Pub Date : 2023-10-24DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2023.2271904
Jack Brazier, Charlie Foster, Nick Townsend, Joey Murphy, Matthew Northcote, Andy Smith
Professional sports clubs (PSCs) are potentially effective settings for health promotion; however, their role within policy is unclear. Potential reasons include lack of awareness about existing provision of health and wellbeing (H&W) programmes and adequacy of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) practices. This review aimed to: (i) map the provision of H&W programmes delivered by PSCs in the United Kingdom (UK), and (ii) explore current M&E practices of PSCs and consider the policy implications of this. Websites from eight professional sport leagues were hand-searched for programmes and impact reports. Suitable programmes were quantified, whilst impact reports were analysed via inductive documentary content analysis. Results identified 176 H&W programmes and 36 impact reports, as well as 43 H&W impact statements, but only 14 of these were aligned to specific H&W outcomes. The H&W aims of programmes were typically vague, measurement tools were rarely used, and evaluations were usually anecdotal case studies and based on engagement figures, which may not only limit the potential uptake of these programmes but also the relevance of PSCs to public policy. Further research is thus needed to build a stronger evidence base for the use of PSCs as vehicles of public health promotion and policy, and to better address the challenges faced when seeking to monitor and evaluate PSC programmes effectively.
{"title":"Mapping the provision and evaluation practices of local community health and wellbeing programmes delivered by professional sports clubs in England: a practice-based targeted review","authors":"Jack Brazier, Charlie Foster, Nick Townsend, Joey Murphy, Matthew Northcote, Andy Smith","doi":"10.1080/19406940.2023.2271904","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2023.2271904","url":null,"abstract":"Professional sports clubs (PSCs) are potentially effective settings for health promotion; however, their role within policy is unclear. Potential reasons include lack of awareness about existing provision of health and wellbeing (H&W) programmes and adequacy of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) practices. This review aimed to: (i) map the provision of H&W programmes delivered by PSCs in the United Kingdom (UK), and (ii) explore current M&E practices of PSCs and consider the policy implications of this. Websites from eight professional sport leagues were hand-searched for programmes and impact reports. Suitable programmes were quantified, whilst impact reports were analysed via inductive documentary content analysis. Results identified 176 H&W programmes and 36 impact reports, as well as 43 H&W impact statements, but only 14 of these were aligned to specific H&W outcomes. The H&W aims of programmes were typically vague, measurement tools were rarely used, and evaluations were usually anecdotal case studies and based on engagement figures, which may not only limit the potential uptake of these programmes but also the relevance of PSCs to public policy. Further research is thus needed to build a stronger evidence base for the use of PSCs as vehicles of public health promotion and policy, and to better address the challenges faced when seeking to monitor and evaluate PSC programmes effectively.","PeriodicalId":47174,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics","volume":"13 8","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135266852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-01DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2023.2253268
Tamson Bezuidenhoudt, Michael P. Sam
{"title":"The politics of Sport NZ’s financial bailouts","authors":"Tamson Bezuidenhoudt, Michael P. Sam","doi":"10.1080/19406940.2023.2253268","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2023.2253268","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47174,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49434846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-27DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2023.2236635
S. Nagata, Daniel Bloyce, Takahiro Sato, Yoshinori Okade
ABSTRACT Promoting sport participation among people with disabilities is often counted as one of the policy priorities of the national government as well as a main activity of sport for development initiatives to aid the Global South. However, little is known about specific systems, policy, history, and plans for disability sport promotion understood by disability sport administrators in the Global South. The current study focused on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and aimed to explore how ASEAN government officials perceive the status of sport for people with disabilities. Representatives from nine ASEAN member countries participated in individual semi-structured interviews. The results of thematic analysis generated three themes: (1) Perceived lack of disability awareness and disability sport recognition; (2) Elite sport successes address problems at hand; and (3) Elite sport success to motivate funders. These themes suggest that successes in elite sports are of central importance for sport promotion among people with disabilities in ASEAN countries because they perceive that elite sport success can raise disability awareness, popularise disability sport, and motivate funders. Also, Paralympic success is viewed as an opportunity for them to demonstrate success otherwise unattainable in the Olympics. Some of the participants’ accounts appear to go against the current knowledge generated in the Global North; however, as funding is important to develop disability sport administration, it might be inevitable for them to continue promoting elite sport success for now.
