Overview

The Olympics thrill the world with spectacle and drama. They also carry a cultural and social significance that goes beyond the stadium, athletes and fans. The Games are arenas in which individual and team athletic achievement intersect with the politics of national identity in a global context. ""The Olympics at the Millennium"" offers essays that explore the cultural politics of the Games. The contributors investigate such topics as the emergence of women athletes as cultural commodities, the orchestrated spectacles of the opening and closing ceremonies, and the alternative sport culture offered via the Gay Games. Unforgettable events and decisions are discussed: Native American athlete Jim Thore winning - and losing - his two gold medals in 1912; why America was one of the few countries to actually send Jewish athletes to the ""Nazi Olympics""; the disqualification of champion Ewa Klobukowska from competing as a woman, due to chromosomal testing in 1967. Written with the 2000 Sydney Games in mind, several essays address concerns with which every host country must contend, such as the threat of terrorism. Highlighting the difficult issues of racism and nationalism, another article explores the efforts of Australia's aboriginal people to define a role for themselves in the 2000 Games, as they struggle with ongoing discrimination. And with the world watching, Sydney faces profound pressure to implement a successful Olympics as a matter of national pride.

Full Product Details

Author:   Kay Schaffer ,  Sidonie Smith ,  Lynn Embrey ,  Darren Godwell
Publisher:   Rutgers University Press
Imprint:   Rutgers University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.594kg
ISBN:  

9780813528205

ISBN 10:   0813528208
Pages:   336
Publication Date:   01 August 2000
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

"List of Illustrations  List of Tables INTRODUCTION The Games at the Millennium by Kay Schaffer and Sidonie Smith PART ONE: Cultural Difference and ""Elite"" Sports 1. The Olympics in Retrospect: Winners, Losers, Racism, and the Olympic Ideal by Cynthia Nadalin 2. Honor Restored: Jim Thorpe's Olympic Medals by Trace A. DeMeyer 3. Jewish Athletes and the ""Nazi Olympics"" by Allen Guttmann, Heather Kestner, and George Eisen 4. Racing with Race at the Olympics: From Negro to Black to African American Athlete by C. Keith Harrison 5. ""We Showed the World the Nordic Way"": Skiing, Norwegians, and the Winter Olympic Games in the 1920s by E. John B. Allen PART TWO: Masculinities/Femininities/Sexualities 6. Men of the Game by Toby Miller 7. The Girls of Summer: Social Contexts for the ""Year of the Woman"" at the '96 Olympics by Leslie Heywood 8. Women's Sports: Coming of Age in the Third Millennium by Donna A. Lopiano 9. One Chromosome Too Many? by Cheryl L. Cole 10. The Gay Games: Creating Our Own Sports Culture by Vikki Krane and Jennifer Waldron PART THREE: The Olympics: Drama, Spectacle, Media 11. Carrying the Torch for Whom? Symbolic Power and Olympic Ceremony by Alan Tomlinson 12. Whose Ceremony Is It Anyway? Indigenous and Olympic Interests in the Festival of the Dreaming by Lisa Meekison 13. Who's Sorry How? Drugs, Sports, and the Media towards 2000 by Andrea Mitchell and Helen Yeates 14. The Olympics of the Everyday by Kay Schaffer and Sidonie Smith 15. Terrorism, ""Killing Events,"" and Their Audience: Fear of Crime at the 2000 Olympics by John Tulloch PART FOUR: Politics at the Games 16. The Olympic Branding of Aborigines: The 2000 Olympic Games and Australia's Indigenous Peoples by Darren J. Godwell 17. Bidding for the Olympics: Sit Selection and Sydney 2000 by Ian Jobling 18. Sports for All? The Politics of Funding, Nationalism, and the Quest for Gold by Lynn Embrey References Notes on Contributors Index"

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Author Information

KAY SCHAFFER is an associate professor in the department of Social Inquiry at the University of Adelaide, Australia. She is the author of several books, including Women and the Bush. SIDONIE SMITH is professor of English and director of Women's Studies at The University of Michigan. She has written many books, including Women on the Move: Twentieth Century Travel Narratives and Technologies of Motion. Both Schaffer and Smith co-edited (along with Jennifer Sabbioni) Indigenous Australian Voices: A Reader (Rutgers University Press)

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