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 Sochi, which will host the 2014 Winter Games, and Rio de Janeiro, where the 2016 Summer Olympics will take place?

From track and field to swimming and diving, and of course basketball and soccer, Indiana University Olympians celebrates over a century of Indiana University Olympic competitors. Beginning in 1904, at the 3rd summer games in St. Louis, IU's first Olympic medal went to pole vaulter LeRoy Samse who earned a silver medal. In 2016, swimmer Lilly King rocketed onto the world stage with two gold medals in the 31st Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. Featuring profiles of 49 athletes who attended IU, Indiana University Olympians includes the stories of well-known figures like Milt Campbell, the first African American to win decathlon gold and who went on to play pro football, and Mark Spitz, winner of seven swimming gold medals. The book also highlights fascinating anecdotes and the accomplishments of their less well-known colleagues, including one athlete's humble beginnings in a chicken house and another who earned a Silver Star for heroism in the Vietnam War. Despite their different lives, they share one key similarity-these remarkable athletes all called Indiana University home.

The 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis were both unusual and controversial. One of the major problems for Olympic scholars has been to determine which of the events at these Games were truly of Olympic caliber. The Games were included as part of the World's Fair, and every athletic contest that took place under the Fair's auspices was deemed "Olympic." These activities included croquet and water polo, high school and college championships in football and basketball, as well as the "Anthropology Days" events in which members of "primitive" "tribes" competed against one another.

The author demonstrates, after great deliberation, that 16 events of the 21 overall were truly Olympic sports and gives descriptions, scores, and analyses for each (as well as for the five non-Olympic events). Appendices include literature relating to these games, lists of noncompeting foreign entrants, and a guide to all competitors.

Till now, the results of the 1920 Olympics held in Antwerp, Belgium, have been far from complete. The Antwerp organizing committee published an official report (actually just a typed copy) of the results almost as an afterthought because it was so financially strapped after the games. For some events only the medalists are listed, with little, if any, additional information. Very few copies were ever printed, and those few copies were in French.The seventh in a series on the early Olympics, this work fills a gap in the recording of early Olympics history by providing complete results for all competitors and all events (except for shooting, which has only partial information due to the obscurity of the results). In virtually all cases, a 1920 source has been used in preference to a more modern source of information, and all details have been fully researched in contemporary newspapers, journals, and magazines and checked for accuracy by experts on various sports from all over the world.The appendices include a schedule of events and festivities for the 1920 Olympics, information on World War I and Olympians, a tentative schedule of events that had been planned for the 1916 Olympic Games (which never took place because of the war), and information on the 1919 Inter-Allied Games.

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.

Kaitlin Sandeno was one of the world's greatest and most versatile swimmers. Competing at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, she was a part of the world record breaking 4x200-meter relay team and is one of an elite few to medal in three different strokes. In Golden Glow: How Kaitlin Sandeno Achieved Gold in the Pool and in Life, Dan D'Addona recounts Sandeno's amazing swimming career, including her spectacular Olympic performances, and details the impact she has made in the world outside the pool. Breaking into the Olympics at seventeen years old, she became the face of the team with her enthusiasm and bubbly personality. She returned to the Olympics four years later to have one of the most dominating meets by an American woman in history. But Sandeno's legacy in the pool is nothing compared to how she has used her platform to help those around her. She is the national spokesperson for the Jessie Rees Foundation and spreads joy around the country to children with cancer. She has emceed Olympic trials, hosted multiple shows for USA Swimming, and has given back to her sport, working for USA Swimming and coaching youth teams. Golden Glow is not only the story of how hard work and perseverance led Sandeno to Olympic gold, but also how she has used her success in the pool to inspire those around her.

Sports are the opiate of the people, particularly in the United States, Europe, and parts of South America. Globally, billions of fans feverishly focus on the summer and winter Olympics. In theory, international fraternalism is boosted by these "friendly competitions," but often national rivalries eclipse the theoretical amity. How the Olympics have dealt with racism over the years offers a window to better understanding these dynamics. Since their revival in 1896, the modern Olympics were periodically agitated by political and moral conundrums. Racial tensions, the topic of this volume, reached their apex under the polarizing presidency of Avery Brundage. Race in sports cannot be disentangled from societal problems, nor can race or sports be fully understood separately. Racial conflict must be contextualized. Racism and the Olympics explores the racial landscape against which a number of major disputes evolved. The book covers various topics and events in history that portray discrimination within Olympic games, such as the Nazi games of 1936, the black American protest on the victory stand in Mexico City's Olympics, as well as international political forces that removed South Africa and Rhodesia from the Olympics. Robert G. Weisbord considers the role of international politics and the criteria that should be used to determine nations that are selected to take part in and serve as venues for the Olympic Games.

