The Politics of the Olympics

Alan Bairner is Professor of Sport and Social Theory at Loughborough University (UK), having previously worked at the University of Ulster for 25 years. He is co-author (with John Sugden) of Sport, Sectarianism and Society in a Divided Ireland (1993) and author of Sport, Nationalism and Globalization: European and North American Perspectives (2001). He edited Sport and the Irish: Histories, Identities, Issues (2005) and wsa joint editor (with John Sugden) of Sport in Divided Societies (1999) and (with Jonathan Magee and Alan Tomlinson) of The Bountiful Game? Football Identities and Finances (2005). He serves on the editorial boards of the International Review for the Sociology of Sport and the International Journal of Sport Policy. Gyozo Molnar is Senior Lecturer in Sport Studies in the Institute of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Worcester (UK). He completed his doctorate in the sociology of sport at Loughborough University, was the co-ordinator for the Centre for Olympic Studies and Research, and has taught modules in the areas of sociology and politics of sports and exercise. His recent publications and research revolved around migration, football, globalization, national identity, the Olympics and sport-related role exit.