ABSTRACT
July 2005 was an extraordinary month for news events, especially for a Londoner. The Live 8 concerts, the announcement of London’s Olympic bid, the London tube and bus bombings, and the opening of the G8 talks all happened in less than a week. The following week I travelled to China, attending a conference and the closing ceremony of a cultural festival organised by the Beijing Olympic Committee, and I observed coverage of the second wave of attempted bombings in London, and subsequent events, on CNN. Real Madrid were staying in the same Beijing hotel that we were based in, placing us briefly in the eye of a celebrity storm. The events of July 2005, my own relationship to them and trajectory through them, and the various interconnections between them prompted me to wonder what I was actually doing in writing a book on sport and politics. The politics of sport suddenly seemed somewhat parochial.
