ABSTRACT
This chapter explores with the Olympic Games and then examines why the Olympics remain vastly popular in the public imagination by paying particular attention to Roland Barthe's argument about sport and the production of myth. The chapter raises issue with Barthesian argument by suggesting it rests primarily on a symbolic understanding and, accordingly, bypasses the affective/corporeal dimension of sport viewing pleasures. It examines how the image of the Olympics has been constructed, in part via media productions and the management of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to allow the Games to be globally celebrated in a seemingly uncritical manner for this issue it turn to Barthe's writings on myth. It draws from Ott's quasi-artful analysis strategy to examine two of the most popular YouTube video clips of the 2012 Olympics. The chapter concludes by discussing the importance of analyzing the workings of affect in relation to the politics of sporting spectacles.
