Trailing the Olympic Epic: Black Modernity and the Athenian Arena, 2004

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Simpson, Michael. 2011. Trailing the Olympic Epic: Black Modernity and the Athenian Arena, 2004. In: Michael Simpson and Barbara Goff, eds. Thinking the Olympics: the Classical Tradition and the Modern Games. Bristol Classical Press. ISBN 978-0715639306 [Book Section]

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This is the first book to address the convergences and divergences between the ancient and modern Games from the perspective of the classical tradition, examining the ways in which connections between ancient Greece and the revived Olympics may be constructed, interrogated, lauded, or deplored. The Athens Games in 2004 were a climax of convergence, as the Games effectively returned to their ancient origins. Yet the Beijing Games in 2008 celebrated another, even more ancient civilisation. Thinking the Olympics brings together contributions from various disciplines, ranging around two opposing themes. On the one hand, the Games are presented as an ideal enactment of pure, intrinsic Olympic values, such as peace through sport; on the other, the Games appear as a messy performance of extrinsic investments by diverse groups with their own interests, commercial as well as political.

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