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In a startling exposé of the Olympic industry, Helen Jefferson Lenskyj goes beyond the media hype of international goodwill and spirited competition to uncover a darker side of the global Games. She reports on the pre- and post-Olympic impacts from recent host cities, bribery investigations and their outcomes, grassroots resistance movements, and the role of the mass media in the controversy. A highly accessible book about a complex subject that touches the hearts of sports fans everywhere, Inside the Olympic Industry is a must-read, behind-the-scenes look at the politics surrounding the choice of Sydney, Australia as host city for the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. ... Read more

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"The only man who could have written this book has done it with candor and style. A lucid and penetrating look at the five-ringed world, filled with Dick Pound's customary insight, frankness and wit. Inside the Olympics wins gold, silver and bronze." - John Powers, Boston Globe

Every two years, world attention turns to the Olympic Games for a few short weeks, in a celebration of athletic excellence, competition, and national pride. But in recent years, the Olympic ideal has also been tainted by scandals, greed, and corruption-from bribery, to doing, cheating, politics, and exploitation.

Never shy of the issues, Dick Pound reveals the full inside story-both good and bad-of the Games. An Olympian himself, and long-time IOC insider, Pound sheds a bright light on many controversial events and issues surrounding the Olympics, including the conduct of IOC officials, and the doping scandals that he considers the greatest threat to sports today. He also offers a fascinating look at negotiations in the high-stake worlds of television rights and corporate sponsorships, and at the politics, backstabbing, and intrigues that take place behind the scenes in the world of international sports.

At times damning, at others prescriptive, sometimes amusing, but always honest and insightful, Inside the Olympics gives a rare personal view on the business, the personalities, the ideals, and the organization behind the world's greatest sporting event. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Inside View
Dick Pound does not mince words. He informs the readers as he sees the problems within the Olympic Movement in his own words, and tries his utmost to improve these. A book worth reading for anyone interested in the Olympic Movement.

Fascinating Read
This was a really interesting read.I've always been an Olympics fan, but you never get these kind of stories in other books.Pound really reveals the inner workings of the games, from the big news now, doping, to the judging scandals (Comaneci didn't deserve a 10???), to the contentious process of selecting the host city.He obviously has had a view that no one else could have, as an athlete, as the VP of the IOC, and as the head of the World anti-doping agency, and he really brings you into his world.But it's really not all scandals. One of the things that really comes through is his love of the games.As much as he talks about the scandals, he seems to do so out of a desire to bring honor back to the games. Really fascinating stuff. ... Read more

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Olympic is a giant patchwork of nature's finest works of art--glaciers, mountains, meadows, lakes, rivers, forests, seashores, and all their inhabitants.Every component meshes with the next to form this biotic masterpiece called Olympic National Park.

Olympic National Park, located in northwestern Washington, was established in 1938 to preserve primeval forests, native Roosevelt elk, outstanding mountainous country, and rugged coastline. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Fine Discussion of the St. Louis Olympics of 1904
American's have long been fascinated by the modern Olympics, the winners and losers, the exotic locations where they are held, and the stories of the participants. Without question the Olympics have been a critical element in both the competition and cooperation of nations throughout the twentieth century. It has been a source of prestige and geopolitics for all nations involved as well as a marketplace for the interchange of cultures.

"America's First Olympics: The St. Louis Games of 1904" provides an excellent overview of the first Olympics held in the United States (odd that it was not New York or another more exotic American city), held in conjunction with the St. Louis World's Fair over nearly a six month period.

Accordingly, the subject matter of this work is both significant and timely. The work is based on the good use of several key sources, many of them primary. Accordingly, this offers a fine addition to the literature on the subject. The work is also well written and offers considerable reflection on this subject. It offers stories about the people mentioned in the text, their likes and dislikes, their perspectives on the world, their ideals and opportunism. There are telling anecdotes relayed and thoughtful stories told throughout. Finally, the last chapter offers a superb set of conclusions about the meaning of this Olympics for the summer games writ large and their place in American history. ... Read more

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A collection of stories and devotions exploring the meaning and responsibilities of friendship. ... Read more

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Moon Olympic Peninsula e-book consists of 92 pages that have been excerpted from the paperback guidebook, Moon Washington, 8th edition. ... Read more

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Providing a full overview of the changing relationship between cities and the Olympic events, this substantially revised and enlarged edition builds on the success of its predecessor. Its coverage takes account of important new scholarship as well as adding reflections on the experience of staging Beijing 2008 and Vancouver 2010, the state of preparations for London 2012, and the plans for the Games scheduled for Sochi in 2014 and Rio de Janeiro 2016.

