The Modern Olympics

Coubertin's main contribution to the founding of the modern Olympics was the zeal he brought to transforming an idea that had evolved over decades into the reality of Olympiad I and all the Olympic Games held thereafter.

Traces the history of the modern Olympics from 1896 to 2000, contrasting the ideal of the game with the often politicized reality.

A rich and entertaining work of history, Olympics in Athens 1896 brings together the following intriguing strands: the rise of amateur athletics in competing countries, each with its own particular stamp; the enormous interest aroused by the excavation of ancient Olympia, the site of the ancient Games; the determination of the eccentric French aristocrat Baron Pierre de Coubertin to embody the amateur athletic ideal in a revival of the Games; and a perception by politicians and the Greek royal family that hosting Coubertin's Games could help to put the young Greek state on the European map.

Which Winter Games were held on imported snow? Which golfer walked to the medal ceremony on his hands? Will BMX biking ever be an Olympic sport? Find the answers to these questions and more as you read about the Games as we know them today, including the Paralympics and the difficult process of choosing host cities.

This new student textbook explores the history and meaning of the modern Olympic Games, providing a comprehensive overview of 'Olympism' from the Ancient Greeks origins through to the beginnings of the International Olympic Committee.

For more than a millennium, the ancient Olympics captured the imaginations of the Greeks, until a Christianized Rome terminated the competitions in the fourth century AD. But the Olympic ideal did not die and this book is a succinct history of the ancient Olympics and their modern resurgence. Classics professor David Young, who has researched the subject for over 25 years, reveals how the ancient Olympics evolved from modest beginnings into a grand festival, attracting hundreds of highly trained athletes, tens of thousands of spectators, and the finest artists and poets.

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.