ON THE PERIPHERY
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT

Richard Baka and Rob Hess, Editors

Paperback and epublication • illustrations • Notes • Bibliography
Walla Walla Press, Sydney, September 2013
ISBN: 978-1-876718-17-6

$35.00

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Major sporting festivals, such as the Olympic Games, continue to change both at the core and the periphery. Changes at the core include the inclusion of new sports and nations in the Games. How the Games are mediated, consumed, interpreted and what happens on the fringe of the Games represent some examples of changes on the periphery.

Since the 1980s, there has been a proliferation of Centres for Olympic Studies, mainly based at universities. They have contributed to an informed analysis of the Games and its operations, thereby extending Olympic dialogues.

Olympic hospitality houses have also emerged at Olympic and Paralympic Games in the last few decades creating new spaces, partnerships and new options for fans.

Case studies examine sports, institutions and movements on the periphery of the Games and consider the increased role of volunteers.

Looking at the Olympic Games from the periphery presents fresh insights and poses new questions about this sporting festival.

Editors

Richard Baka and Rob Hess are both based at the College of Sport and Exercise Science at Victoria University, Melbourne.

CONTENTS

Part 1 Centres for Olympic Studies

1 The Olympic Studies Centre at the German Sport University Cologne
Stephan Wassong

2 A Pacesetter: The International Centre for Olympic Studies at Western University, Canada
Janice Forsyth

3 A Tale of Two Sydney Centres
Richard Cashman

4 The International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Studies Centre: Serving the Olympic Community and Enriching Olympic Knowledge
Maria Bogner and Nuria Puig

Part 2 National Olympic Hospitality Houses

5 National Olympic Hospitality Houses: Objectives, Variations, and Mini-Cases
Gashaw Abeza, Richard Baka, Richard Burton, Norm O’Reilly and Benoit Séguin

6 The German Olympic House: Setting the Standard for National Olympic Hospitality Houses
Fabian Feindler and Richard Baka
 
7 ‘A Home Away from Home’: The Family and Friends Program of Canada Olympic House
Richard Baka

8 ‘Bucking the Trend’: National Olympic Hospitality Houses in an Australian Context
Richard Baka

Part 3 Case Studies

9 Olympic Links with the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1893–2013
David Studham

10 Sideshow Alley? Australian Rules Football as a Demonstration Sport at the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games
Rob Hess and Rachel Winterton

11 Volunteering at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Helen Curtis

12 Winning at Life: International Perspectives on the Special Olympics Movement
Winston Wing Hong To and Darwin M. Semotiuk