Post-Olympism? Questioning Sport in the Twenty-First Century

by Bale, John; Christensen, Mette Krogh

• ISBN13: 9781859737149
• ISBN10: 1859737145
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-07-02
• Publisher: Berg Pub Ltd

Summary

The Olympic ideal and the Olympic Games stand as symbols of global cooperation, international understanding and the bonding of individuals through the medium of sports. However, throughout the twentieth century, Olympic rhetoric was often confronted by a different reality. The Games have regularly been faced by crises that have threatened the spirit of Olympism and even the Games themselves. Given the many changes that have occurred in the Olympic Games during the past century it seems reasonable to ask if this global event has a future and, if so, what form it might take. With this larger issue in mind, the authors of Post-Olympism? ask probing questions about the following: the infamous 1936 Olympics the effect of new technologies on the Games the future impact of the 2008 Beijing Games on China and of China on the Olympics the local and regional impact of the Sydney green Olympics the Games and globalization Disneyfication racism drug abuse The book provides a useful overview of the ongoing significance of the Olympics and will be essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in the Games.

Author Biography

John Bale is Visiting Professor of Sports Studies, University of Aarhus, Denmark and Professor of Sports Geography, Keele University. He is the co-editor of Sport and Postcolonialism (Berg Publishers, 2003).

