For more than a century, the Olympics have been the modern world's most significant sporting event. Indeed, they deserve much credit for globalizing sport beyond the boundaries of the Anglo-American universe, where it originated, into broader global realms. By the 1930s, the Olympics had become a global mega-event that occupied the attention of the media, the interest of the public and the energies of nation-states. Since then, projected by television, funded by global capital and fattened by the desires of nations to garner international prestige, the Olympics have grown to gargantuan dimensions.
In the course of its epic history, the Olympics have left numerous legacies, from unforgettable feats to monumental stadiums, from shining triumphs to searing tragedies, from the dazzling debuts on the world's stage of new cities and nations to notorious campaigns of national propaganda. The Olympics represent an essential component of modern global history. The Olympic movement itself has, since the 1990s, recognized and sought to shape its numerous legacies with mixed success as this book makes clear. It offers ground-breaking analyses of the power of Olympic legacies, positive and negative, and surveys the subject from Athens in 1896 to Beijing in 2008, and indeed beyond.
This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.
Reviews
"First published as a special issue of International Journal of the History of Sport, the present collection focuses on how the Olympic Games have affected cities such as Athens, Beijing, and Sydney: it considers the lasting legacies…Mangan (emer., Univ. of Strathclyde, Scotland) and Dyreson (Pennsylvania State Univ.) bring together analyses of both the positive and negative legacies, from the first games of the modern era (Athens, 1896) to the most recent summer games (Beijing, 2008). Summing Up: Highly recommended." -- Choice, July 2010
Contents
1. Prologue: Guarantees of Globill: Post-Olympic Legacies – Too Many Limping White Elephants? J. A. Mangan 2. Olympic Environmental Concerns as a Legacy of the Winter Games Jean-Loup Chappelet 3. The Albertville Winter Olympics: Unexpected Legacies – Failed Expectations for Regional Economic Development Thierry Terret 4. Maximizing Olympic Impacts by Building Up Legacies Chris Gratton and Holger Preuss 5. The Seoul Olympics: Economic Miracle Meets the World Brian Bridges 6. The Sydney Olympics: Striving for Legacies – Overcoming Short-Term Disappointments and Long-Term Deficiencies Kristine Toohey 7. The Athens Olympics: Optimistic Legacies – Post-Olympic Assets and the Struggle for their Realization Penelope Kissoudi 8. Los Angeles is the Olympic City: Legacies of the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games Mark Dyreson and Matthew Llewellyn 9. Beijing Olympics Legacies: Certain Intentions and Certain and Uncertain Outcomes Dong Jinxia and J. A. Mangan 10. Olympic Legacies in the IOC’s ‘Cel...
