National Identity and Global Sports Events

Explains why cities dig deep in their pockets to host the Olympics and countries breed teams for success on the world soccer stage.

Explains why cities dig deep in their pockets to host the Olympics and countries breed teams for success on the world soccer stage.

National Identity and Global Sports Events looks at the significance of international sporting events and why they generate enormous audiences worldwide. Focusing on the Olympic Games and the men's football (soccer) World Cup, the contributors examine the political, cultural, economic, and ideological influences that frame these events. Selected case studies include the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Berlin, the 1934 World Cup Finals in Italy, the unique case of the 1972 Munich Games, the transformative 1984 Games in Los Angeles, and the 2002 Asian World Cup Finals, among others. The case studies show how the Olympics and the World Cup Finals provide a basis for the articulation of entrenched and dominant political ideologies, encourage persisting senses of national identity, and act as barometers for the changing ideological climate of the modern and increasingly globalized contemporary world. Through rigorous scholarly analyses, the book's contributors help to illuminate the increasing significance of large-scale sporting events on the international stage.

Contributors include Eduardo Archetti, Claire Brewster, Keith Brewster, Miquel de Moragas, Robert Edelman, Robert S. C. Gordon, Allen Guttmann, Chris Kennett, John London, John J. MacAloon, Tony Mason, David Rowe, Deborah Stevenson, Alan Tomlinson, Soon-Hee Whang, and Christopher Young.

Alan Tomlinson is Professor of Leisure Studies, Area Leader for Sport and Leisure Cultures, and Head of Chelsea School Research Centre at the University of Brighton. He is the author and editor of many books, including The Game's Up: Essays in the Cultural Analysis of Sport, Leisure, and Popular Culture. Christopher Young is University Lecturer at the University of Cambridge and Fellow and Director of Studies in Modern and Medieval Languages at Pembroke College. He is the coauthor (with Thomas Gloning) of A History of the German Language Through Texts.

"The primary strength of this book is its success in producing a coherent collection of academic disciplines without compromising complexity or depth of analysis … the extensive and complex synthesis of theory and evidence … across a broad range of case studies, makes for a fascinating read." — Sociology

"Well conceptualized and constructed, the present title not only traces the historic roots of various events … but also offers sociocultural context for people, places, and events, thus allowing the reader to gain a full perspective of the multidimensional role and status of sports on the world’s stage." — CHOICE

"Rather than focusing either on the Olympics or the men’s World Cup, as most scholarship does, this book draws both international sports events together and therefore presents a more powerful and comprehensive analysis of the relationship between sport and the globalization process." — Kimberly S. Schimmel, Kent State University