The book is divided into three parts that provide overviews of the urban legacy of the four component Olympic festivals; systematic surveys of five key aspects of activity involved in staging the Olympics; and ten chronologically arranged portraits of host cities.

As controversy over the growing size and expense of the Olympics continues, this timely assessment of the Games’ development and the complex agendas that host cities attach to the event will be essential reading for urban and sports historians, urban geographers, planners and all concerned with understanding the relationship between cities and culture.

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"Astonishing . . . Moving . . . One of the best books ever written about a sport."
 *Walter Clemons
Newsweek

"A PENETRATING, FASCINATING AND REMARKABLY SUSPENSEFUL NARRATIVE."
 *David Guy
Chicago Tribune
In The Amateurs, David Halberstam once again displays the unique brand of reportage, both penetrating and supple, that distinguished his bestselling The Best and the Brightest and October 1964. This time he has taken for his subject the dramatic and special world of amateur rowing. While other athletes are earning fortunes in salaries and-or endorsements, the oarsmen gain fame only with each other and strive without any hope of financial reward.
What drives these men to endure a physical pain known to no other sport? Who are they? Where do they come from? How do they regard themselves and their competitors? What have they sacrificed, and what inner demons have they appeased? In answering these questions, David Halberstam takes as his focus the 1984 single sculls trials in Princeton. The man who wins will gain the right to represent the United States in the 84 Olympiad; the losers will then have to struggle further to gain a place in the two- or four-man boats. And even if they succeed, they will have to live with the bitter knowledge that they were not the best, only close to it.
Informative and compelling, The Amateurs combines the vividness of superb sportswriting with the narrative skills of a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent.
"RIVETING."
 *Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
The New York Times
"[A] MASTERFUL JOB . . . Maintains the suspense to the very last stroke . . . Halberstam makes us care about the four men, their disappointments and the brutal testing of their friendships."
 *Dan Levin
Sports Illustrated
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Customer Reviews (21)

The BEST!
It simply does not get any better than Halberstam. For me, he had the knack of taking a topic I had no interest in (Ho Chi Minh, The NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, and now ROWING) and within a few pages getting me totally engrossed in the story. I cannot recommend this book enough

Insightful, detailed, riveting story
I too found this book on a used book table some years back, and a quick glimpse inside, plus having read some of Halberstam's other work, made buying it a no-brainer.It was hard to put down until the end.I rowed competitively for four years in college in Philadelphia (with its Boat House Row and grand rowing tradition), and also did a little club sculling and ocean racing in beach patrol rescue boats.It's hard to overstate how perceptive and engaging this portrait of these men and their sport is.It brought it all back--the early mornings, rowing home after dark, running stairs indoors during winter--even the disappointment of coming up short when you've given it all you have and then some.It also conveys the satisfaction that comes of learning how far you can push and learn about yourself, even when winning's not involved.It's nice to see that Mr Halberstam succeeded so well in connecting with readers who didn't row themselves.

Peeked my curiostiy and glad I read it.
I was curious because the rowing events of the '84 Olympics took place not too far from my house.This book was well-written and brought a less popular Olympic sport to life.Mr. Halberstam did a great job of educating those of us who aren't fans about the amount of work and dedication it takes to participate in a sport that only seems to matter every four years.

Disappointed fan of Halberstam
I am a big fan of David Halberstam.Like his other books, this one was well written, but I just could not get into the subject matter.The main characters that he follows were uninteresting and pretty one dimnesional in their rowing obsession.Halberstam seems to worship their dedication to a sport that few care about, but I find their masochistic pleasure in continuous pain and lonely training quite odd and certainly not anything heroic.I think that if I had been a rower at some point in my athletic career instead of a track athlete and soccer player, I would have enjoyed this book more.We've all heard the term "too much inside baseball."For me this book was too much "inside rowing" and did not translate into a broader experience for fans of other sports.

