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Olympic Opening Ceremonies: Memory and Modernity (Routledge Research in Sports History)
by Daniel MalanskiThis is the first book to unpack the history and significance of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the frontispiece of the most watched event on Earth. Covering the period from the Moscow Olympics in 1980 to Tokyo 2020, the book examines when, how and why the Olympic opening ceremonies’ artistic programme became the multi-act spectacles seen today. It argues that the embedded nationalistic, ethnic and environmental discourses contained in opening ceremonies have much to tell us about national narratives, memory and myth-making, about the history of representation, and about how the Olympics and the spectacle of mega-events are prisms through which local and global socio-political issues are refracted, from the climate crisis and the struggle for minority rights to the emergence of a multi-polar world. This book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the sociology, culture, history or politics of sport and events, geopolitics or performance studies.
Olympic Perspectives (Sport in the Global Society - Historical Perspectives)
by Stephan Wassong, Richard Baka and Janice ForsythHistorical research on the Olympic Movement is highly valuable as it displays processes of continuity and transformation by which knowledge building processes on the Olympic Movement, its structure and on Olympic sport can be expanded. The Olympic Movement can be addressed from multidisciplinary perspectives, including management, sociology, education, philosophy and history. This comprehensive collection examines the multifaceted profile of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement and presents new insights drawn from a variety of research projects. Historical and political dimensions of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement are addressed, along with educational, ethical, commercial and sociological perspectives.This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.
Olympic Pride, American Prejudice: The Untold Story of 18 African Americans Who Defied Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler to Compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics
by Travis Thrasher Blair Underwood Deborah Riley DraperIn this &“must-read for anyone concerned with race, sports, and politics in America&” (William C. Rhoden, New York Times bestselling author), the inspirational and largely unknown true story of the eighteen African American athletes who competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, defying the racism of both Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South.Set against the turbulent backdrop of a segregated United States, sixteen Black men and two Black women are torn between boycotting the Olympic Games in Nazi Germany or participating. If they go, they would represent a country that considered them second-class citizens and would compete amid a strong undercurrent of Aryan superiority that considered them inferior. Yet, if they stayed, would they ever have a chance to prove them wrong on a global stage? Five athletes, full of discipline and heart, guide you through this harrowing and inspiring journey. There&’s a young and feisty Tidye Pickett from Chicago, whose lithe speed makes her the first African American woman to compete in the Olympic Games; a quiet Louise Stokes from Malden, Massachusetts, who breaks records across the Northeast with humble beginnings training on railroad tracks. We find Mack Robinson in Pasadena, California, setting an example for his younger brother, Jackie Robinson; and the unlikely competitor Archie Williams, a lanky book-smart teen in Oakland takes home a gold medal. Then there&’s Ralph Metcalfe, born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, who becomes the wise and fierce big brother of the group. From burning crosses set on the Robinsons&’s lawn to a Pennsylvania small town on fire with praise and parades when the athletes return from Berlin, Olympic Pride, American Prejudice has &“done the world a favor by bringing into the sunlight the unknown story of eighteen black Olympians who should never be forgotten. This book is both beautiful and wrenching, and essential to understanding the rich history of African American athletes&” (Kevin Merida, editor-in-chief of ESPN&’s The Undefeated).
Olympic Risks
by Will JenningsThe task of governing the Olympic Games and the Olympic movement now takes place in an age in which states and societies are increasingly organized in response to risk. At the heart of the risk management in organising the Olympics is the tension between the inherent riskiness of mega-events, which is attributable to their scale and complexities, combined with immense societal, political and organisational pressures for the management of risk. Over time, too, staging the Olympics has become more complex, and riskier, as a consequence of its growing scale and commercial success. Since the 1980s, a profound transformation has occurred in how the Games are organised and governed, with the increased transfer of risk to the market and the spread of regulation as a mode of governance and the formal practice of risk management across functions ranging from finance to security to critical infrastructures to public health. This book is a unique theoretical and empirical analysis of how the Olympic Games are governed, exploring the challenges and pressures of staging the world's largest event and the recent emergence of the formal practice of risk management as a response of decision-makers to the operational demands and complexities of the Games.
Olympic Sports (The Olympics #2)
by Nick HunterFrom basketball to athletics and many other team or individual sports inbetween, this book looks at the different sports that feature at the Olympics.