As the Olympic spectacle grows, broadcast coverage becomes bigger, more complex, and more sophisticated. Part sporting event, part reality show, and part global festival, the Olympics can be seen as both intensely nationalistic and a celebration of a shared sense of international community. This book sheds new light on how the Olympic experience has been shaped by television and expanded across multiple platforms and formats. Combining a multitude of approaches ranging from interviews to content analyses to audience surveys, the book explores the production, influence, and significance of Olympic media in contemporary society. Built on a central case study of NBC's coverage of the Rio Games in 2016, which is then placed within 20 years of content analyses, the book focuses on the entire Olympic television process from production to content to effects. Touching on key themes such as race, gender, history, consumerism, identity, nationalism, and storytelling, Olympic Television: Broadcasting the Biggest Show on Earth is fascinating reading for any student or scholar with an interest in sport, media, and the global impact of mega-events.

As the Olympic spectacle grows, broadcast coverage becomes bigger, more complex, and more sophisticated. Part sporting event, part reality show, and part global festival, the Olympics can be seen as both intensely nationalistic and a celebration of a shared sense of international community. This book sheds new light on how the Olympic experience has been shaped by television and expanded across multiple platforms and formats. Combining a multitude of approaches ranging from interviews to content analyses to audience surveys, the book explores the production, influence, and significance of Olympic media in contemporary society. Built on a central case study of NBC's coverage of the Rio Games in 2016, which is then placed within 20 years of content analyses, the book focuses on the entire Olympic television process from production to content to effects. Touching on key themes such as race, gender, history, consumerism, identity, nationalism, and storytelling, Olympic Television: Broadcasting the Biggest Show on Earth is fascinating reading for any student or scholar with an interest in sport, media, and the global impact of mega-events.

American photographers John Huet and David Burnett were commissioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to create a personal record ofthe Olympic Games in their own way; these new books are the result of that freedom and artistry. They capture the essence and adventure of the Olympic Games through stunning and unconventional photographs.David Burnett is the co-founder of Contact Press Images in New York. He covered the Vietnam War as a staff photographer for "Life "magazine.John Huet is a sports photographer and a director of commercials. His book "Soul of the Game: Images and Voices of Street Basketball "was published to critical acclaim in 1997."

A fundamental component of the Olympic ideal is the concept of Olympic education . This is the notion that sport can help children and young people develop essential life skills; that the development of motor abilities, social behaviour and a moral sense are vital parts of a balanced education and can be developed through the teaching of sport and Olympic values. This is the first book to offer a comprehensive survey and analysis of the diffusion, implementation and delivery of these important Olympic education programmes around the world.

The book includes national case studies of countries on every major continent, including the US, the UK, China, Japan, Australia, Brazil and Germany. Each chapter examines the cultural, pedagogical, political and societal challenges of teaching Olympic education and the national, individual and institutional programmes that have emerged. The book explores key practical and conceptual issues, such as the incorporation of Olympic values in PE curricula, coach education programmes and the coaching of sports, and the structure and collaborative efforts of the governmental bodies, sport federations and Olympic institutions responsible for policy and implementation. This is important reading for all students, researchers and professionals with an interest in physical education, sport education, sports coaching, sport policy or Olympic studies. "

The #1 New York Times-bestselling story about the American Olympic rowing triumph in Nazi Germany-from the author of Facing the Mountain. Soon to be a major motion picture directed by George Clooney For readers of Unbroken, out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times-the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant. It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington's eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler. The emotional heart of the tale lies with Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself in the world. Drawing on the boys' own journals and vivid memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, Brown has created an unforgettable portrait of an era, a celebration of a remarkable achievement, and a chronicle of one extraordinary young man's personal quest.

LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE CROSS SPORTS BOOK AWARDS BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR The definitive biography of one of the greatest, most extraordinary runners and Olympic heroes of all time, from the author of running classic Feet in the Clouds. Emil Zatopek won five Olympic medals, set 18 world records, and went undefeated over 10,000 metres for six years. He redefined the boundaries of endurance, training in Army boots, in snow, in sand, in darkness. But his toughness was matched by a spirit of friendship and a joie de vivre that transcended the darkest days of the Cold War. His triumphs put his country on the map, yet when Soviet tanks moved in to crush Czechoslovakia's new freedoms in 1968, Zatopek paid a heavy personal price for his brave defence of 'socialism with a human face'. Rehabilitated two decades later, he was a shadow of the man he had been - and the world had all but forgotten him. Today We Die A Little strips away the myths to tell the complex and deeply moving story of the most inspiring Olympic hero of them all.

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 humour-based and online tactics. Drawing on primary evidence from myriad personal interviews with activists, journalists, civil libertarians and Olympics organisers, 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 Sochi, which will host the 2014 Winter Games and Rio de Janeiro, where the 2016 Summer Olympics will take place?

The Handbook of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is the first authoritative and comprehensive account of the world s greatest sporting and cultural event. It tells the complete story of the 2012 Games from inception, through the successful bidding process and the planning and preparation phase, to delivery, the post-Games period and legacy. Written by a world-class team of international Olympic scholars, the book offers critical analysis of the social, cultural, political, historical, economic and sporting context of the Games. From the political, commercial and structural complexities of organising an event on such a scale, to the sporting action that holds the attention of the world, this book illuminates the key aspects of the 2012 Games, helping us to better understand the vital role that sport and culture play in contemporary global society.

The book is divided into two volumes: Volume Two - Celebrating the Games, examines the period of competition and immediately afterwards, covering key topics such as:

• London welcomes the world - hospitality and the look of the games
• Experiencing the games -spectators, tourists, volunteers, shoppers, viewers
• Media and communications
• Running the games
• Creating Olympic celebrities
• Protesting the games
• Commerce, retail and consumption
• Documenting London 2012 in films and books
• The legacy of the 2012 Games for London, the UK and the Olympic Movement

Richly illustrated with the personal accounts of key stakeholders, from sports administrators and politicians to athletes and spectators, and including essential data and evocative visual material, this book is essential reading for anybody with a personal or professional interest in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, global culture or the development of sport.

Prior to the outbreak of World War II, the British presided over the largest Empire in world history, a vast transoceanic and transcontinental realm of dominions, colonies, protectorates and mandates that covered over one-quarter of the world's land mass and comprised a population of over 450-million subjects. Spanning Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, over fifty modern nations-currently recognized by the International Olympic Committee-were governed and controlled by the British crown at some stage prior to the gradual dissolution of the Empire. The British World and the Five Rings seeks to explore the relationship between the former British Empire and the Olympic Movement. It pays due regard to the settler dominions, but it also addresses those territories who were less willing partners in the British imperial project. In doing so, the tendency of so-called 'British World' histories to promote an apologia for Empire is rejected in favour of a critical approach to imperialism. Combining thorough research with engaging and accessible writing, The British World and the Five Rings is applicable to many fields of Olympic scholarship making it a central work in the growing field of sports studies. This book was published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

The African American struggle for civil rights in the twentieth century is one of the most important stories in American history. With all the information available, however, it is easy for even the most enthusiastic reader to be overwhelmed. In Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement, Yohuru Williams has synthesized the complex history of this period into a clear and compelling narrative. Considering both the Civil Rights and Black Power movements as distinct but overlapping elements of the Black Freedom struggle, Williams looks at the impact of the struggle for Black civil rights on housing, transportation, education, labor, voting rights, culture, and more, and places the activism of the 1950s and 60s within the context of a much longer tradition reaching from Reconstruction to the present day. Exploring the different strands within the movement, key figures and leaders, and its ongoing legacy, Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement is the perfect introduction for anyone seeking to understand the struggle for Black civil rights in America.