Great writing, sad story
Really well written, but a depressing story. I finished the book without any happy illusions about the sport, or sports in general. Nevertheless, a valuable story about the human spirit. ... Read more

Product Description
Watched every two years by more than 2.5 billion people, the Olympics are much more than the world's largest regularly scheduled sporting event; they're an international political and economic colossus. The meaning of the Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius now applies as much to the fast media saturation, high financial stakes, and strong political interests of today's Games as it does to the athletes' performances in the sports competition itself.

Power, Politics, and the Olympic Games chronicles the influential individuals, groups, and events that have shaped the Olympics since the modern Games began in 1896. This insightful and highly readable work offers a critical, historical perspective of the political and social controversies that have surrounded the world's greatest sports spectacle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Politics of the Olympics
I read this book for my term paper for 8th grade on the Politics of the Olympics.We could choose any topic from history, so that's what I chose, because I'm a swimmer.It was really helpful and interesting.It's sad there's so much fighting that has nothing to do with the sports, but that's the way the world is.I wish I could take Prof. Senn's college course.

Politics and Sports Intertwined in the Olympic Games
Alfred Senn is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison History Dept., and that is where he first developed his course entitled "The Political History of the Modern Olympics."This book is theresult of two decades of research and interviews of athletes, sportsfederation administrators, and Olympic officials beginning during the USboycott of the Moscow Games in 1980.This book is a comprehensivepresentation of much of the information from his lectures, and forms thebasic text of the course for undergraduate students.Readers withinacademia will benefit from its quality scholarship and solid documentation. The general public will enjoy its easy readability and gain a broaderknowledge of the "behind the scenes" maneuvering and politickingof the leaders of international sport. What this book can offer that othersoften cannot is the view from the other side of the "IronCurtain."Senn is a Soviet scholar by training and his book includesa large amount of material gathered exclusively from Soviet files andinterviews, a resource closed to many other authors.In the final pages ofthe book he devotes considerable attention to the breakup of the SovietUnion and the athletic consequences of that disintegration for the EasternEuropean sports "machines." I strongly recommend this text toanyone wishing to expand his or her knowledge of the workings of theInternational Olympic Committee and the political conflicts that havearisen over the years within the Games themselves or the Olympic structure. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

The Greatest Games Ever
Until this book came out in original form, not many people knew who gets to run the Olympics.The International Olympic Committee is self-selecting clique of worthies from around the world, only some of whom have anything to do with the sports on display."New Lords of the Rings" has a rather tabloidy feel to it but more than a few factual nuggets make the journey worthwhile.

A vindication for the authors
When this book and the re-release ("The New Lords fo the Rings") was published, the IOC and its supporters were quick to condemn the authors' allegations of corruption within the IOC.With the recent eventsinvolving bribery and the Utah Games, it seems the authors have beenvindicated.The book is an excellent read and deals with many facets ofthe IOC.

Important for understanding the essence of the Olympics.
I read the book by V.Simson and A.Jennings with professional interest, because I am a teacher of the Olympic History in the Kuban State Academy of Physical Education. It is hard to characterize it from one point of view.On my opinion, the book describes the "revers" side of theOlympic Movement and what is very important for readers and especially forresearches. Now it is possible to compare the traditional concept of theOlympic Movement (D.Miller, R.MacAloon, N.Müller, J.Lucas, O.Shantz,K.Lennartz and others) with the new facts and data, sometimes verycontroversal. I can't agree with authors in several items, but the wholebook gives us a result of hard work. That's why I recommend my students andnow all readers to take this book and to read carefully in order to formtheir own position about the Olympic Movement and it's future. ... Read more

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When the athletes enter the stadium and the Olympic flame is lit, the whole world watches. Billions will continue to follow the events and to share in the athletes' joys and sorrows for the next sixteen days.

Readers of this book, however, will watch forthcoming editions of the Olympic Games in a completely different light. Unlike many historical or official publications and somewhat biased commercial works, it provides -- in a clear, readable form -- informative and fascinating material on many aspects of what Olympism is all about: its history, its organization and its actors.

