Olympic Industry Resistance

Olympic Industry Resistance
Author: Helen Jefferson Lenskyj
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2008-06-05
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0791478114

A critical look at the Olympics in the postbribery, post-9/11 era, particularly at consequences for host cities and so-called “Olympic education” for schoolchildren.

Olympic Industry Resistance

Olympic Industry Resistance
Author: Helen Lenskyj
Publisher:
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2008
Genre: Mass media and sports
ISBN: 9781435658844

Scholar and activist Helen Jefferson Lenskyj continues her critique of the Olympic industry, looking specifically at developments in the post-9/11 and postbribery scandal era. Examining events and activism in host cities, as well as in several locations that bid unsuccessfully on the Olympics, Lenskyj shows how basic rights and freedoms, particularly of the press and of assembly, are compromised. Lenskyj investigates the pro-Olympic bias in media treatment of bids and preparations, the fallen hero phenomenon that includes doping and female athletes who pose nude in calendars, and takes issue with Olympic education curricular materials for schoolchildren. Also discussed are the problems of housing and homelessness created when the Olympics become a catalyst for urban redevelopment projects.

Inside the Olympic Industry

Inside the Olympic Industry
Author: Helen Lenskyj
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2000-07-14
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9780791447550

Analysis from the perspective of those adversely affected by the social, economic, political, and environmental impacts of hosting an Olympic Games.

Gender Politics and the Olympic Industry

Gender Politics and the Olympic Industry
Author: H. Lenskyj
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2016-01-12
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 113729115X

This book explores how the Olympic industry has shaped hegemonic concepts of sporting masculinities and femininities for its own profit and image-making ends, examining its continuing marginalization of athletes on account of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and class.

The Best Olympics Ever?

The Best Olympics Ever?
Author: Helen Jefferson Lenskyj
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0791488101

Despite International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samarach's proclaiming the Sydney 2000 Olympics as the "best ever," the truth of the matter is much less one-sided. In The Best Olympics Ever? Helen Jefferson Lenskyj discloses what the Sydney 2000 Olympic industry suppressed: the real costs and impacts.

The Olympic Games

The Olympic Games
Author: Helen Jefferson Lenskyj
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Total Pages: 183
Release: 2020-04-15
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1838677755

Do the Olympic Games really live up to their glowing reputation? As the biggest global sport mega-event, the Olympic Games command public and media attention, while Olympic mythology and ritual obscure their underlying function as a profit-making business enterprise.

Inside the Olympic Industry

Inside the Olympic Industry
Author: Helen Lenskyj
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2000-07-14
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9780791447567

Analysis from the perspective of those adversely affected by the social, economic, political, and environmental impacts of hosting an Olympic Games.

No Boston Olympics

No Boston Olympics
Author: Chris Dempsey
Publisher: University Press of New England
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2017-05-02
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1512600709

In 2013 and 2014, some of Massachusetts' wealthiest and most powerful individuals hatched an audacious plan to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to Boston. Like their counterparts in cities around the world, Boston's Olympic boosters promised political leaders, taxpayers, and the media that the Games would deliver incalculable benefits and require little financial support from the public. Yet these advocates refused to share the details of their bid and only grudgingly admitted, when pressed, that their plan called for billions of dollars in construction of unneeded venues. To win the bid, the public would have to guarantee taxpayer funds to cover cost overruns, which have plagued all modern Olympic Games. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) chose Boston 2024's bid over that of other American cities in January 2015-and for a time it seemed inevitable that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would award the Games to Boston 2024. No Boston Olympics is the story of how an ad hoc, underfunded group of diverse and engaged citizens joined together to challenge and ultimately derail Boston's boosters, the USOC, and the IOC. Chris Dempsey was cochair of No Boston Olympics, the group that first voiced skepticism, demanded accountability, and catalyzed dissent. Andrew Zimbalist is a world expert on the economics of sports, and the leading researcher on the hidden costs of hosting mega-events such as the Olympics and the World Cup. Together, they tell Boston's story, while providing a blueprint for citizens who seek to challenge costly, wasteful, disruptive, and risky Olympic bids in their own cities.

Sexual Diversity and the Sochi 2014 Olympics

Sexual Diversity and the Sochi 2014 Olympics
Author: H. Lenskyj
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2014-02-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137399767

This book examines Russia's 2013 anti-gay laws and their implications for the Sochi 2014 Olympics. Lenskyj argues that Putin's Russia and the International Olympic Committee wield power in similar ways, as evident in undemocratic governance, fraudulent voting processes, hypocrisy and absence of accountability.

Olympic Exclusions

Olympic Exclusions
Author: Jacqueline Kennelly
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2016-06-10
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1317337018

Olympic Games are sold to host city populations on the basis of legacy commitments that incorporate aid for the young and the poor. Yet little is known about the realities of marginalized young people living in host cities. Do they benefit from social housing and employment opportunities? Or do they fall victim to increased policing and evaporating social assistance? This book answers these questions through an original ethnographic study of young people living in the shadow of Vancouver 2010 and London 2012. Setting qualitative research alongside critical analysis of policy documents, bidding reports and media accounts, this study explores the tension between promises made and lived reality. Its eight chapters offer a rich and complex account of marginalized young people’s experiences as they navigate the possibilities and contradictions of living in an Olympic host city. Their stories illustrate the limits to the promises made by Olympic bidding and organizing committees and raise important questions about the ethics of public funding for such mega‐events. This book will be fascinating reading for anyone interested in the Olympics, sport and social exclusion, and sport and politics, as well as for those working in the fields of youth studies, social policy and urban studies.