ABSTRACT
The tradition-modernity dialectic provided an intellectual foundation for the creation of the modern Olympics. The movement's founding generation was steeped in visions of history as the evolution from traditional to modern social forms. While they understood modernity as their ultimate destination, they were enamored of the finer qualities of tradition and sought to create a society that seamlessly merged the old into the new. In modern historical consciousness the Olympic Games provide a potent symbol of the very nature of history itself. Through the cultural symbols produced by the Olympics spectators witness depictions of history as a dialogue about change and continuity bounded by the concepts of tradition and modernity. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century societies have been confronted with sweeping global changes engendered by agricultural, industrial, urban and demographic revolutions. Beset by these transformations many of the world's cultures have hoped to use highways between tradition and modernity to select the best features of each social pattern.