Although public attention is often drawn to various issues surrounding this planetary phenomenon -- whether concerning the International Olympic Committee, the athletes, the host cities or even the scandals that have arisen -- the Olympic System as such is relatively little known. What are its structures, its goals, its resources? How is it governed and regulated? What about doping, gigantism, violence in the stadium?

In addition to providing a wealth of information on all these subjects, the authors also show how power, money and image have transformed Olympism over the decades. They round off the work with thought-provoking reflections regarding the future of the Olympic System and the obstacles it must overcome in order to survive.

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Take advantage of the specific management knowledge used in running Olympic committees and sport federations around the world. Strategic and Performance Management of Olympic Sport Organisations offers valuable guidance on strategically evaluating, managing, and driving the performance of sport organizations.

Strategic and Performance Management of Olympic Sport Organisations was developed for use in the Executive Masters in Sport Organization Management (MEMOS) program. MEMOS, founded in 1995 by a network of European universities supported by Olympic Solidarity, aims to improve the management of sport organizations and provide a higher level of training for sport managers.

This book covers the first of three courses in the MEMOS program and emphasizes the importance of the history and development of the Olympic movement. It highlights new issues at stake as the Olympic movement evolves, and it helps readers to grasp the specific management framework of Olympic sport organizations and other sport federations, including voluntary work by its leadership and operating on a nonprofit basis.

Strategic and Performance Management of Olympic Sport Organisations defines critical strategic management principles and methods and teaches managers how to implement them to improve performance. Packed with case studies and examples of strategic plans used in Olympic sport organizations, readers will learn to

·identify and formulate a mission,
·conduct and assess external threats and opportunities as well as internal strengths and weaknesses,
·define organizational goals and steps to reach them, and
·evaluate the results of actions for future planning.

Strategic and Performance Management of Olympic Sport Organisations will help management successfully run Olympic committees and sport federations worldwide. ... Read more

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Where is the gold on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula? This book answers the question. Which beaches are the highest producers of gold? Names and locations. Where are the sunken ships with gold? What are the stories of pirate's gold? What was Captain Drake doing on the coast with 26 tons of silver and gold? This book reprints government reports documenting the extraction of gold for mines and beaches along the coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Includes regulations, glossary of mining terms, organizations and a bibliography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fun little pamphlet
While quite short, at 48 pages, I actually got a lot out of this book. The author took the time to collect research about old mines across the Olympics, and the organization is crisp. I got a lot of good ideas about where to explore, and the information seems quite reliable.

There is a little bit of padding, with an unnecessary glossary, shopping information, and even a write-up about Seattle's role in the Klondike gold rush. For all the hype on the front about pirates and treasure, there's barely two paragraphs of actual write-up about treasure hunting. Not that I was interested in that, anyway. I was specifically interested about the beach placers, and I really wasn't too disappointed.

I would have appreciated better information about specific sites, such as GPS coordinates, pictures, and driving instructions, but presumably I can figure that out via Google Earth. Probably my biggest frustration with the book is that it doesn't explicitly state the rules about panning at the beach. A quick interview with a park ranger would have been nice.
... Read more

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In this completely revised edition, hikers of every skill level will find 100 daytrips and overnight backpacks from the high altitude of the South Cascades to the stunning peaks and valleys of the Olympics, to the shores of the Pacific Coast. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Hike with the Best
No one, and I mean no one, knows the trails of the Pacific Northwest like Ira Spring and Harvey Manning.Whether you are looking for advice on a brutal five day hike-a-thon over the toughest terain, or a family-friendly afternoon hike to introduce your outdoors passion to family or friends, they have been there and done that, with and without the kids or the crampons.The directions are always clear, concise, and accurate.The photos belong in a glossy coffee table book, not a guide book.Maybe there are individual books that are better at an individual trail, but for a sure thing every time, go with Spring and Manning!

Fine starter book...
It is a little rough around the edges. Many of the directions in the bookare unclear, and make finding the trail difficult. Also the series needs toimprove on emphasing the difficulty of some hikes. I have met many peopleon the trail that thought the 6 mile hike at 3800 ft increase in elevationwas not going to be too bad. The author should note on these hike theexperience the hiker should have.

Good book to get ideas, but you willneed supplemental maps. ... Read more

Product Description
Excellent condition. Clean pages. Spine no creases. Ship daily M-Sat.! ... Read more