Book report: Vyv Simson, Andrew Jennings - The Lords of the Rings

Seminar paper from the year 1999 in the subject Sport - Sport Sociology, grade: A, Cleveland State University (Department of Physical Education), language: English, abstract: The authors Vyv Simson and Andrew Jennings begin their documentary with a background of the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992. Since The Lords of the Rings was published in '92, the Barcelona Games are the most recent example of the glamorous and commercialized modern-day Olympics. The authors give an impressive statistical background of the world's biggest and most sumptuous sport spectacle, the Olympics. Next they introduce the powerful International Olympic Committee (IOC), referring to it as The Club. The most powerful members of The Club are; president Juan Antonio Samaranch, FIFA (Federation of International Football Associations) boss Joao Havelange, the president of the IAAF (International Amateur Athletics Federation) Primo Nebiolo, ANOC's (Association of National Olympic Committees) president Mario Vazquez Rana, the World Teakwondo Federation's president Dr. Un Yong Kim, along with Dick Pound and Robert H. Helmick. The next topic dealt with, is the rising value of the Olympics 'as a global brand'(11) combined with the increasing amounts of money collected through the sponsorships of multinational corporations and official suppliers to the Olympic Games in Barcelona. In the second part of this chapter the authors use the annual meeting of the IOC, which was held in Birmingham in 1991, as an example for the 'constant and glittering round of first- class travel, five-star hotels, champagne receptions, extravagant banquets, mountains of gifts and lavish entertainment'(12) guaranteed for the Olympic family's gatherings. Officially the annual IOC meeting (behind closed doors) is supposed to 'debate and vote on the policies to be carried out in the name of the Olympics'(18). Jennings and Simson conclude that the IOC members' lives are 'a constant round of meetings, trades and deals in the now lucrative, powerful and high profile world of international sports'(20). [...]