The Olympic Crisis: Sport, Politics and the Moral Order

Despite its apparent successes the Olympic movement faces an uncertain future. The present controversy surrounding the upcoming Peking games reveals that the movement has been in a state of nearly permanent crisis.
Hoberman examines the Olympic doctrine and its most important proponents: Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the movement; Carl Diem, the impressario of the & Berlin (Nazi) Olympiad of 1936; and Avery Brundage, the long-time president of the IOC (1952-1972), the sponsor of Soviet entry into the games, and a controversial figure in the history of American sport. Hoberman furthermore analyzes the American-led boycott of the Moscow games in 1980-- and debunks the idea, heard often, that a fully attended Olympiad could have initiated change in the Soviet Union.
Finally, the author offers the first survey of anti-Olympic critiques across the political spectrum, and concludes with a critical examination of the popular conviction that the Olympic Games remain valuable as a cosmopolitan festival of reconciliation.