Publisher's Synopsis
This is a study of the Olympic Games in political terms, examining the history of the Games from their revival by Baron de Couberin, himself a political animal, in the 1890s through the cities and turbulent national and international issues that have shaped them, to speculation on their future. The author emphasizes the inter-relationship between national attitudes to competitive, world-scale sport and political events and processes, calling upon examples of such issues as apartheid in South Africa, the division of the Korean peninsula and the two Germanies. At the same time, he argues that countries often engage in such contests as bidding for the right to hold the Games in one of their cities for reasons quite unconnected with sport.;The books ends by posing questions about the "gigantism" of the Games and queries whether they have outgrown their usefulness.
