Delivering Olympic and Elite Sport in a Cross Cultural Context
This book examines the impact of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympic Games and highlights the latest findings in the areas of sport policy, elite sports system, sport media, sport facility management and sport social development in the two host countries - China and Britain. It identifies the role of national and local governments, universities and educational institutions in the delivery of elite sport in different cultural and social settings. Aspects of the elite sports system are also analysed, such as elite athletes' training and education, athletes' rights and welfare both during and after an athlete’s career. Finally, the book considers the legacy of the Olympic Games in the areas of sport participation, public diplomacy, education and cultural communication in Europe and China.
This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.
Fan Hong is a Professor at the School of Asian Studies, University College Cork, Ireland. Her main research interests are in the areas of culture, politics, business, gender and sport.
Lu Zhouxiang is a Lecturer at the School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland. His main research interests are the history of sport, nationalism and globalism, and comparative studies between the West and China in the field of sport.