Author: Laura Lee Holden
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Olympic Games
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description

Author: Kristine Toohey
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 184593346X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
The Olympic Games: A Social Science Perspective presents a broad, multi-disciplinary account of all things Olympic from the relationship of the modern to the ancient games, to the possible future of the grandest of athletic spectacles. This extended new edition covers the Olympic phenomenon from political, economical and sociological perspectives, from its history and the media to commercialism and drug use. Its detailed analyses and extensive bibliography make it essential reading for researchers and students in leisure and sports studies.

Author: Ramón Spaaij
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134904916
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Sport and peacemaking have evolved. It is no longer the case that the Olympic Games and war games exist in isolation from each other. Increasingly, policymakers, peacekeepers, athletes, development workers, presidents of nations and others combine forces in an "integrated" approach towards peace. This approach is located not only within the broader, historically evolved Olympic Movement but also in relation to a newly emerged social movement which promotes development and peace through sport. This book critically examines the ways in which this development is being played out at global, national and local levels, particularly in relation to the Olympic Movement and initiatives such as the biennial Olympic Truce Resolution. The volume constitutes a unique scholarly attempt to provide an in-depth comparative analysis of the sport of peacemaking in the context of the Olympic Movement. Through international comparison and empirically grounded case studies, the book provides an important new departure in the study of the social impact of the Olympic Movement and related peacemaking efforts. It discusses these issues from a range of academic disciplines, including history, sociology, political science, economics, geography, philosophy and international relations. This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Author: Alan Bairner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136963022
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 499

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Book Description
With the ever increasing global significance of the Olympic Games, it has never been more topical to address the political issues that surround, influence and emanate from this quadrennial sporting mega event. In terms of the most recent evidence of the politics of the Olympics, the 2008 Beijing Games were riddled with political messages and content from the outset, and provided a global stage for protesters with numerous agendas. These included, to name but a few, proposed boycotts, potential terrorist attacks, the question of open media access, protests against China’s political practices and attempts to interrupt the ‘traditional’ torch rally. Essays in this collection focus on numerous political aspects of the Olympics from a variety of different perspectives, with a Glossary that contains a range of politically relevant entries relating to famous and infamous Olympic athletes, Olympic movement personnel and events and broader political issues and developments which have affected the modern Games. The purpose of this anthology is not to perpetuate hatred towards the concept and practices of Olympism or to regurgitate a ‘celebratory party line’. Instead, in addition to being informative, the book offers critical engagement with the Olympics by raising awareness of the movement’s political significance. Consequently, the essays in this anthology illustrate the strong but changing links between the modern Olympic Games and politics, in general, and address and discuss the key political aspects and issues with regard to the Games themselves, to national and international sport organisations and to specific countries’ attitudes to (ab)using the idea/ideal of the Olympics for their own political ends.

Author: Jules Boykoff
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813562031
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
The Olympics have developed into the world's premier sporting event. They are simultaneously a competitive exhibition and a grand display of cooperation that bring together global cultures on ski slopes, shooting ranges, swimming pools, and track ovals. Given their scale in the modern era, the Games are a useful window for better comprehending larger cultural, social, and historical processes, argues Jules Boykoff, an academic social scientist and a former Olympic athlete. In Activism and the Olympics, Boykoff provides a critical overview of the Olympic industry and its political opponents in the modern era. After presenting a brief history of Olympic activism, he turns his attention to on-the-ground activism through the lens of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Here we see how anti-Olympic activists deploy a range of approaches to challenge the Olympic machine, from direct action and the seizure of public space to humor-based and online tactics. Drawing on primary evidence from myriad personal interviews with activists, journalists, civil libertarians, and Olympics organizers, Boykoff angles in on the Games from numerous vantages and viewpoints. Although modern Olympic authorities have strived—even through the Cold War era—to appear apolitical, Boykoff notes, the Games have always been the site of hotly contested political actions and competing interests. During the last thirty years, as the Olympics became an economic juggernaut, they also generated numerous reactions from groups that have sought to challenge the event’s triumphalism and pageantry. The 21st century has seen an increased level of activism across the world, from the Occupy Movement in the United States to the Arab Spring in the Middle East. What does this spike in dissent mean for Olympic activists as they prepare for future Games?

