In less than a day, snowboarders, figure skaters and bobsledders alike will meet in Sochi, Russia, to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Scheduled to be held at the Black Sea Resort, and with a running cost of $50 billion making it the most expensive Winter Games yet, it …
Read More »Adding Oil: China’s Dramatic Rise to Olympic Supremacy
An adolescent youth with a military-style crew cut faces a foreign camera crew, hands behind his back like he’s taking a team photo. He has the dreamy, dissociated gaze of a man who has just awakened from a dream, and looks down at the medal hanging by a ribbon around …
Read More »Ice-Cream, Politics & Gossip Girl: What’s Wrong with the Olympics?
Every four years when the Olympics roll around I make a big fuss about “bullshit nationalism,” the government “wasting money on elite sport” and “stupid commentators and awful coverage.” But inevitably I end up staying up till 4am watching ridiculously obscure sports that I would never normally pay attention to like badminton, handball and dressage. I’ve spent a fair …
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