{"title":"It’s about inspiring the greater community to continue supporting this sector: Elite sport success as a main policy objective for disability sport promotion in ASEAN member states","authors":"S. Nagata, Daniel Bloyce, Takahiro Sato, Yoshinori Okade","doi":"10.1080/19406940.2023.2236635","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2023.2236635","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Promoting sport participation among people with disabilities is often counted as one of the policy priorities of the national government as well as a main activity of sport for development initiatives to aid the Global South. However, little is known about specific systems, policy, history, and plans for disability sport promotion understood by disability sport administrators in the Global South. The current study focused on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and aimed to explore how ASEAN government officials perceive the status of sport for people with disabilities. Representatives from nine ASEAN member countries participated in individual semi-structured interviews. The results of thematic analysis generated three themes: (1) Perceived lack of disability awareness and disability sport recognition; (2) Elite sport successes address problems at hand; and (3) Elite sport success to motivate funders. These themes suggest that successes in elite sports are of central importance for sport promotion among people with disabilities in ASEAN countries because they perceive that elite sport success can raise disability awareness, popularise disability sport, and motivate funders. Also, Paralympic success is viewed as an opportunity for them to demonstrate success otherwise unattainable in the Olympics. Some of the participants’ accounts appear to go against the current knowledge generated in the Global North; however, as funding is important to develop disability sport administration, it might be inevitable for them to continue promoting elite sport success for now.","PeriodicalId":47174,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43194297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-11DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2023.2242882
Taylor Sutherland, Landy Di Lu, L. Misener
{"title":"An exploration of Canadian multisport service organizations’ response to healthy living mandate: integrating institutional and archetype theories","authors":"Taylor Sutherland, Landy Di Lu, L. Misener","doi":"10.1080/19406940.2023.2242882","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2023.2242882","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47174,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43034981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-07DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2023.2242878
S. Harris, Scott R. Jedlicka, R. Pielke, Henry Ryan
ABSTRACT This paper provides a baseline characterisation of legislative action against transgender people participating in U.S. interscholastic sport. Using Kingdon’s multiple streams approach, we analyse legislation across the 50 states using data up to 1 October 2022. We also analyse qualitative data from public officials to document the framing and justification of legislative efforts. Our findings are clustered into four categories – legislators in states that have enacted legislation to prevent transgender participation in school sport (n = 19), those that have introduced legislation (n = 23), those that have not (yet) taken action (n = 7), and those that have progressive legislation requiring schools to permit participation by gender identity (n = 1). Our data suggest that national-level interest groups have played a critical role in policy diffusion across the states, leveraging the problem window in an intensely contested context, using sporting, judicial, and political focusing events to draw attention to the perceived problem. These dynamics have resulted in solutions searching for problems. Moreover, the issue of transgender inclusion in sport (a subset of legislative efforts against transgender people) has escalated a form of symbolic politics which is as much about partisan contestation as it is about addressing a perceived problem. While we recognise that the issue is complex, we believe that there are other solutions – beyond outright exclusion from school sport – that should be more fully explored. Because exclusionary policies claim to uphold sport’s fundamental values, sport organisations can lead on this issue by clearly defining these values and translating them into pragmatic policy solutions.
