The Olympics

Introduction  Part 1: Studying Olympism  1. Studying Olympism  Part 2: Documenting Olympism  2. Post-Olympism: Questioning Olympic historiography  3. From Olympia 776 BC to Athens 2004: The Origins and Authenticity of the Modern Olympic Games  4. Olympic Games and Historical Imagination  Part 3: Theorising Olympism  5. A Never-Ending Story: The Philosophical Controversy Over Olympism  6. Olympic Games and the Theory of Spectacle in Modern Societies  7. The Olympics and 'Global Citizenship'  Part 4: Negotiating Olympic Identities  8. Hellenism and Olympism: Pierre de Coubertin and the Greek Challenges to the Early Olympic Movement  9. Staging the Nation: Gendered and Ethnicized Discourses of National Identity in Olympic Opening Ceremonies  Part 5: Imagining Olympism  10. Meet the "Framers": the Olympic Producers  11. Olympic Museum  12. Paralympic "Lived History": Reflections of a Participant-Observer  Part 6: Owning Olympism  13. A Brief Overview of the Olympic System  14. Who Owns the Olympics? Political Economy and Critical Moments in the Modern Games  15. On Seizing the Olympic Platform  Part 7: Staging the Olympics  16. Financing of the Games: Interests, Winners and Losers  17. Olympic Cities: Regeneration, City Rebranding and Changing Urban Agendas  Part 8: Promoting Olympism  18. 'Celebrate Humanity' or 'Consumerism': A Critical Evaluation of a Brand in Motion  19. Symbolism and the Effectiveness of Olympic Mascots  Part 9: Safeguarding Olympism  20. Why Olympic Athletes Should Avoid the Use and Seek the Elimination of Performance-Enhancing Substances and Practices From the Olympic Games  21. Mega Events, Fear and Risk: Terrorism at the Olympic Games  22.

Vassil Girginov is Reader in Sports Development and Sports Management at Brunel University. He is also a founding member of the Bulgarian National Olympic Academy and has researched and published in the field of Olympism, sport policy analysis, Eastern European sport and the culture of sport management. His previous books include The Olympic Games Explained (2005) and Management of Sports Development (2008). Vassil is also Executive Academic Editor of the Routledge journals 2012 Olympics Special Issue programme, which includes some 40 academic journals from a range of fields and disciplines.