[This piece is a version of ‘The best Olympics never’, in Mark Perryman (ed) London2012: How was it for Us?, London, Lawrence and Wishart, 2013, pp. 47-61] In its last issue of 2012 The Guardian asked of 2013 ‘what can we do to match the Olympics?’ – perhaps mainly as excuse to show on the… Continue reading The best Olympics never; mystery, magic and magnificent trivia
Category: Observations on the Olympics
Seizing the Olympic Platform: 6.6 million and counting
This is an edited-down version of a chapter of the same title, published in Vassil Girginov (ed.),Handbook of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Volume Two: Celebrating the Games, London, Routledge, 2013, pp. 239-251. The piece draws upon research supported by the British Academy’s small grants scheme for my personal research on ‘The construction… Continue reading Seizing the Olympic Platform: 6.6 million and counting
Lording it: London and the getting of the Games
[This entry comprises extracts from the beginning and the end of the first chapter of Alan Tomlinson and John Sugden (eds), Watching the Olympics: Politics, Power, and Representation (Routledge, publication July 2011)] [i] Introduction In 2012 London will become the only city to have staged the Summer Olympic Games more than twice (the so-called interim… Continue reading Lording it: London and the getting of the Games
The Making – and Unmaking? – of the Olympic Corporate Class
(This entry comprises extracts, from the beginning, a later section, and the conclusion, of a chapter to be included in Helen Lensjky and Stephen Wagg (eds), Handbook of Olympic Studies (Palgrave Macmillan), in 2011.)[i] ‘All these operations take money. You cannot help the developing countries with words. You must help them with money. And that… Continue reading The Making – and Unmaking? – of the Olympic Corporate Class
The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic System
Jean-Loup Chappelet and Brenda Kübler-Mabbott, The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic System: The Governance of World Sport, Routledge, 2008, 208pp. + xiv ISBN 978-0-415-43168-2 (This is an amended version of a book review to be published in the academic journal Sport in History) This is the twenty-fourth book to appear in an ambitious initiative,… Continue reading The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic System
Beckham on the Bus: Reporting the Beijing Olympics
All Olympic Games raise predictable questions of knowledge control, and generate fiery exchanges among journalists and cultural critics and commentators about access. Things are a far cry from the provision of a few telephone and telegraph lines at the local post office, which was all that Amsterdam needed to provide 60 years before Beijing’s Olympic… Continue reading Beckham on the Bus: Reporting the Beijing Olympics
Olympic Survivals: The Olympic Games as a Global Phenomenon
You can also download a pdf version of this article In this paper I do three things. First, I review come commentaries on globalization and culture, and globalization and sport. Second, I offer some selective reflections on the history of the Olympic Games, casting an analytical, periodizing eye over the 24 (Summer) Games, warning against… Continue reading Olympic Survivals: The Olympic Games as a Global Phenomenon
The commercialization of the Olympics: Cities, corporations and the Olympic commodity
You can also download a pdf version of this article Introduction: the mixed economy and the nascent commercialization of the Olympic Games The Olympics has become such a high-profile global phenomenon that it attracts some of the world’s most prominent cities and capitals to bid for the prize of hosting a Games, particularly the Summer… Continue reading The commercialization of the Olympics: Cities, corporations and the Olympic commodity
Away from the Heart of the Matter: the Little Olympics
Sydney 2000 was the Bumper Summer Olympics. It welcomed more than 11,000 athletes, several thousand officials and coaches, and as the 16 days whizzed by estimates of the number of mediafolk in town reached 21,000, although official estimates had been initially put at around 15,000. Athens 2004 plans to cater for 18,000 media. The Main… Continue reading Away from the Heart of the Matter: the Little Olympics
Professor Alan Tomlinson - Research 