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- Title
From Lake Placid to Salt Lake City: The Challenging Growth of the Olympic Winter Games Since 1980.
- Authors
Chappelet, Jean-Loup
- Abstract
The Olympic Winter Games have existed for more than throe quarters of a century. The first were held at Chamonix, France in January 1924 and virtually amounted to a week-long private party of winter sports competitions, linked to the Summer Games held in Paris in July of that same year. The most recent Winter Games took place in February 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, and received extensive media coverage, even in countries where snow and ice are unknown. In the 1980s, the Olympic Winter Games gradually grew in status, to the point of receiving almost as much attention as the summer equivalent. The last 20 years have played an essential part in this process, a period which broadly equates with Spanish politician Juan Antonio Samaranch's period in office as President of the IOC (International Olympic Committee). Samaranch was elected on the eve of the Moscow Games in July 1980 (4: p. 189). In 1986, at the President's instigation and--so they say--in response to a suggestion by an American television network executive, the IOC decided that future Winter Games would no longer be held during the same year as the Summer Games but 2 years earlier. As a result, the Games planned for 1996 were brought forward to 1994 (Lillehammer). The Albertville and Barcelona Games, held respectively in February and July 1992, were the last to take place in the same year. To give us a more accurate impression of the extent of the changes that have taken place in the Winter Games, it is worth noting a few indicators that summarize their organization t_GCY_om 1980 onwards--that is, t_GCY_om Lake Placid 1980, the last Winter Games held in the United States before those of Salt Lake City 2002. It is surprising, incidentally, to learn that an event that now enjoys such a high media profile is the subject of so few reliable and meaningful...
- Subjects
OLYMPIC Winter Games; SPORTS
- Publication
European Journal of Sport Science, 2002, Vol 2, Issue 3, p1
- ISSN
1746-1391
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1080/17461390200072302