Summary
Contents
Subject index
‘A refreshingly critical contribution to the major debates in sports studies, this volume will nicely complement the conventional texts. The entries are well structured, introducing and explaining the arguments, and then applying them to current sports policies and controversies. I admire the material and will recommend it to my students’ — Professor Dave Harris, University College Plymouth, Marjon
Written by experienced academics use to teaching the subject, this book will help students and researchers find their way within the diverse field of sport studies. Clear, well researched entries explain the key concepts in the debates surrounding the social significance and social dynamics of sport. Each entry provides:
- Clear Definitions
- Relevant Examples
- Up-to-date Suggestions for Further Reading
- Informative Cross-Referencing
Valuable in its parts and indispensable as a whole, this book will provide a stimulating, practical guide to the relationship between sport and society.
Olympism
Olympism
‘Olympism’ may be defined as the philosophy of the Olympic Games. This philosophy is, in essence, that the Olympic Games are contested in a timeless spirit of amateurism which values taking part above winning and pure sport above commercial gain. Thus, the Games mitigate aggressive nationalism and instead promote peace and international harmony. This, as the merest scrutiny of the history and contemporary practice of the Games reveals, is a myth. Indeed, it could be argued that no sports competition in human history has entailed so many myths as the Olympic Games.
The myth of the Olympics as a haven of international goodwill derives, in the first instance, from the expressed philosophy of the French nobleman Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1863–1937), the chief instigator of the ...
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