ABSTRACT
The Beijing Olympiad in 2008 was heralded before the event was staged as ‘perhaps the greatest mega-event – sporting or otherwise – of all time’ (Close et al., 2006). In terms of domestic modernisation and integration with world sports governing bodies, Beijing 2008 has shaped a new public image for China to overlay that of its ancient traditions. Though superlatives have perhaps been modified significantly with the successful staging of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the scale of Beijing and its symbolic importance were unarguable. An ambitiously choreographed programme encouraged the world to look not just at Beijing, but at other key cities in the country as destinations for tourism. Beijing dwarfed its predecessors in Asia: the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964 and the 2002 FIFA World Cup held by joint hosts South Korea and Japan. That an Asian country held such a sporting and cultural spectacle in 2008 signalled a strategy on behalf of world bodies to move east and south in search of expanding markets for sport.