{"title":"The politics of exclusion: Analyzing U.S. state responses to interscholastic transgender athletes","authors":"S. Harris, Scott R. Jedlicka, R. Pielke, Henry Ryan","doi":"10.1080/19406940.2023.2242878","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2023.2242878","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper provides a baseline characterisation of legislative action against transgender people participating in U.S. interscholastic sport. Using Kingdon’s multiple streams approach, we analyse legislation across the 50 states using data up to 1 October 2022. We also analyse qualitative data from public officials to document the framing and justification of legislative efforts. Our findings are clustered into four categories – legislators in states that have enacted legislation to prevent transgender participation in school sport (n = 19), those that have introduced legislation (n = 23), those that have not (yet) taken action (n = 7), and those that have progressive legislation requiring schools to permit participation by gender identity (n = 1). Our data suggest that national-level interest groups have played a critical role in policy diffusion across the states, leveraging the problem window in an intensely contested context, using sporting, judicial, and political focusing events to draw attention to the perceived problem. These dynamics have resulted in solutions searching for problems. Moreover, the issue of transgender inclusion in sport (a subset of legislative efforts against transgender people) has escalated a form of symbolic politics which is as much about partisan contestation as it is about addressing a perceived problem. While we recognise that the issue is complex, we believe that there are other solutions – beyond outright exclusion from school sport – that should be more fully explored. Because exclusionary policies claim to uphold sport’s fundamental values, sport organisations can lead on this issue by clearly defining these values and translating them into pragmatic policy solutions.","PeriodicalId":47174,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46079059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-06DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2023.2242872
Chedlia Fitouri, Fatma Hassan Abdel Basset Mourgan, K. Chamari
ABSTRACT After the Arab Spring (early 2010's), the relationship between football supporterism and politics has been the subject of much debate. We attempted to describe, understand, and explain the modes of interaction between supporterism in post-revolution Tunisia, the ultras supporters’ (i) involvement in their club’_ affairs, and (ii) participation in the political life of the country. The case studied is that of ultras supporters of the Tunisian football team ”Club Africain” (CA). We opted for a constructivist-grounded methodology, using semi-structured interviews with 10 CA fans and 10 fans of the rival team from the same city (Tunis), Espérance Sportive de Tunis (EST), who represented the control group. A conceptual diagram was constructed to visualize the relationships between the items collected and the emerging theoretical dimensions. The results indicate an inclusive and autonomous commitment based on universal values. This persuasion experiment revealed a dynamic and creative model that led to positive changes in attitudes within the club and in the country's political life. During the club's crisis, this mobilisation led to the development of solidarity, mutual aid, and meaningful actions. As a result, it encouraged real involvement in the country's political events. The research model constructed visualizes a voluntary and autonomous educational process involving political participation that helps to regulate the country's democratic process. The study proposed pro-social alternatives, highlighting young people's spontaneous learning to participate in a dynamic and reflective political process. The results of the study should be verified with other types of supporters and in other Arab Spring countries.
{"title":"Football supporterism in Tunisia: facilitating participatory democracy through citizen education","authors":"Chedlia Fitouri, Fatma Hassan Abdel Basset Mourgan, K. Chamari","doi":"10.1080/19406940.2023.2242872","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2023.2242872","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT After the Arab Spring (early 2010's), the relationship between football supporterism and politics has been the subject of much debate. We attempted to describe, understand, and explain the modes of interaction between supporterism in post-revolution Tunisia, the ultras supporters’ (i) involvement in their club’_ affairs, and (ii) participation in the political life of the country. The case studied is that of ultras supporters of the Tunisian football team ”Club Africain” (CA). We opted for a constructivist-grounded methodology, using semi-structured interviews with 10 CA fans and 10 fans of the rival team from the same city (Tunis), Espérance Sportive de Tunis (EST), who represented the control group. A conceptual diagram was constructed to visualize the relationships between the items collected and the emerging theoretical dimensions. The results indicate an inclusive and autonomous commitment based on universal values. This persuasion experiment revealed a dynamic and creative model that led to positive changes in attitudes within the club and in the country's political life. During the club's crisis, this mobilisation led to the development of solidarity, mutual aid, and meaningful actions. As a result, it encouraged real involvement in the country's political events. The research model constructed visualizes a voluntary and autonomous educational process involving political participation that helps to regulate the country's democratic process. The study proposed pro-social alternatives, highlighting young people's spontaneous learning to participate in a dynamic and reflective political process. The results of the study should be verified with other types of supporters and in other Arab Spring countries.","PeriodicalId":47174,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46330090","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-03DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2023.2242873
