Discourses of Olympism From the Sorbonne 1894 to London 2012

Most of what has been written in relation to the modern Olympic movement has focused on the Games or more recently on the failings (both in terms of ethics and more practically of governance) of those operating within the Olympic movement. Yet the Olympic movement was intended by Pierre de Coubertin, the central figure in the revival of the Olympic Games, to be based upon a philosophy, 'Olympism'. This book evaluates the moral project of Olympism, developing an analysis of the changing value positions adopted in relation to the ideology of Olympism from the 1890s to the present day. The book also explores contemporary concerns with youth, governance, sport for development and international relations.

DIKAIA CHATZIEFSTATHIOU Reader in Olympic Studies at the Department of Sport Science, Tourism and Leisure in Canterbury Christ Church University, UK.
IAN HENRY Professor of Leisure Policy and Management and Director of the Centre for Olympic Studies & Research in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Loughborough University, UK.

Introduction: Developing Discursive Constructions of Olympism
The Discursive Construction of Modern Olympic Histories
Coubertin: Patronage and Paternalistic Discourses of Olympism (1887-1937)
Carl Diem - Olympism in the Shadow of Fascism and the Post-war Rehabilitation (1912-1961)
From Bi-polar to Multi-polar International Relations: Olympism and the Speakers at the International Olympic Academy in the Cold War and Post-Cold War Era
Technologies of Power, Governmentality and Discourses of Olympism in the Twenty-First Century
Bibliography
Index