Olympic Stadia: Theatres of Dreams
by Dave Parker Geraint JohnOlympic Stadia provides a comprehensive account of the development of stadia including but not limited to: developments in running tracks, the introduction of lighting, improvements in spectator viewing standards and the introduction of roofs. Written by a world-renowned expert on sports architecture, the book: Systematically analyses every stadium from Athens 1896 to Tokyo 2020 Provides drawings, plans, elevations, photographs and illustrations in full colour Considers the fundamental changes wrought by the incorporation of the Paralympic Games Looks at the impact on host cities and their urban infrastructure, and considers the long-term legacies and massive investments that Olympic stadia require Explores the effects of the demands of the world’s TV broadcasters. An invaluable and beautiful resource for practical insight and inspiration, this book makes essential reading for anyone interested in Olympic stadia.
Olympic Television: Broadcasting the Biggest Show on Earth
by Andrew C. Billings James R. Angelini Paul J. MacArthurAs 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.
Olympic Tourism
by Mike WeedOlympic Tourism is the first text to focus on the nature of Olympic tourism and the potential for the Olympic Games to generate tourism in the run up to and long after the hosting of a Games. The awarding of the 2012 Olympics to London will see an increasing interest in the phenomena of organising, managing and analysing the issues which surround mega-event sport tourism. This text will address these issues and using detailed case analysis of previous and future games, discuss how to maximise the success of managing tourism at these events. Written from an international perspective this text provides the reader with: An exploration of the relationship between sport, tourism and the Olympic Games A guide on how to establish Olympic tourism as a phenomenon that goes far beyond the visits of spectators, athletes, officials and dignitaries during the Games themselves. An examination of the detail of Olympic tourism flows before, during and after the Games Analysis of the requisite partnerships between a range of sport, tourism, Olympic and other agencies to successfully leverage and deliver maximum tourism benefits The tools to draw lessons from case studies of previous and forthcoming winter and summer Olympic Games in the 21st Century A discussion of the potential tourism legacies of the Olympic Games Olympic Tourism is a timely response to this international interest and will be an essential resource for those studying and teaching on sport, tourism and the Olympics.
Olympic Valley & Alpine Meadows: Tales from Two Valleys (Sports)
by Eddy Starr AncinasSince the 1930s, two valleys nestled amid California’s High Sierra peaks have enraptured explorers, skiers and winter sport enthusiasts worldwide. Olympic Valley made a name for itself as the host of the 1960 Winter Olympics. Meanwhile, just over a high ridge, Alpine Meadows was developed by devoted local skiers and Bay Area families. In spite of avalanches, fires, floods, public opinion and the whims of mountain weather, determined entrepreneurs Wayne Poulsen, John Reily and Alex Cushing persevered to lay the foundation for two ski resorts, now known collectively as Palisades Tahoe. In this updated edition, local award-winning author and ski historian Eddy Ancinas shares tales of the colorful characters whose exploits and imagination contributed to the unique history of these two valleys.
Olympig!
by Victoria JamiesonPursued by Mr. Hamstring, a reporter who is sure he will fail, Boomer becomes the first pig ever to compete in the Animal Olympics and demonstrates that attitude can be more important than winning.
Olympig!
by Victoria JamiesonJust in time for the Olympics, a spirited, sporty romp about losing gracefully Boomer the Pig has been training hard for the Animal Olympics, so when he loses his first race, he shrugs it off and cheerfully moves on. One event after another, Boomer keeps losing, and the frustration begins to get to him. But even after coming in last in every sport, there's no getting this Olympig down. It's just great practice for the Winter Games! Cool comic book styling combines with classic picture book heart in this encouraging and hilarious story for every kid who's ever been told "you can't win 'em all."
Olympism and Human Rights: A Critical Analysis Comparing Different National Olympic Education Programmes in Europe (Angewandte Forschung im Sport)
by Rebekka Lang FuentesOlympic Education is tasked by both Olympism (Olympic Movement’s underlying philosophy) and the United Nations to educate on human rights. This study explores how present this call is in contemporary European Olympic Education. National Olympic Education programmes from twelve countries are examined and compared: Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Croatia, Hungary, Israel, Germany, Lithuania, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, and Spain. Responses by individuals with NOAs’ leadership positions to a semi-standardized research questionnaire as well as written information by NOAs on implemented national Olympic Education programmes, collected during February-May 2021, are subjected to a content analysis. Results indicate that human rights are explicitly and implicitly included as an educational theme in contemporary Olympic Education programmes. Parallels between human rights education and Olympic Education can be drawn.
