ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how people have used power in the political arena to make and shape decisions that have influenced sport in the past and will influence its future. It looks at various forms of power exercised by governments, regulatory bodies in sport, individuals, and the Golden Triangle, which is characterized as the dominant network of power in the corporate and commercialized sports world. Inequality, power, globalization, and the dominant influence of the Golden Triangle in the global cultural economy of sport, are also also discussed. The chapter focuses on the cases of individuals and organized social movements that have indirectly and directly challenged sports officials and the power structure of sport from within and outside sport. It also discusses Houlihan's conception of politics and sport and politics in sport as a basic framework. Politics has been anathema to Olympic officials because they have tried to steer away from politics, asserting that the Olympics was above politics.
