A guide to the definitive sporting mega-event Olympics and the wider phenomenon it represents - Olympism. It addresses the key questions in modern Olympism, including: What does studying Olympism entail? How do historical accounts create and challenge Olympic myths? And how can the principles and practices of Olympism be sustained in the future?

Introduction Part 1: Studying Olympism 1. Studying Olympism Part 2: Documenting Olympism 2. Post-Olympism: Questioning Olympic historiography 3. From Olympia 776 BC to Athens 2004: The Origins and Authenticity of the Modern Olympic Games 4. Olympic Games and Historical Imagination Part 3: Theorising Olympism 5. A Never-Ending Story: The Philosophical Controversy Over Olympism 6. Olympic Games and the Theory of Spectacle in Modern Societies 7. The Olympics and ‘Global Citizenship’ Part 4: Negotiating Olympic Identities 8. Hellenism and Olympism: Pierre de Coubertin and the Greek Challenges to the Early Olympic Movement 9. Staging the Nation: Gendered and Ethnicized Discourses of National Identity in Olympic Opening Ceremonies Part 5: Imagining Olympism 10. Meet the "Framers": the Olympic Producers 11. Olympic Museum 12. Paralympic "Lived History": Reflections of a Participant-Observer Part 6: Owning Olympism 13. A Brief Overview of the Olympic System 14. Who Owns the Olympics? Political Economy and Critical Moments in the Modern Games 15. On Seizing the Olympic Platform Part 7: Staging the Olympics 16. Financing of the Games: Interests, Winners and Losers 17. Olympic Cities: Regeneration, City Rebranding and Changing Urban Agendas Part 8: Promoting Olympism 18. ‘Celebrate Humanity’ or ‘Consumerism’: A Critical Evaluation of a Brand in Motion 19. Symbolism and the Effectiveness of Olympic Mascots Part 9: Safeguarding Olympism 20. Why Olympic Athletes Should Avoid the Use and Seek the Elimination of Performance-Enhancing Substances and Practices From the Olympic Games 21. Mega Events, Fear and Risk: Terrorism at the Olympic Games 22. Faster, Higher, Stronger: The Protection of Olympic Marks Leading up to Vancouver 2010 Part 10: Contesting Olympism 23. Does One-World Olympic Ideology Lead to Multiculturalism? 24. Olympic Impacts on Bid and Host Cities Part 11: Teaching Olympism 25. "Olympism" Revisited as Context for Global Education: Implications for Physical Education 26. Didactic Approaches to Teaching Olympic Education Part 12: Sustaining Olympism 27. The Making of the IOC environmental Policy as the Third Dimension of the Olympic Movement 28. A Sustainable Sports Legacy: Creating a Link Between the London Olympics and Sports Participation