ABSTRACT

While it is evident that the modern Olympics is a global event that acts as a carrier of cultural meanings that are available to international audiences and markets, what is less clear is the status of such meanings. Though the heritage of the Olympics is claimed to be derived from the ancient world, in fact contemporary legacies are very modern. Here, attention is paid both to the broader and more specific aspects of these legacies. For instance, the development of the modern Olympic games is bound up in broader globalization and sportization processes. [1] As such, the Olympics and its related movement have reinforced and reflected both the diminishing of contrasts and the increased varieties of body cultures available to different peoples. Bound up in sportization processes that are characterized by a series of phases and structured processes, the modern games have produced an Olympic legacy that expresses what Heinilä termed ‘total sport’. [2]