Volume 7, Number 2, Fall 2026
Articles
Race, Protest, and the Olympics: Lessons from a Decade of Activism and Backlash in American Sports
Douglas Hartmann
Abstract:
In this written version of his 2025 CSSOR plenary address the American sport sociologist Douglas Hartmann uses the last decade of race-based activism and populist backlash in the United States to explore the ways in which protest challenges sport and the Olympic Movement to live up to their high ideals. The talk begins with an overview of the recent history of activism and populist backlash in American sport. Hartmann then identifies three analytical moves needed to make sense of this history that have implications for Olympic theory and practice: (1) situating sport in socio-political context; (2) attending to the actual impacts of sport-based movements and struggles, especially in the cultural realm; and, (3) grappling with the centrality of subnational collective identities such as race. He develops these points via a “critical dramaturgical perspective” that (a) emphasizes the symbolic and communicative role of sport in modern societies and (b) reveals sport’s fraught relationships to politics, power, human rights, and social change. Hartmann argues that this framework can guide researchers and practitioners toward a more careful, substantive engagement with movements across a range of issues and political orientations in and around international, Olympic-style sport—a perspective that can help the Olympic Movement itself play a clarifying and even unifying role during an extraordinarily unsettled time in world history.
Key words: Olympics, sport, activism, social movements, politics, culture.
Hidden Histories: Truth-Telling, Treaties and Whitewashing the Brisbane Olympics
Sam Duncan and Tom Heenan
Abstract:
This article argues that seven years out from the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, the Games’ portrayal of Indigenous culture serves more as strategic branding than as a vehicle for genuine reconciliation. Despite pledges by Andrew Liveris and the Organizing Committee to integrate First Nations voices, these efforts coincided with the Queensland government’s 2024 cancellation of its Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry, a key mechanism for addressing colonial history. The article explores how this political reversal and the Games’ reconciliation narrative reflect a broader pattern of denialism in Queensland politics. Drawing on Sydney 2000 and Vancouver 2010, and literature on Indigenous representation in sport, it interrogates the conditional nature of Australia’s celebration of Indigenous culture. It examines the roles of Liveris, Premier David Crisafulli, and Olympic bodies in shaping inclusion. Foregrounding Indigenous voices, the article contends that without meaningful leadership and truth-telling, Brisbane 2032 risks becoming a performative exercise that obscures Australia’s colonial legacy.
Keywords: Brisbane 2032 Olympics; Indigenous Australians; truth-telling and reconciliation; Australian history
Does Money or Age Score Goals in the Olympic Football Tournament? – A Critical Examination of Squad Criteria and Age Regulations in the Context of Men’s Olympic Football Competition
Katharina Schöttl, Valentina Metz and Florian Kainz
Abstract:
This study examines the influence of age restrictions and market value on competitive success in men’s Olympic football. Drawing on data from the Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024 tournaments, it investigates whether the Under-23 rule fulfils its goal by effectively supporting team performance, or whether financial valuation is a more accurate predictor of success. The dataset comprises 656 players from both tournaments (344 from Tokyo 2021 and 312 from Paris 2024), with player market values sourced from the Transfermarkt database. Using an empirical-quantitative approach, the findings reveal that team market value explains performance outcomes significantly better than age. These results raise critical questions about the effectiveness of age-based eligibility rules and suggest that alternative frameworks—such as market value caps or salary restrictions—may be better suited to balance competitive equity and developmental goals. The study contributes to broader debates on sports governance, labour market regulation, and the intersection of youth development and competitive fairness in global football.
Keywords: Olympic football, age restrictions, market value, labour relations, talent regulation, sports governance, competitive balance
Preserving Athletes’ Rights during Wartime: A Critique of National Representation in Sport
Tomás M Conte
Abstract:
A prominent feature of the Olympic Movement and international sport is national representation: athletes compete under a national flag, a premise upon which an entire system is based. This rationale supports the financial stability of the sports industry, promoting investments and interest. Conversely, the national imperative raises issues. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza offer examples of how athletes are vulnerable to discrimination because of their nationality, threatening the cosmopolitan Olympic spirit and inclusive nature of international sport. Within this context, the article will evaluate the place of national representation in sport through the examples of armed conflicts and, drawing from cosmopolitanism and human rights, critique the current primacy of nationality over performance. Ultimately, to answer the troubling effects of national representation in the contemporary governance of sport, it will be possible to demonstrate how a new form of cosmopolitan governance is necessary to overcome current challenges.
Keywords: Olympic Movement, athletes’ rights, cosmopolitanism, governance
A Study of the Achievements of Olympic and Paralympic Education in Primary Schools for Tokyo 2020：The Nationwide Olympic and Paralympic Movement Project
Akiyo Miyazaki and Taro Obayashi
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to assess the achievements of Olympic and Paralympic education in primary schools for the Tokyo 2020 Games, targeting schools that participated in the nationwide Olympic and Paralympic movement project. Questionnaires were administered to promoted schools in 15 regions, before and after the learning activities, and responses were scored and nonparametric tests were conducted. The results showed that many lectures and experiential learnings were given by athletes, including Olympians and Paralympians, and that a lot of knowledge learning related to them was conducted. The results of the questionnaire survey showed that the scores after participating in the program were higher than those before the program for almost all of the items. Although the data were cross-sectional from year to year, the results suggested that the Olympic and Paralympic education programs undertaken by each school were meaningful.
Keywords: Actual state of educational activities, Nonparametric test, Olympic legacy