Mette Krogh Christensen is Assistant Professor in Sports Studies, Department of Sport Science, University of Aarhus.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	xi
Notes on Contributors	xiii
Introduction: Post-Olympism?	1	(2)
John Bale
Mette Krogh Christensen
Writing the Games	3	(1)
A Global Currency	4	(3)
After the Event	7	(2)
Citius, Altius, Fortius	9	(1)
Post-Olympism and Postmodernism	10	(3)
Post-olympism? Questioning olympic Historiography	13	(20)
Douglas Booth
Models of Olympic History	14	(5)
Explanatory Paradigms	19	(13)
Conclusion	32	(1)
`What's the Difference between Propaganda for Tourism or for a Political Regime?' Was the 1936 Olympics the first Postmodern Spectacle?	33	(18)
Arnd Kruger
Perspective	33	(1)
Introduction	34	(1)
Olympic Games under a Dictatorship	35	(2)
Olympic Education and the Peace Mission of the IOC	37	(1)
The Historical Perspective	37	(3)
General Sherrill and the Change of Policy	40	(3)
Hans Fritsch	43	(1)
Official Propaganda	44	(1)
The Olympic Torch Relay	45	(1)
Coubertin's Political Economy	46	(2)
Brohm versus Bernett	48	(1)
Conclusion	49	(2)
China and Olympism	51	(14)
Susan Brownell
What Comes after the -Isms? Postmodernism, Postcolonialism, and Post-Olympism (but not Post-Nationalism)	51	(3)
The Power of the Host City	54	(3)
He Zhenliang	57	(1)
Will Olympism Change China?	58	(3)
Will China Change Olympism?	61	(4)
The Global, the Popular and the Inter-Popular: Olympic Sport between Market, State and Civil Society	65	(16)
Henning Eichberg
The Boomerang	65	(1)
Contradictions of Movement: The Case of Jumping	66	(1)
Contradictions of Identity: Saying `We' in Sports	67	(2)
Production, Integration and Encounter by Movement	69	(1)
National Identity is not One	70	(2)
How to Analyse Olympism?	72	(2)
Historical Shifts between Civic, Public and Commercial Logics	74	(1)
Scenarios of Olympism. . .	75	(1)
. . . and Post-Olympism	76	(2)
Identity on the Agenda	78	(2)
Whose Cathy -- and which People?	80	(1)
Cosmopolitan Olympism, Humanism and the Spectacle of `Race'	81	(18)
Ben Carrington
Introduction	81	(1)
Humanism and the Spectacle of `Race'	82	(3)
Cosmopolitanism and Planetary Humanism	85	(3)
Re-imagining the Race: Eric the Eel and the Non-white White Athlete	88	(5)
The Politics of Cosmopolitan Olympism	93	(3)
Conclusion	96	(3)
Post-Olympism: Olympic Legacies, Sport Spaces and the Practices of Everyday Life	99	(20)
Douglas Brown
The Space	101	(3)
The Sport	104	(2)
The Skaters	106	(6)
`Olympians Amongst Us'	112	(3)
Conclusion	115	(1)
Postscript One	116	(1)
Postscript Two	116	(3)
The Future of a Multi-Sport Mega-Event: Is there a Place for the Olympic Games in a `Post-Olympic' World?	119	(16)
Richard Cashman
The Contemporary Global Sports System	120	(2)
Increased Competition	122	(4)
Alternative Visions of Sport	126	(2)
The Pragmatic and Loose Definition of the Olympic Programme	128	(2)
The Changing Geography of World Sport	130	(2)
Copying Olympic Ceremonies	132	(1)
Review of the Olympic Programme, August 2002	133	(1)
Conclusion	133	(2)
Making the World Safe for Global Capital: The Sydney 2000 Olympics and Beyond	135	(12)
Helen Jefferson Lenskyj
Olympic Resistance, Past and Present	136	(4)
Sydney 2000 Protests	140	(2)
More Resistance: Vancouver and Whistler	142	(1)
Resistance in Salt Lake City	143	(2)
Conclusion	145	(2)
The Disneyfication of the Olympics? Theme Parks and Freak-Shows of the Body	147	(18)
Alan Tomlinson
Introduction: Survival and Transformation	147	(3)
Disneyfication: Process and Outcome	150	(2)
Scenes from Sydney	152	(8)
A Disneylimpics? Challenging Stale Olympic Ideals	160	(2)
Conclusion	162	(3)
Essence of Post-Olympism: A Prolegomena of Study	165	(12)
Synthia Sydnor
Proem	165	(2)
Cultural Adaptation	167	(1)
Classic Olympism	168	(1)
Transcendence	169	(1)
Aesthetics	169	(1)
Performativity	170	(1)
Acceleration	171	(3)
Coming Community/Whatever	174	(3)
Sportive Nationalism and Globalization	177	(12)
John Hoberman
Early Globalization and Olympic Sport	177	(4)
Globalization as International Competition	181	(3)
Sportive Nationalism and International Competition	184	(3)
Denationalizing Global Competition	187	(2)
The Vulnerability Thesis and its Consequences: A Critique of Specialization in Olympic Sport	189	(12)
Sigmund Loland
Introduction	189	(1)
Athletic Performance	190	(1)
Specialization	191	(1)
The Vulnerability Thesis	192	(3)
The Underlying Premise: Sport as Moral Practice	195	(1)
Policy Implications	196	(1)
Conclusion	197	(4)
Doping and the Olympic Games from an Aesthetic Perspective	201	(10)
Verner Møller
Post-Olympism and the Aestheticization of Sport	211	(20)
Soren Damkjar
What is Olympism?	213	(1)
The Meaning of Sport	213	(1)
Modern Critiques	214	(1)
The Historico-Sociological Critique	215	(2)
The Forms of Critique	217	(2)
Post-Olympism	219	(1)
Postmodern in Olympism	219	(1)
Deconstruction	220	(2)
The Ethics of Sport	222	(1)
A Model of Postmodern Sport	222	(1)
Sport and Art	223	(1)
Art	224	(1)
The Aesthetics of Sport	224	(3)
Aesthetics at the Olympic Games	227	(1)
The Philosophy of Olympism	228	(1)
Post-Olympism Reconsidered	229	(1)
Conclusion	230	(1)
Laying Olympism to Rest	231	(12)
Kevin B. Wamsley
Introduction	231	(3)
Olympism	234	(1)
Post-Olympism	234	(6)
Conclusion	240	(3)
Notes	243	(8)
Bibliography	251	(22)
Index	273