ABSTRACT
The introductory chapter explains that the scope and influence of the Olympic Games is a result of its relationship with the global media and multinational corporations, while it also functions as a mechanism for the production of local symbols and the reinforcement of cultural values. This chapter provides a framework for understanding the functions and position of the Olympic cultural programme within this framework. The chapter begins by reviewing the notion of the Olympic cultural programme, understood as a distinct component of the Games celebration, with an emphasis on the period leading up to Sydney 2000. It then describes the historical evolution of the programme since its original inception by Baron Pierre de Coubertin and its first implementation in 1912, up to the latest editions of the Olympic Summer and Winter Games in Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and the lead to London 2012.
