean-Loup Chappelet
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2008-08-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134083688

When the athletes enter the stadium and the Olympic flame is lit, the whole world watches. Billions will continue to follow the events and to share in the athletes' joys and sorrows for the next sixteen days. Readers of this book, however, will watch forthcoming editions of the Olympic Games in a completely different light. Unlike many historical or official publications and somewhat biased commercial works, it provides -- in a clear, readable form -- informative and fascinating material on many aspects of what Olympism is all about: its history, its organization and its actors. Although public attention is often drawn to various issues surrounding this planetary phenomenon -- whether concerning the International Olympic Committee, the athletes, the host cities or even the scandals that have arisen -- the Olympic System as such is relatively little known. What are its structures, its goals, its resources? How is it governed and regulated? What about doping, gigantism, violence in the stadium? In addition to providing a wealth of information on all these subjects, the authors also show how power, money and image have transformed Olympism over the decades. They round off the work with thought-provoking reflections regarding the future of the Olympic System and the obstacles it must overcome in order to survive.

The Olympics

The Olympics
Author: Vassil Girginov
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 663
Release: 2023-05-09
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1000938611

The Olympics: A Critical Reader represents a unique, critical guide to the definitive sporting mega-event and the wider phenomenon it represents – Olympism. Combining classic texts and thoughtful editorial discussion with challenging new pieces, including previously unseen material, the book systematically addresses the key questions in modern Olympism, including: what does studying Olympism entail? how do historical accounts create and challenge Olympic myths? how do different theoretical perspectives inform our understanding of Olympism? which socio-political processes influence personal, collective and imagined Olympic identities? how do we experience and make sense of Olympism? who owns Olympism and why does it matter? how do cities compete for and celebrate the Olympics? how are the Olympic values promoted? why is it important to protect the ethical principles and properties of Olympism? what are the grounds for contesting Olympism? how can Olympism be taught? how can the principles and practices of Olympism be sustained in the future? Each thematic part has been designed to include a range of views, including background treatment of an issue as well as critical scholarship, to ensure that students develop a well-rounded understanding of the Olympic phenomenon. The Olympics: A Critical Reader is essential reading for students of the Olympics and Olympism, the sociology of sport, sport management and cultural studies.

Circus Maximus

Circus Maximus
Author: Andrew Zimbalist
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2020-06-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0815738625

Beyond the headlines of the world's most beloved sporting events Brazil hosted the 2016 men's World Cup at a cost of $15 billion to $20 billion, building large, new stadiums in cities that have little use for them anymore. The projected cost of Tokyo's 2020 Summer Olympic Games is estimated to be as high as $30 billion, much of it coming from the public trough. In the updated and expanded edition of his bestselling book, Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup, Andrew Zimbalist tackles the claim that cities chosen to host these high-profile sporting events experience an economic windfall. In this new edition he looks at upcoming summer and winter Olympic games, discusses the recent Women's World Cup, and the upcoming men's tournament in Qatar. Circus Maximus focuses on major cities, like London, Rio, and Barcelona, that have previously hosted these sporting events, to provide context for future host cities that will bear the weight of exploding expenses, corruption, and protests. Zimbalist offers a sobering and candid look at the Olympics and the World Cup from outside the echo chamber.

Olympic Games, Mega-Events and Civil Societies

Olympic Games, Mega-Events and Civil Societies
Author: G. Hayes
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2011-12-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0230359183

This volume explores sporting mega-events, their social, political, and cultural characters, the value systems that they inscribe and draw on, the claims they make on us and the claims the organisers make for them, the spatial and ethical relationships they create, and the responses of civil societies to them.

Megaevents and Modernity

Megaevents and Modernity
Author: Maurice Roche
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 435
Release: 2002-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134729154

This analysis explores the social history and politics of mega-events from the late 19th century to the present. Through case studies of events such as the 1851 Crystal Palace Expo, the 1936 Berlin Olympics and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Maurice Roche investigates the impact Expos and Olympics have had on national identities, on the marking of public time and space, and on visions of national citizenship and international society in modern times. Historical chapters deal with the production of Expos by power elites, their impacts on mass culture, and the political uses and abuses of international sport and Olympic events. Chapters also deal with the impact of Olympics on cities, the growth of Olympics as media events and the current crisis of the Olympic movement in world politics and culture.

The International Olympic Committee, Law, and Accountability

The International Olympic Committee, Law, and Accountability
Author: Ryan Gauthier
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2018-06-13
Genre:
ISBN: 9781138318618

The Olympic Games is unquestionably the largest and most important sporting event in the world. Yet who exactly is accountable for its successes and failures? This book examines the legitimacy and accountability of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). This non-governmental organisation wields extraordinary power, but there is no democratic basis for its authority. This study questions the supremacy of the IOC, arguing that there is a significant accountability deficit. Investigating the conduct of the IOC from an international legal perspective, the book moves beyond a critique of the IOC to explore potential avenues for reform, means of improving democratic procedures and increasing accountability. If the Olympics are to continue to be our most celebrated sporting event, those who organise them must be answerable to the citizens that they can potentially harm as well as benefit. Full of original insights into the inner workings of the IOC, this book is essential reading for all those interested in the Olympics, sport policy, sport management, sport mega-events, and the law.

Rome 1960

Rome 1960
Author: David Maraniss
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 500
Release: 2008-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1416534075

An account of the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome reveals the competition's unexpected influence on the modern world, in a narrative synopsis that pays tribute to such athletes as Cassius Clay and Wilma Rudolph while evaluating the roles of Cold War propaganda, civil rights, and politics. 250,000 first printing.