ABSTRACT
This paper reflects on the mediated cultural politics of the Beijing Olympics through analysis of selected Australian print, online and television coverage. It demonstrates that media coverage of major sports events such as the Olympics is linked to the particular concerns of each country, while also displaying elements of internationalism and globalism. The 2008 games provided an opportunity to ‘interrogate’ the current condition and trajectory of China, creating a very mixed picture of a nation wishing to use the games to symbolize its increasingly prominent place in world economics, politics and sport, but inducing considerable resistance to its projected image among the Australian press, as well as some robust defences of its achievements. Ultimately, the Beijing Olympics revealed (despite the familiar catchcry that sport and politics should be separated) a battle of narratives that saw, for example, Chinese nationalism and global engagement pitted against international defensive positioning and global scepticism.
