Kategoria BISAC: Sports & Recreation >> Olympics & Paralympics

Over the last few years, the O.J. Simpson case, then the Lewinsky-Clinton affair, and scores of minor scandals have dominated the US press, often taking precedence over important domestic and international issues. This tabloidization of the news media, both here and abroad, has proved that "the market" cannot insure media quality. In a democracy, for media to function well, they must be free of both political and economic muzzling. The only solution is to add self-regulation, or quality control, by professionals and public to the other two forces, the market and state regulation.

In...

Do the Paralympic Games empower the disability sport community?

Like many other contemporary sporting institutions, the Paralympic Games have made the transition from pastime to spectacle, and the profile of athletes with disabilities has been increased as a result. This book reviews the current status of the Paralympics and challenges the mainstream assumption that the Games are a vehicle for empowerment of the disabled community.

Using ethnographic methods unique in this area of study, P. David Howe has undertaken an innovative and critical examination of the social,...

Two Olympic medalists were recognized at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, days before Christmas 2004. One was the Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James, the "Chosen One" of the NBA. He had a bronze medal from the Athens games that summer. The other was a Cleveland homeboy too, a gold medalist who had flown higher than anyone before on the Olympic stage. Hardly anyone knew his name. He was Tim Mack.

His high school coach did not see anything particularly promising in the young pole-vaulter. Mack never made it to the state meet, and he was the first to admit he had a fear of...

Michael Phelps is an American sports hero, perhaps the greatest Olympic athlete the world has ever known. His unprecedented eight gold medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics have made him a superstar. But his journey to Olympic immortality is every bit as compelling as his achievements in the pool. From learning to cope with ADHD to the story of how Phelps became the greatest swimmer ever, Phelps' tale is told in full detail here for the first time.

The author, Bob Schaller, has known Phelps and his coach for more than eight years, and has extensively interviewed him, along with his...

The Balkan Games resulted on the one hand from the growth of modern European sport and the unsatisfactory performances of the Balkan athletes at national and international level, and on the other hand, from a desire to bring the Balkan peoples together in peace and concord. The Games were initiated in Athens in 1929 and increasingly became an integral part of the political, cultural and social life of the area. The common global reality is that when an athletic event is staged, attempted friendship seldom receives priority. In the 1930s, however, the Balkan Games provided a rare example of...

In this first synthetic, comprehensive survey of Japanese sports in English, the authors are attentive to the complex and fascinating interaction of traditional and modern elements. In the course of tracing the emergence and development of sumo, the martial arts, and other traditional sports from their origins to the present, they demonstrate that some cherished ancient traditions were, in fact, invented less than a century ago. They also register their skepticism about the use of the samurai tradition to explain Japan's success in sports. Special attention is given to Meiji-era Japan's...

Designing the Olympics claims that the Olympic Games provide opportunities to reflect on the relationship between design, national identity, and citizenship. The "Olympic design milieu" fans out from the construction of the Olympic city and the creation of emblems, mascots, and ceremonies, to the consumption, interpretation, and appropriation of Olympic artifacts from their conception to their afterlife. Besides products that try to achieve consensus and induce civic pride, the "Olympic design milieu" also includes processes that oppose the Olympics and their enforcement.

The book...