Olímpicos
by Ramón Márquez C.Hace cerca de tres mil años una antorcha se encendió en Grecia para celebrar los juegos olímpicos en honor a Zeus, pero no fue hasta finales del siglo XIX que flameó en Atenas la llama de los primeros juegos de la era moderna. Desde entonces, atletas de todo el mundo han luchado por ganar el podio y muchos lo han conseguido. Son los medallistas olímpicos, protagonistas de historias asombrosas como Richard Norris y Cosmo Duff, dos supervivientes de la tragedia del Titanic, o Johnny Weissmuller, Herman Brix, Glenn Morris y Buster Crabbe, los cuatro tarzanes de Hollywood, un rey nórdico, un asesino y hasta un premio Nobel de la Paz. Divertidas anécdotas de héroes de carne y hueso recogidas en Olímpicos, un homenaje al acontecimiento deportivo más importante de todos los tiempos.
Olímpicos: Historias asombrosas y divertidas anécdotas sobre medallistas olímpicos
by Ramón Márquez C.Historias asombrosas y divertidas anécdotas de héroes de carne y hueso sobre medallistas olímpicos Hace cerca de tres mil años una antorcha se encendió en Grecia para celebrar los juegos olímpicos en honor a Zeus, pero no fue hasta finales del siglo XIX que flameó en Atenas la llama de los primeros juegos de la era moderna. Desde entonces, atletas de todo el mundo han luchado por ganar el podio y muchos lo han conseguido. Son los medallistas olímpicos, protagonistas de historias asombrosas como Richard Norris y Cosmo Duff, dos supervivientes de la tragedia del Titanic, o Johnny Weissmuller, Herman Brix, Glenn Morris y Buster Crabbe, los cuatro tarzanes de Hollywood, un rey nórdico, un asesino y hasta un premio Nobel de la Paz.
Omar On Ice
by Maryann KovalskiOmar loves drawing pictures and wishes he could be as good at it as his classmate Elsie. But his teacher, Ms. Fudge, can never figure out what Omar's pictures are--no matter how hard she tries. When the whole class goes ice skating, however, Omar's true talent emerges. He shows Elsie how he can glide and whirl and spin. After all, it's easy when you don't worry and just have fun. And the whole class discovers with Omar that there is more than one way to draw pictures.
On Any Given Sunday
by Pat Toomay"Pat Toomay has mixed fact and fiction to produce a story that will make every armchair quarterback laugh and wince--and worry at his exposition of "the game's" most insidious reality: the prospect -- on any given Sunday--of a fix." --John Seigenthaler, USA Today "Toomay, for many years a lineman with the Cowboys and the Raiders, gives a sinister turn to the old saw that 'on any given Sunday, one team can beat another'. . . . He writes knowledgeably about football: its strategy, the pain, the respect and hatred between the men in the trenches." --Publishers Weekly
On Any Given Sunday: A Life of Bert Bell
by Robert S. LyonsBert Bell, a native of Philadelphia, has been called the most powerful executive figure in the history of professional football. He was responsible for helping to transform the game from a circus sideshow into what has become the most popular spectator sport in America. In On Any Given Sunday, the first biography of this important sports figure, historian Robert Lyons recounts the remarkable story of how de Benneville "Bert" Bell rejected the gentility of a high society lifestyle in favor of the tougher gridiron, and rose to become the founder of the Philadelphia Eagles and Commissioner of the National Football League. Bell, who arguably saved the league from bankruptcy by conceiving the idea for the annual player draft, later made the historic decision to introduce "sudden death" overtime-a move that propelled professional football into the national consciousness. He coined the phrase "on any given sunday" and negotiated the league's first national TV contract. Lyons also describes in fascinating detail Bell's relationships with leading figures ranging from such Philadelphia icons as Walter Annenberg and John B. Kelly to national celebrities and U. S. Presidents. He also provides insight into Bell's colorful personal life-including his hell-raising early years and his secret marriage to Frances Upton, a golden name in show business. On Any Given Sunday is being published on the 50th anniversary of Bell's death.