Author: Danyel Reiche
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131763277X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
The Olympic Games is undoubtedly the greatest sporting event in the world, with over 200 countries competing for success. This important new study of the Olympics investigates why some countries are more successful than others. Which factors determine their failure or success? What is the relationship between these factors? And how can these factors be manipulated to influence a country’s performance in sport? This book addresses these questions and discusses the theoretical concepts that explain why national sporting success has become a policy priority around the globe. Danyel Reiche reassesses our understanding of success in sport and challenges the conventional explanations that population size and economic strength are the main determinants for a country’s Olympic achievements. He presents a theory of countries’ success and failure, based on detailed investigations of the relationships between a wide variety of factors that influence a country’s position in the Olympic medals table, including geography, ideology, policies such as focusing on medal promising sports, home advantage and the promotion of women. This book fills a long-standing gap in literature on the Olympics and will provide valuable insights for all students, scholars, policy makers and journalists interested in the Olympic Games and the wider relationship between sport, politics, and nationalism.

Author: Spencer Harris
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315523752
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
This book examines claims that the Olympic Games are a vehicle to inspire and increase mass sport participation. It focuses on the mass sport participation legacy of the most recent hosts of the summer Olympics, including Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London, Rio, and Tokyo. It is organised by host city/country and applies an analytical framework to each, addressing the socio-political context that shapes sport policy, the key changes in sport policy, the structure and governance of community sport, the Olympic and Paralympic legacy, and the changes in mass sport participation before, during, and after the Games. The book is important reading for students, researchers, and policymakers working in sport governance, sport development or management, and the sport policy sector.

Author: Kari Ann Oshanski
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
Abstract: Since 1896, the modern Olympics have created a substantial impact on host cities socially, economically and physically. Olympics are regarded as beneficial to the host city in terms of prestige and world status. The competitiveness of hosting is apparent, with nine cities vying for the bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. This study seeks to evaluate the impact of the Olympics on public open space, positively or negatively, through a review of three late 20th and 21st century host cities. The study uses a mixed methodology including data collection and case studies. The literature review identifies key definitions and standards of open space through the eras. Environmental reports and zoning maps are the primary data source and analytical focus. Metropolitan Reports and park maps were also used to allow quantitative analysis. The study examines data from a sample of three cities hosting summer Olympics during the last 20 years: Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000) and London (2012). The examination analyzes pre and post-Olympic games: the amount of open space, in hectares, and open space per capita. This initial study provides groundwork for future studies on Olympic host cities and areas looking to revitalize open space infrastructure. Planning paradigm shifts in governmental responsibilities are also brought out in this study. The research suggests that public open space increases in the city of Atlanta, Georgia and the Auburn Local Government in New South Wales, while decreasing in London, England relative to hosting the Olympics. Though data for the London post-Olympic timeframe is limited, open space has not kept pace with population growth.

Author: Alan Tomlinson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317379128
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
This comprehensive collection provides an overview of social scientific perspectives on Olympic legacy, using specialist analyses and selected cases to illuminate the recurring anthropological, political, and sociological dimensions of the legacy debate. Drawing upon research conducted on the Beijing, Vancouver, Athens, London and Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, it identifies the recurrent rhetoric that has characterised the legacy debate, alongside the harsh realities that contradict many legacies and aspirations. Fifteen researchers from six countries contribute a range of critical analytical studies which explore macro-perspectives on the shifting political economy symbolized at Beijing or in an over-reaching Greece, the soft power benefits perceived by the Rio 2016 organizers, the anthropological study of neighbourhood spaces threatened by corporate branding, and the apparatus of surveillance surrounding an Olympic Games. The symbolic importance of the Games is also captured in studies of volunteer motivations, labour and work initiatives, and the introduction of women’s boxing at London 2012. In a comprehensive overview, Alan Tomlinson illuminates the rhetoric of successive Olympic cycles and the rise to prominence of the legacy question in that debate. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science.

Author: Helen Lenskyj
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791447550
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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