The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 24, 2010). Thesis advisor: Dr. Margaret Duffy. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Geography, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Melbourne, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-210).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alberta, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 226-260).

The Olympic Games are a global phenomenon that focus a spotlight onto the hosting city once every two years. While the athletes are judged on their physical abilities, the host city is judged on its architecture, organization and capabilities. It is a chance to showcase your city and country to the world. But while athletes from all over the world are welcome to compete in the games, becoming a host city has only been granted to a few countries, not reaching all seven continents. One must look into what it takes to host the Olympic Games and what factors are creating an exclusionary trend.

On 6th July 2005 the London Olympic bidding committee won the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games. Some seven years later London’s Olympic venues were built on time, Team GB accumulated an unprecedented medal haul and no significant security incidents occurred. These outcomes facilitated an understandable positive evaluation of the 2012 Games. It would be churlish not to be positive; Olympic venues experienced during Games are breathtaking. World records and Olympic contests are exciting. Olympic narratives that bond competitor and audience alike are inclusive and unifying. However, the prevalent belief that Olympic hosting provides unambiguous benefits to local communities is less sound. The evaluation of this assumption provides the focus for this inquiry, it follows French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu by considering that ‘one cannot grasp the most profound logic of the social world unless one becomes immersed in the specificity of an empirical reality’ (1993, p. 271). Accordingly, this research contrasted the rhetoric and reality of 2012 Olympic-delivery via an ethnographic inquiry in the Olympic borough of Newham. This location is defined as a ‘non-place’ wherein the majority of the Olympic restructuring and events occurred. This research addresses Olympic-delivery issues of inclusion, exclusion, power relations, ideology and identity, in doing so it argues that the relatively short Olympic-delivery time-frame necessitated a divisive segregation between ‘Olympic’ and ‘non-Olympic’ Newham. Furthermore, it is argued that 2012 Olympic-delivery was orientated towards the needs and goals of Olympic migrants, of various description, rather than enhancing the lives of those living within a community that was rife with crime, poverty and deprivation. Consequently, this research considers that the Olympic milieu disseminated the capitalistic norms and values to global, national and local audiences. The outcome of such processes facilitated a renegotiation of place-identity and place ownership within Newham that was orientated toward attracting a future affluent populace whilst concomitantly vilifying the pre-Games community. This research concludes that such attempts to re-mould Newham into a post-Olympic utopia where prosperous and educated families, to follow the Newham council strap line, ‘live, work and stay’ are based upon the short-sighted assumption that creating an aesthetically pleasing entertainment location is tantamount to creating a desirable location for sustainable family life.

This thesis is concerned with the participation of women and girls in the Olympic Games. In these days of women's liberation it seemed appropriate to try to put together the knowledge available about women competitors and their participation in the Olympics. I have tried to set out an overall view with some historical background and then an account leading up to the initial and continuing participation of women in the Games and showing the reasons for the slow beginning and the gradual increase in numbers of competitors and sports. I have also tried to evaluate some well known myths and misconceptions concerning participation and made an attempt with the use of research data to disprove many of these.

This thesis examines the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, which was an unprecedented effort by the Chinese Party-state to reinvent Chinese national culture for consumption at home and abroad. Director Zhang Yimou delivered a spectacular event – three-thousand chanting Confucian scholars, two-thousand Ming Dynasty sailors, a grid of giant dancing printing blocks and an endless display of fireworks presented a sensational spectacle of Chinese culture and history. How should we interpret these symbols representing a romantic Chinese past? I argue that the “ancient” history on display in the Opening Ceremony is actually a product of China’s recent past: its interactions with the West, revolution, nationalism and communism, and the turn toward capitalism and authoritarianism. This thesis pulls the Opening Ceremony back into this historical context, closely examining three of its most prominent symbols: Zheng He and his voyages to the Indian Ocean, the Four Great Inventions, and Confucius. My results show that, 1) far from being a product of China’s history alone, these symbols are a co-production of China and the West, in which both identities were mutually constituted; 2) they are created in the context of political power, and take on different meanings in response to political shifts; 3) they suggest a state desire for power and status rather than simply a revival of cultural heritage. This research will contribute to an understanding of the modern political uses of Chinese history. / Graduate

No description available.

In an increasingly urban society, cities pose both challenges and opportunities to move towards a more sustainable society. This study examines the role of large-scale international sport events in sustainable development within host cities, with a focus on the physical legacies that they leave behind. The research seeks to offer guidance to enhance sustainable physical legacy development, informed by Games’ strategy documents, impacts on host cities and professional opinions. The research was conducted using three key methods: an examination of key strategy documents, a literature review of academic and grey literature to record infrastructure projects and interviews with professionals who had worked with four specific Games (Vancouver 2010, London 2012, Gold Coast 2018 and Birmingham 2022). The findings implied that social infrastructure and transport projects were most commonly recorded and that the sport event industry operates with a Triple Bottom Line understanding of sustainability. Based on the findings, a design thinking framework was used to design and propose guidelines. The guidelines recommend a shift to the 3-nested dependencies model and propose the development of key skills (leadership for sustainability and flexibility) and key actions (sustainability education/communication and audit).