ABSTRACT
This paper is the academic result of research conducted by the Qatar Olympic & Sports Museum into the history of the Arab Games in preparation for The Arab Games Exhibition which took place in Doha, Qatar from October 5 until December 23, 2011. This paper aims to understand the establishment of the Arab Games and their role as Regional Games during the Pan-Arab movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Analysing the historical context of the first four Arab Games (Alexandria 1953, Beirut 1957, Casablanca 1961 and Egypt 1965), the paper follows the hypothesis that the first Arab Games strengthened the bonds of Arab identity and created a representation of an imagined community.
