ABSTRACT
Sport is undoubtedly a central part of culture. Like many contemporary heritage constructions, sport heritage is imagined largely within the parameters offered by its tourism potential and output. Sites such as sport halls of fame and museums, sports stadia and sporting venues, sport fantasy camps and heritage sporting events are but few examples of tourist attractions that are largely or exclusively sport heritage focused. Perhaps one of the events where sport and heritage most explicitly overlap is the Olympic Games. The Games pay homage to many beginnings, whether to the ancient Games of Greece or the philosophies and ideals laid down by father of modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin: either way, its development and progress have always been highly heritage-conscious and, as a consequence, somewhat self-referential. Lingering concerns ‘race’, ethnicity and national belonging, for example, are pivotal topics within sport heritage, though they are not frequently discussed in terms of sport heritage spectacles and events like the Olympics.