Hee-Jung Hong, B. Minikin
ABSTRACT This study aims to offer a comprehensive analysis of Career Assistance Programmes (CAPs) available for high-performance athletes across the globe, addressing the current state of resources for their career development and transitional periods. The authors examined 23 sport organisations spanning five continents, focusing on aspects such as CAPs’ accessibility, objectives, content, delivery personnel, practitioner training, and self-evaluation methods. Utilising web-based data collection and research tours, the study acquired pertinent information to address the research questions. Deductive content analysis was employed, with the research questions and the Holistic Athlete Career (HAC) model serving as the framework for categorisation. This study offers an in-depth exploration of global CAPs and provide empirical insights into their current practices. The results show resources available to high-performance athletes, while identifying service gaps, necessitating policies to support a wider range of athletes. Notably, advancements have been made in developing training programmes for practitioners; however, the study highlights the need to further investigate the specific competencies that practitioners develop or seek to acquire through such initiatives. It is suggested that sport organisations actively exchange best practices to augment the effectiveness of their CAPs. The study highlights a service gap for athletes not meeting the high-performance threshold for CAP eligibility, limiting access to resources. Consequently, this population faces limited opportunities for career development and may struggle to cope with the challenges stemming from their athletic pursuits. The authors advocate for the expansion of services to address this disparity, ensuring equitable access to resources for athletes at varying performance levels.
{"title":"An international analysis of career assistance programmes for high-performance athletes","authors":"Hee-Jung Hong, B. Minikin","doi":"10.1080/19406940.2023.2242873","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2023.2242873","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study aims to offer a comprehensive analysis of Career Assistance Programmes (CAPs) available for high-performance athletes across the globe, addressing the current state of resources for their career development and transitional periods. The authors examined 23 sport organisations spanning five continents, focusing on aspects such as CAPs’ accessibility, objectives, content, delivery personnel, practitioner training, and self-evaluation methods. Utilising web-based data collection and research tours, the study acquired pertinent information to address the research questions. Deductive content analysis was employed, with the research questions and the Holistic Athlete Career (HAC) model serving as the framework for categorisation. This study offers an in-depth exploration of global CAPs and provide empirical insights into their current practices. The results show resources available to high-performance athletes, while identifying service gaps, necessitating policies to support a wider range of athletes. Notably, advancements have been made in developing training programmes for practitioners; however, the study highlights the need to further investigate the specific competencies that practitioners develop or seek to acquire through such initiatives. It is suggested that sport organisations actively exchange best practices to augment the effectiveness of their CAPs. The study highlights a service gap for athletes not meeting the high-performance threshold for CAP eligibility, limiting access to resources. Consequently, this population faces limited opportunities for career development and may struggle to cope with the challenges stemming from their athletic pursuits. The authors advocate for the expansion of services to address this disparity, ensuring equitable access to resources for athletes at varying performance levels.","PeriodicalId":47174,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41375060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-02DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2023.2242877
Hee-Jung Hong, I. Fraser
ABSTRACT This study investigates high-performance athletes’ experiences of transitioning out of sport and the support provided to them and describes how the findings suggest Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives which may inform the development of sport policies addressing issues surrounding sport career transitions. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data exploring athletes’ lived experiences of adapting to life after sport. Purposive sampling was applied to 20 retired high-performance athletes (10 male; 10 female), from six different countries, representing 11 Olympic sports. The causes of career termination are found to be multifaceted, with the findings indicating different factors such as ‘feelings of reaching saturation point’, shifts in priorities, decreased self-awareness of performance, policy changes (e.g. reductions in funding, changes in coaching personnel), and significant singular events such as crucial losses to key rivals. Lost goals and identity and a lack of pre-retirement planning were considered as major challenges post-retirement. Refocusing and developing new priorities in life and the importance of seeking support were highlighted in discussions on coping with life post-transition. The findings demonstrate that high-performance athletes require support and care from sport governing bodies and social support providers in adapting to post-athletic life. The implications of these findings for CSR initiatives and their relevance to the policymaking process are discussed.
