Download or read book Cold War Games written by Harry Blutstein and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2017-08 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games have become known as the 'friendly games', but East-West rivalry ensured that they were anything but friendly. From the bloody semi-final water polo match between the USSR and Hungary, to the athletes who defected to the West, sport and politics collided during the Cold War.
Download or read book The Games A Global History of the Olympics written by David Goldblatt and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2016-07-26 with total page 755 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A people’s history of the Olympics.”—New York Times Book Review A Boston Globe Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year The Games is best-selling sportswriter David Goldblatt’s sweeping, definitive history of the modern Olympics. Goldblatt brilliantly traces their history from the reinvention of the Games in Athens in 1896 to Rio in 2016, revealing how the Olympics developed into a global colossus and highlighting how they have been buffeted by (and affected by) domestic and international conflicts. Along the way, Goldblatt reveals the origins of beloved Olympic traditions (winners’ medals, the torch relay, the eternal flame) and popular events (gymnastics, alpine skiing, the marathon). And he delivers memorable portraits of Olympic icons from Jesse Owens to Nadia Comaneci, the Dream Team to Usain Bolt.
Download or read book Cold War Olympics written by Harry Blutstein and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-12-03 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The political tension of the Cold War bled into the Olympic Games when each side engaged in psychological warfare, exploiting sport for political ends. In Helsinki, the Soviet Union nearly overtook the United States in the medal count. Caught off guard, the U.S. hastened to respond, certain that the Soviets would use a victory at the next Olympics to broadcast their superiority over the Western world. Following the 1956 suppression of the Hungarian uprising, a Soviet athlete struck a Hungarian opponent in the Melbourne water polo semifinals, turning the pool red. The United States covertly encouraged Eastern Bloc athletes to defect, communist Chinese agents nearly succeeded in goading the Taiwanese government into withdrawing from the games, and a forbidden romance between an American and Czech athlete resulted in a politically complex marriage. This history describes those stories and more that resulted from the complicated relationship between Cold War politics and the Olympics.
Download or read book Success and Failure of Countries at the Olympic Games written by Danyel Reiche and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-07-01 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Olympic Games is undoubtedly the greatest sporting event in the world, with over 200 countries competing for success. This important new study of the Olympics investigates why some countries are more successful than others. Which factors determine their failure or success? What is the relationship between these factors? And how can these factors be manipulated to influence a country’s performance in sport? This book addresses these questions and discusses the theoretical concepts that explain why national sporting success has become a policy priority around the globe. Danyel Reiche reassesses our understanding of success in sport and challenges the conventional explanations that population size and economic strength are the main determinants for a country’s Olympic achievements. He presents a theory of countries’ success and failure, based on detailed investigations of the relationships between a wide variety of factors that influence a country’s position in the Olympic medals table, including geography, ideology, policies such as focusing on medal promising sports, home advantage and the promotion of women. This book fills a long-standing gap in literature on the Olympics and will provide valuable insights for all students, scholars, policy makers and journalists interested in the Olympic Games and the wider relationship between sport, politics, and nationalism.
Download or read book Owning the Olympics written by Monroe Price and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2009-12-10 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A major contribution to the study of global events in times of global media. Owning the Olympics tests the possibilities and limits of the concept of 'media events' by analyzing the mega-event of the information age: the Beijing Olympics. . . . A good read from cover to cover." —Guobin Yang, Associate Professor, Asian/Middle Eastern Cultures & Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University From the moment they were announced, the Beijing Games were a major media event and the focus of intense scrutiny and speculation. In contrast to earlier such events, however, the Beijing Games are also unfolding in a newly volatile global media environment that is no longer monopolized by broadcast media. The dramatic expansion of media outlets and the growth of mobile communications technology have changed the nature of media events, making it significantly more difficult to regulate them or control their meaning. This volatility is reflected in the multiple, well-publicized controversies characterizing the run-up to Beijing 2008. According to many Western commentators, the People's Republic of China seized the Olympics as an opportunity to reinvent itself as the "New China"---a global leader in economics, technology, and environmental issues, with an improving human-rights record. But China's maneuverings have also been hotly contested by diverse global voices, including prominent human-rights advocates, all seeking to displace the official story of the Games. Bringing together a distinguished group of scholars from Chinese studies, human rights, media studies, law, and other fields, Owning the Olympics reveals how multiple entities---including the Chinese Communist Party itself---seek to influence and control the narratives through which the Beijing Games will be understood. digitalculturebooks is an imprint of the University of Michigan Press and the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library dedicated to publishing innovative and accessible work exploring new media and their impact on society, culture, and scholarly communication. Visit the website at www.digitalculture.org.