On Bicycles: 50 Ways the New Bike Culture Can Change Your Life
by Amy WalkerOnce the quaint province of European cities such as Amsterdam, daily cycling is currently exploding in North American cities. People ride folding bikes to the train, slip through traf?c on tricked-out ?xed-gears, and carry children and groceries on their utility bikes. Commuters are giving up their cars Monday through Friday, bike lanes and bike parking are sprouting up all over, and Talking Head David Byrne has designed arty bike racks for various New York City neighborhoods. It’s healthy for riders and clean for the environment, but is it fun? Amy Walker, who has been at the forefront of the urban cycling trend, knows that the answer is yes. She presents stories by a diverse group of cycling enthusiasts and activists that, accompanied by the illustrations of bike culture artist Matt Fleming, show readers why. They say you never forget how to ride a bike; this collection helps us remember why we ride.
On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City
by Evan FrissSubways and yellow taxis may be the icons of New York transportation, but it is the bicycle that has the longest claim to New York’s streets: two hundred years and counting. Never has it taken to the streets without controversy: 1819 was the year of the city’s first bicycle and also its first bicycle ban. Debates around the bicycle’s place in city life have been so persistent not just because of its many uses—recreation, sport, transportation, business—but because of changing conceptions of who cyclists are. In On Bicycles, Evan Friss traces the colorful and fraught history of cycling in New York City. He uncovers the bicycle’s place in the city over time, showing how it has served as a mirror of the city’s changing social, economic, infrastructural, and cultural politics since it first appeared. It has been central, as when horse-drawn carriages shared the road with bicycle lanes in the 1890s; peripheral, when Robert Moses’s car-centric vision made room for bicycles only as recreation; and aggressively marginalized, when Ed Koch’s battle against bike messengers culminated in the short-lived 1987 Midtown Bike Ban. On Bicycles illuminates how the city as we know it today—veined with over a thousand miles of bicycle lanes—reflects a fitful journey powered, and opposed, by New York City’s people and its politics.
On Boxing: Critical Interventions in the Bittersweet Science (Routledge Focus on Sport, Culture and Society)
by Joseph D LewandowskiThis book is a philosophical and cultural critique of contemporary boxing. It broadens and deepens our understanding of the empirically and normatively entwined complexities of a sport that is often misunderstood and all too easily reduced to stereotypes. Moving between and among work in ethnography, sociology, urban studies and, especially, the philosophy of sport, and drawing on research in boxing gyms in the US, the book presents a stereoscopic view of professional boxing as both situated cultural practice and formalized competitive sport. It takes us inside and outside the ring in discussions of the cultural embeddedness of boxing and boxing gyms, the formation of pugilistic selfhood and ‘boxer cool’, the nature and function of combat sport violence and sparring, and the aesthetics and ethics of cornering a boxing match. With its interdisciplinary focus on the empirical and normative dimensions of professional pugilism, On Boxing makes explicit the bittersweetness of the ‘sweet science’ and provides a new theoretical framework for analysing boxing and, indeed, sport in general. Written for a broad audience, this is important reading for scholars and students working in the areas of philosophy and sociology of sport and combat sport studies, as well as policy makers, coaches, and commentators engaged in the sport of boxing.
On Bullfighting
by A. L. KennedyOne day, on the brink of despair and contemplating her own mortality, novelist A. L. Kennedy is offered an assignment she can’t refuse–an opportunity to travel to Spain and cover a sport that represents the ultimate confrontation with death: bullfighting. The result is this remarkable book, which takes Kennedy and her readers from the living room of her Glasgow flat to the plazas del toros of Spain and inside the mesmerizing, mystifying, brutal, and beautiful world of the bullfight. Here the sport is death: matadors (literally "killers") are men and, increasingly, women who, not unlike the Roman gladiators before them, provide a spectacle to the crowd, a dance in which their own death is as present as that of the bull. Wonderfully relaying the elements of the sport, from the breeding of the bulls and the training of the matadors to the intricate choreography of the bullfight and its strange connection to the Inquisition, Kennedy meditates on a culture that we may not countenance or fully understand but which is made riveting by the precision of her prose and the passion and humor of her narrative.
