The Olympic Games : a critical approach / authored by Helen Jefferson Lenskyj (University of Toronto, Canada).

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jefferson Lenskyj, Helen, author.

Series:

SocietyNow.

SocietyNow

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Olympics--Social aspects.

Olympics.

Olympics--Economic aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 250 pages.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Bingley, United Kingdom : Emerald Publishing Limited, 2020.

Summary:

Do the Olympic Games really live up to their glowing reputation? As the biggest global sport mega-event, the Olympics command public attention, while Olympic mythology obscures their underlying function as a profit-making business. Unlike terms such as 'Olympic movement' and 'Olympic family', the concept of 'Olympic industry' focuses on sport as an economic and political enterprise, with its beneficiaries including sponsors, media rights holders, developers, and politicians. Negative impacts on host cities disproportionately threaten the lives and well-being of disadvantaged minorities. Citizens' Olympic resistance campaigns address a range of human rights abuses, while recent athlete activism also focuses on the doping problem and the sexual abuse of girls and women. Female athletes with 'differences of sexual development' face discriminatory gender policies that disqualify them from women's events. All of these issues are analysed through a feminist, anti-racist lens.

Contents:

Chapter 1: Introduction and background

Chapter 2: Olympic resistance

Chapter 3: 'Sport and politics don't mix'

Chapter 4: Olympic industry impacts

Chapter 5: Reform: 'to restore reputation'

Chapter 6: Athletes, politics, and protest

Chapter 7: 'Educating youth through sport'

Chapter 8: Athletes' rights, athletes' lives

Chapter 9: Gender policies: challenges and responses

Chapter 10: The Olympics: 'not a welfare program but a business venture'.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references.

Print version record.

ISBN:

1-83867-775-5

9781838677756 (electronic book)

1-83867-773-9

OCLC:

1150154498