Download or read book The Complete Book of the Olympics written by David Wallechinsky and published by White Lion Publishing. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David Wallechinsky's compendious book has long been the preeminent point of reference for sports enthusiasts and journalists alike Every sports writer assigned to cover the Games ensures they have their early copy of this prodigious work of reference, packed with absorbing anecdotes and essential statistics. A treasure trove of 116 years of Olympic history, it is also an amazingly readable book, for in the course of recording every single Olympic final since 1896, it concentrates on the strange, the memorable, and the unbelievable. Who knew (until reading this book) that croquet was once an Olympic sport, or tug of war, or that a 72-year-old once won a silver medal for target shooting? This new edition also has every finals result, recorded by the top eight competitors in every event at the Beijing Olympics, and full descriptions of rules and scoring for every event included for 2012. It is the one truly essential Olympics book.
Download or read book Rome 1960 written by David Maraniss and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-07 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome reveals the competition's unexpected influence on the modern world, in a narrative synopsis that pays tribute to such athletes as Cassius Clay and Wilma Rudolph while evaluating the roles of Cold War propaganda, civil rights, and politics. 250,000 first printing.
Download or read book Dangerous Games written by Larry Writer and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2015-07-01 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Larry Writer has delivered a gem in Dangerous Games.' - Roland Perry, author of Bill the Bastard 'Writer has faithfully recreated the 1936 Olympics - the most controversial in history.' - Harry Gordon, author of Australia and the Olympic Games This is a tale of innocents abroad. Thirty-three athletes left Australia in May 1936 to compete in the Hitler Olympics in Berlin. Believing sporting competition was the best antidote to tyranny, they put their qualms on hold. Anything to be part of the greatest show on earth. Dangerous Games drops us into a front row seat at the 100,000-capacity Olympic stadium to witness some of the finest sporting performances of all time - most famously the African American runner Jesse Owens, who eclipsed the best athletes the Nazis could pit against him in every event he entered. The Australians, with their antiquated training regimes and amateur ethos, valiantly confronted the intensely focused athletes of Germany, the United States and Japan. Behind the scenes was cut- throat wheeling and dealing, defiance of Hitler, and warm friendships among athletes. What they did and saw in Berlin that hot, rainy summer influenced all that came after until their dying days.
Download or read book Olimpismo written by Antonio Sotomayor and published by University of Arkansas Press. This book was released on 2020-02-03 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Olympic Games are a phenomenon of unparalleled global proportions. This book examines the rich and complex involvement of Latin America and the Caribbean peoples with the Olympic Movement, serving as an effective medium to explore the making of this region. The nine essays here investigate the influence, struggles, and contributions of Latin American and Caribbean societies to the Olympic Movement. By delving into nationalist political movements, post-revolutionary diplomacy, decolonization struggles, gender and disability discourses, and more, they define how the nations of this region have shaped and been shaped by the Olympic Movement.
Download or read book Cold War Games written by Toby C Rider and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2016-05-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is the early Cold War. The Soviet Union appears to be in irresistible ascendance and moves to exploit the Olympic Games as a vehicle for promoting international communism. In response, the United States conceives a subtle, far-reaching psychological warfare campaign to blunt the Soviet advance. Drawing on newly declassified materials and archives, Toby C. Rider chronicles how the U.S. government used the Olympics to promote democracy and its own policy aims during the tense early phase of the Cold War. Rider shows how the government, though constrained by traditions against interference in the Games, eluded detection by cooperating with private groups, including secretly funded émigré organizations bent on liberating their home countries from Soviet control. At the same time, the United States utilized Olympic host cities as launching pads for hyping the American economic and political system. Behind the scenes, meanwhile, the government attempted clandestine manipulation of the International Olympic Committee. Rider also details the campaigns that sent propaganda materials around the globe as the United States mobilized culture in general, and sports in particular, to fight the communist threat. Deeply researched and boldly argued, Cold War Games recovers an essential chapter in Olympic and postwar history.