The first summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) were held in Singapore in 2010 and the first winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck in 2012. The IOC hopes that the YOG will encourage young people to be more active and that they will bring the Olympic movement closer to its original founding values. This is the first book to be published on the Youth Olympic Games. It critically examines the origins of the Games and the motives of the Games organisers, as well as the organisation and management of the Games and their wider impact and significance. The first part of the book discusses the relationship between the YOG and the ideology of Olympism, in the context of broader developments in youth sport competitions. The second part investigates a wide range of managerial aspects including the bidding process, finance, the prominent role of young people on the organising committees and as volunteers, the role of media and sponsors, and the distinctive competition structure. The final part of the book assesses the current and likely future impact of the YOG on the host cities and countries, the IOC and on national youth sport policies. The Youth Olympic Games is essential reading for any researcher, advanced student or policy maker with an interest in Olympic Studies, sports development, sport policy, youth sport or event management.

With an exclusive foreword by Usain Bolt, The Fastest Men on Earth tells the fascinating inside stories of the Olympic Men's 100m Champions. It takes just under ten seconds to run, but the results of the Olympic men's 100 metres are etched forever into history. In The Fastest Men on Earth, journalist Neil Duncanson tells the stories of the 25 athletes who've been crowned champions in the event, and earned the coveted title of 'Fastest Man on Earth'. Each chapter explores the fascinating, inspiring, and occasionally tragic lives of these supremely talented sprinters, as well as the intense drama of the record-breaking runs that wrote them into history. Immaculately researched and featuring exclusive interviews with several Olympic champions, including a new conversation with Usain Bolt, The Fastest Men on Earth brings the stories of some of the greatest athletes of all time to life like never before.

This title is suitable for children of ages 4 to 8 years. Keep the Olympic spirit alive! Children can learn all about the Winter Olympic Sports and catch the spirit with these highly motivational and fun-to-read Easy Olympic Sports Readers. These colourful and exciting books represent six of the most popular winter sports: Sledding, Skiing, Figure Skating, Speed Skating, Ice Hockey, Snowboarding. With such enticing subjects, beginning readers will visit their favourite sports often while learning how to read.

Early in their lives, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando chose ice hockey to be the sport they wanted to pursue. They didn't let the absence of girls hockey teams get in their way-they just played on boys teams. Nor did they let competitive adversity on the ice stop them on their way to a thrilling gold-medal victory at the 2018 Olympics, the United States' first gold medal in women's ice hockey in 20 years. They also did not allow roadblocks and discrimination off the ice deter them from taking on the big business of elite international and Olympic sports. The success of Monique, Jocelyne, and their team thrust them into the center of the fray in the struggle for gender equity, whether for women in hockey and in sports in general, or in society at large. In Dare to Make History, the Lamoureux twins chronicle their journey to the pinnacle of their sport, the challenges of competing as elite athletes while becoming new mothers, their efforts along with almost 150 other hockey players to start a new professional women's hockey league, their training to come back for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, and their contributions as role models championing the dreams of future generations of girls in sports, education, and the workplace. This is their inspiring story-the story of all girls and women, as well as boys and men, who simply want a level playing field.

How did the Olympics evolve into a multi-national phenomenon? How can the Olympics help us to understand the relationship between sport and society? What will be the impact and legacy of the Olympics after Tokyo in 2020? Understanding the Olympics answers all these questions by exploring the social, cultural, political, historical, and economic context of the Games. This thoroughly revised and updated edition discusses recent attempts at future proofing by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the face of growing global anti-Olympic activism, the changing geo-political context within which the Olympics take place, and the Olympic histories of the next three cities to host the Games - Tokyo (2020), Paris (2024), and Los Angeles (2028) - as well as the legacy of the London (2012) Olympics. For the first time, this new edition introduces the reader to the emergence of 'other Games' associated with the IOC - the Winter Olympics, the Paralympics, and the Youth Olympics. It also features a full Olympic history timeline, many new photographs, refreshed suggestions for further reading, and revised illustrations. The most up-to-date and authoritative textbook available on the Olympic Games, Understanding the Olympics is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the Olympics or the wider relationship between sport and society.

A collection of essays from the world's leading authorities on China and human rights examining the country as it battles with the pressures brought by the 2008 Olympics.

President Vladimir Putin's Olympic venture put the workings of contemporary Russia on vivid display. The Sochi Olympics were designed to symbolize Russia's return to great power status, but subsequent aggression against Ukraine, large-scale corruption, and the doping scandal have become the true legacies of the games. The Kremlin's style of governance through mega-projects has had deleterious consequences for the country's development. Placing the Sochi games into the larger context of Olympic history, this book examines the political, security, business, ethnic, societal, and international ramifications of Putin's system.