{"title":"High-performance athletes’ transition out of sport: developing corporate social responsibility","authors":"Hee-Jung Hong, I. Fraser","doi":"10.1080/19406940.2023.2242877","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2023.2242877","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study investigates high-performance athletes’ experiences of transitioning out of sport and the support provided to them and describes how the findings suggest Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives which may inform the development of sport policies addressing issues surrounding sport career transitions. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data exploring athletes’ lived experiences of adapting to life after sport. Purposive sampling was applied to 20 retired high-performance athletes (10 male; 10 female), from six different countries, representing 11 Olympic sports. The causes of career termination are found to be multifaceted, with the findings indicating different factors such as ‘feelings of reaching saturation point’, shifts in priorities, decreased self-awareness of performance, policy changes (e.g. reductions in funding, changes in coaching personnel), and significant singular events such as crucial losses to key rivals. Lost goals and identity and a lack of pre-retirement planning were considered as major challenges post-retirement. Refocusing and developing new priorities in life and the importance of seeking support were highlighted in discussions on coping with life post-transition. The findings demonstrate that high-performance athletes require support and care from sport governing bodies and social support providers in adapting to post-athletic life. The implications of these findings for CSR initiatives and their relevance to the policymaking process are discussed.","PeriodicalId":47174,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49114349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-02DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2023.2242874
D. Malcolm, Celia Marcen, E. Pullen
{"title":"The World Health Organization, physical activity and the contradictions of neoliberal health promotion","authors":"D. Malcolm, Celia Marcen, E. Pullen","doi":"10.1080/19406940.2023.2242874","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2023.2242874","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47174,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43502155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-03DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2023.2239821
K. Mousset, L. Violette, Aurélie Épron
ABSTRACT In the wider context of the Cold War in the 1980s, a rare exception was a proposal for the potential co-hosting of the 1988 Summer Olympics between Seoul (South Korea) and Pyongyang (North Korea). While diplomatic exchanges between the two countries in other areas had produced inconclusive results, a series of joint meetings were organised by the International Olympic Committee to facilitate North Korean participation in the Games while preventing any action that might undermine the Games’ organisation. This historical analysis of these tripartite meetings aims to reconsider the frequently essentialist position of North Korea as a ‘Games saboteur’. While the talks ultimately proved to be a failure, they did have an effect on sports diplomacy. The threat of a massive boycott by the socialist countries, which did not occur in the end, and the progress of the negotiations show that there can be compromises to the host city principle enshrined in the IOC Olympic Charter.
{"title":"The failure to co-host the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics: a diplomacy “of small steps” influenced by international opinion (1985–88)","authors":"K. Mousset, L. Violette, Aurélie Épron","doi":"10.1080/19406940.2023.2239821","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2023.2239821","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the wider context of the Cold War in the 1980s, a rare exception was a proposal for the potential co-hosting of the 1988 Summer Olympics between Seoul (South Korea) and Pyongyang (North Korea). While diplomatic exchanges between the two countries in other areas had produced inconclusive results, a series of joint meetings were organised by the International Olympic Committee to facilitate North Korean participation in the Games while preventing any action that might undermine the Games’ organisation. This historical analysis of these tripartite meetings aims to reconsider the frequently essentialist position of North Korea as a ‘Games saboteur’. While the talks ultimately proved to be a failure, they did have an effect on sports diplomacy. The threat of a massive boycott by the socialist countries, which did not occur in the end, and the progress of the negotiations show that there can be compromises to the host city principle enshrined in the IOC Olympic Charter.","PeriodicalId":47174,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics","volume":"15 1","pages":"387 - 399"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46351716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}