On Celtic Tides: One Man's Journey Around Ireland by Sea Kayak
by Chris Duff“Duff’s fascinating account of his twelve hundred-mile journey around the Irish coast . . . is a story of discovery, of courage and perseverance, and life.” —Irish VoiceA sea kayak battles the freezing Irish waters as the morning sun rises out of the countryside. On the western horizon is the pinnacle of Skellig Michael—700 feet of vertical rock rising out of exploding seas. Somewhere on the isolated island are sixth-century monastic ruins where the light of civilization was kept burning during the Dark Ages by early Christian Irish monks. Puffins surface a few yards from the boat, as hundreds of gannets wheel overhead on six foot wing spans. The ocean rises violently and tosses paddler and boat as if they were discarded flotsam. This is just one day of Chris Duff’s incredible three-month journey.“I recommend you take a ride at wave level with Chris Duff as he fights his way through ferocious seas, then brings you closer to a truly enchanted isle.” —David Hays, coauthor of the New York Times bestseller My Old Man and the Sea“His attention to detail and the vividness of his descriptions place the reader in the kayak with him. We feel the heaviness of the dense fog, each violent wave, the aching muscles as he gingerly navigates the treacherous water, and the warmth of the morning sun as it beckons further travel. Best of all, he offers us a peek into the hearts of the Irish people.” —The Oakland Press“Here is a fine, old-fashioned travelogue. Duff sallies forth and returns with a magical story for those left behind.” —Kirkus Reviews
On Cricket
by Mike Brearley'A treasure of recollections and reactions, talking heroes, controversies and big themes' i paper'Brearley is at his best in these quirky, delightful essays when he is exploring the human qualities of humbler players . . . Brearley's admiration for his friends' decency, craftsmanship and modesty seems to recall a golden age of country cricket' The Times'Brearley has a knack for paying respect to the past without denigrating the present and for calmly considering the future' Mail on SundayMike Brearley was arguably one of England's finest cricket captains; not just for his outstanding record leading his country but also for the way he orchestrated, during the 1981 Ashes series, one of the most extraordinary reversals in sporting history.In this collection of sparkling essays, Brearley reflects on the game he has come to know so well. He ranges from the personal - the influence of his Yorkshire father and the idols of his youth - to controversial aspects of the professional game, including cheating, corruption, and innovation, the latter often being on a borderline between genius and rebellion.Brearley also evaluates his heroes (amongst them Viv Richards, Bishan Bedi and Dennis Lillee), the game changers, the outstanding wicketkeepers, the 'Indian-ness' of four generations of Indian batsmen and the important commentators (including Harold Pinter, John Arlott and Ian Chappell). The Ashes, the most sustained love-hate relationship in the history of sport and key to Brearley's test-playing career, are raked over. Central to the book is an important section on race and cricket, and the legacy of C. L. R. James.Insightful and humorous, On Cricket is an intelligent exposition of the game's idiosyncratic culture and its enduring appeal.
On Cricket
by Sir Trevor McDonaldSir Trevor McDonald is one of Britain's most celebrated broadcasters and his devotion for cricket is almost as well-known as his legendary professional achievements.In this inspirational memoir, On Cricket, Sir Trevor explores his childhood in the Caribbean and celebrates his life-long love of the sport that followed him no matter where in the world his illustrious journalistic career would take him.Sir Trevor offers a wide-ranging commentary on cricket as a common language between England, the West Indies and beyond - a sense of belonging that knows no borders - and celebrates cricket as an engine of national identity and an essential feature of daily life and community.An exceptional storyteller and commentator, On Cricket is a love letter to the sport and a study of Sir Trevor's oldest and most consistent passion: watching, debating and playing the gentleman's game.
On Cricket
by Sir Trevor McDonaldSir Trevor McDonald is one of Britain's most celebrated broadcasters and his devotion for cricket is almost as well-known as his legendary professional achievements.In this inspirational memoir, On Cricket, Sir Trevor explores his childhood in the Caribbean and celebrates his life-long love of the sport that followed him no matter where in the world his illustrious journalistic career would take him.Sir Trevor offers a wide-ranging commentary on cricket as a common language between England, the West Indies and beyond - a sense of belonging that knows no borders - and celebrates cricket as an engine of national identity and an essential feature of daily life and community.An exceptional storyteller and commentator, On Cricket is a love letter to the sport and a study of Sir Trevor's oldest and most consistent passion: watching, debating and playing the gentleman's game.