Download or read book India and the Olympics written by Boria Majumdar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-05-07 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In most accounts of Olympic history across the world, India's Olympic journey is a mere footnote. This book is a corrective. Drawing on newly available and hitherto unused archival sources, it demonstrates that India was an important strategic outpost in the Olympic movement that started as a global phenomenon at the turn of the twentieth century. Among the questions the authors answer are: When and how did the Olympic ideology take root in India? Who were the early players and why did they appropriate Olympic sport to further their political ambitions? What explains India's eight consecutive gold medals in Olympic men’s hockey between 1928 and 1956 and what altered the situation drastically, so much so that the team failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Games? India and the Olympics also explores why the Indian elite became obsessed with the Olympic ideal at the turn of the twentieth century and how this obsession relates to India's quest for a national and international identity. It conclusively validates the contention that the essence of Olympism does not reside in medals won, records broken or television rights sold as ends in themselves. Particularly for India, the Olympic movement, including the relevant records and statistics, is important because it provides a unique prism to understand the complex evolution of modern Indian society.
Download or read book First Among Equals written by Kim Wildman and published by Exisle Publishing. This book was released on 2020-03 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since Federation in 1901, 29 men and one woman have served in the position of Australian prime minister. From Barton to Morrison, they are the leaders who have helped forge Australia’s national identity. Some have had the position thrust upon them. Some have plotted and schemed their way to the top. Four have served more than once. Three have died in office. Eight have been unceremoniously dumped by their own party. Revised and updated to include the appointment of Scott Morrison, the death of Bob Hawke, and life after prime-ministership for Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Malcom Turnbull, this new edition tells the story of each of Australia’s prime ministers, setting their actions in the context of their time. In today’s world of quick-fire politics, it also looks to the future, and to how the public’s perception of politics and its leaders is changing in this era of instant communication and social media scrutiny.
Download or read book The Gold in the Rings written by Stephen R Wenn and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2020-01-30 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once a showcase for amateur athletics, the Olympic Games have become a global entertainment colossus powered by corporate sponsorship and professional participation. Stephen R. Wenn and Robert K. Barney offer the inside story of this transformation by examining the far-sighted leadership and decision-making acumen of four International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidents: Avery Brundage, Lord Killanin, Juan Antonio Samaranch, and Jacques Rogge. Blending biography with historical storytelling, the authors explore the evolution of Olympic commercialism from Brundage's uneasy acceptance of television rights fees through the revenue generation strategies that followed the Salt Lake City bid scandal to the present day. Throughout, Wenn and Barney draw on their decades of studying Olympic history to dissect the personalities, conflicts, and controversies behind the Games' embrace of the business of spectacle. Entertaining and expert, The Gold in the Rings maps the Olympics' course from paragon of purity to billion-dollar profits.
Download or read book The Olympic Games written by Kristine Toohey and published by CABI. This book was released on 2007-11-08 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 2nd edition of a highly successful book (published in 2000) provides a comprehensive, critical analysis of the Olympic Games using a multi-disciplinary social science approach. This revised edition contains much new data relating to the Sydney 2000 Games and their aftermath; and preparations for Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Games. The book is broad-ranging and independent in its coverage, and includes the use of drugs, sex testing, accusations of power abuse among members of the IOC, the Games as a stage for political protest, media-related controversies, economic costs and benefits of the Games and historical conflicts between organizers and host communities.
Download or read book 1956 written by Carole Fink and published by Leipziger Universitätsverlag. This book was released on 2006 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Events That Shaped Australia written by Wendy Lewis and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book features full-colour and historical black and white photographs, maps, documents, and illustrations, all brought to life by well-researched and accessible narratives. The events featured in this book changed Australia and have the nation what it is today. Events that Shaped Australia sets out the detail, the people, the images and the after effects of the most important turning points in our nation's history. Starting with the formation of Gondwanaland and the arrival of indigenous Australians, this book features events in such eras as European colonisation, the Gold Rush, Federation, two World Wars and the later part of the 20th Century. Moving into the new millennium, the Bali Bombings, the Tampa controversy and the Rudd-Gillard-Abbott government crises are all featured. Events that Shaped Australia features rare colour and black and white photographs, as well as maps, documents and illustrations brought to life by well-researched and accessible narratives.
Download or read book The Modern Olympics Games 1896 To 2016 written by Dr. Kumara Swamy and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018-07-10 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The History of Olympics can be traced all the way back into the ancient Greek times while they honored Zeus with many days of celebration, praise and the sporting events of the times. Back then only men from Greece could participate and there were no woman allowed. Heracles, a son of Zeus was said to have started the first Olympics and the History of Olympics and events that were held started evolving from there. There were many running events along with events in chariot racing and various games to see who could hurl a javelin the farthest and the same things was done with a heavy metal discus. These ancient Olympics are thought to have started out in or around the year 776 B.C. and continued for around twelve centuries when they were banned for being sacrilegious and offending to Christianity.
