‘Team GB’ and London 2012: The Paradox of National and Global Identities

Abstract

This article explores the problems associated with ‘national identity’ in the UK and examines the tensions arising between the international and local dimensions of the games through examples of domestic (UK) and international (Brazil, Chicago) media coverage of the key debates relating to London's period of preparation. The chapter proposes a conception of London 2012 as exemplar of an event poised to generate insights and experiences connected to a new politics of ‘cosmopolitan’ identity; insights central to grasping the cultural politics of contemporary urban development – and the paradoxes of national identity in current discourses of Olympism.

Properly speaking, cosmopolitanism suits those people who have no country, while internationalism should be the state of mind of those who love their country above all, who seek to draw to it the friendship of foreigners by professing for the countries of those foreigners an intelligent and enlightened sympathy. [1]

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge and thank Fabiana Rodrigues de Souza for her research into and translation of source materials on Rio de Janeiro's 2016 bid.

Notes

[1] de Coubertin, ‘Does Cosmopolitan Life Lead to International Friendliness?’, cited in Carrington, ‘Cosmopolitan Olympism’.

[2] Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, ’Capturing the Value of Heritage’, speech to the Royal Geographical Society, January 2006, available at http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/minister_speeches/2063.aspx, accessed 23 April 2009.

[3]‘Brown Wants British Football eam at 2012 Olympics’, The Scotsman, 23 August 2008, available at http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/Brown-wants-British-football-team.4421659.jp, accessed 17 April 2009.

[4] Scambler, Sport and Society, 36–42; Kumar, 1–17.

[5] Kidd, ‘Recapturing Alternative Olympic Histories’, 144–7.

[6] Smith and Porter, Sport and National Identity, 13.

[7] Bairner, Sport and the Irish. Histories, Identities, Issues.

[8] Kumar, The Making of English National Identity, 174.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Smith and Porter, Sport and National Identity, 13.

[11] Heath and Roberts, ‘British Identity’.

[12] Tessa Jowell, ‘London 2012 Olympics Statement to the House of Commons’, 15 May 2003, available at http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/minister_speeches/2103.aspx, accessed 1 May 2009.

[13] Heath and Roberts, ‘British Identity’.

[14] LOCOG, ‘New Brand and Vision revealed for London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games’, 4 June 2007, available to http://www.london2012.com/news/media-releases/2007/2007-06/new-brand-and-vision-revealed-for-london-2012-olympic-ga.php, accessed 2 May 2009.

[15]T. Geoghegan, ‘Oh no logo’, BBC News Magazine, 5 June 2007, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6719805.stm, accessed 28 July 2009.

[16] Castells, The Network Society; Roche, Mega-Events and Modernity, 232–3.

[17] Kumar, The Making of English National Identity, 234–5.

[18]See Gamesbids.com, ‘Olympic Digest – Vancouver 2010, Chicago 2016’, 3 April 2009, available at http://www.gamesbids.com/eng/other_news/1216134259.html, accessed 4 June 2009.

[19] It is important to note, however, that the historical conditions and circumstances that created Chicago's attachment to multiculturalism are fundamentally different from that of London's. Historically, Chicago's immigrants included those seeking freedom from the British Empire, the turbulence of the European mainland and the exploitative plantations of America's southern states.

[20] Chicago 2016 Candidate File, 9.

[21] P. Hersch, ‘Chicago Third of Four Finalists for 2016 Olympics’, Chicago Tribune, 4 June 2008, available at www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-chicago-2016-olympics-finalist,0,6779343.story, accessed 5 June 2009.

[22] MacAloon, ‘“Legacy” as Managerial/Magical Discourse’.

[23] Robert Booth, ‘Chicago Turns to Coe in Bid for 2016 Olympics', The Guardian, 3 Oct. 2008, available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/oct/03/1, accessed 7 June 2009.

[24] Bennett et al., ‘Why Host the Games?’, 18.

[25]Ibid. Along with the official documentation published by the Chicago 2016 Olympic Organizing Committee and other reports (see References), 58 articles from the Chicago Tribune were accessed for the period 30 November 2008–31 May 2009. Of these, 12 referred to London's bid and subsequent preparations. The main focus of the articles were as follows: the Chicago bid, 9; Chicago logo, 1; Park design/architecture, 7; Finance, 9; Obama election impact upon bid, 4; Creation of Chicago Olympic Committee, 1; Chicago and other competing cities, 13; Corruption, 1; IOC Visit to Chicago, 6; Community support, 5; Environment, 1; Security, 1. See http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-chicago-olympic-bid, accessed 2–5 June 2009.

[26] Source: K. Bergen, ‘2016 or Bust – Chicago's Quest for the Games is an All-or-nothing Bid to Make the City a Clayer on the World Stage’, Chicago Tribune, 14 April 2007, available at chicagotribune.com, accessed 6 June 2009.

[27] Along with the official documentation published by the Rio 2016 Olympic Organizing Committee and reports (see References), 40 articles from the newspaper O Globo were accessed for the period 26 September 2008–28 June 2009. Of these, two referred to London 2012. The main focus of the articles were: The Rio 2016 bid and IOC's assessment, 12; Support for the bid, 6; Rio 2016 and the hosting of other mega-events, 5; Finance and the Brazilian economy, 5; Transport, 3; Environment, 3; Security, 2; Other, 4. See http://oglobo.globo.com/, accessed 27–29 June 2009.

[28] Reuters, ‘Rio 2016 Bid Committee Presents Games Vision at Sport Accord 2009’, 26 March 2009, available at http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS14715+27-Mar-2009+PRN20, accessed 7 Jun. 2007

[29] IOC. Rio de Janeiro came third behind Tokyo and Madrid; it was, in fact, placed behind Doha in the final evaluation but Doha, despite the technical quality of the bid, was considered too small as a nation to host such a major sporting event and was, therefore, dropped from the final short list of four competitor cities.

[30] Rio, Brazilian Olympic Committee (2009) Rio de Janeiro 2016 Candidate File, Lausanne, IOC, 11.

[31] IOC, Games of the XXXI Olympiad, 43.

[32] Ibid., 110.

[33] Ministerio do Esporte, Legados De Megeventos Esportivos; ‘Projeto do Dossie Rio 2016, revitalizacao do porto transforrma area historica da citade’, O Globo, 23 June 2009, available at http://oglobo.globo.com/rio/mat/2009/06/14/projecto-de-revitalizacao-da-zona-portuaria-sera- apresentado-no-proximo-sabado-756336065.asp, accessed 10 July 2009.

[34] Duarte, ‘Large Scale Urban Projects and Dual City’.

[35] Ibid., 32.

[36] Ministerio do Esporte, Legados De Megeventos Esportivos, 21.

[37] Focus Group Respondent, F 14 (Walthamstow).

[38] Nava, ‘Visceral Cosmopolitanism’, 15.

[39] Rivenburgh, ‘The Olympic Games’, 46.

[40] Burbank et al., Olympic Dreams.

[41] GLA, ‘Annual London Survey 2009’, 11–12.

[42] Ibid. See Table 1 for questionnaire results.

[43] 15 focus groups were recorded between January 2009 and August 2009. These groups, usually involving about six respondents, invariably reflecting the complex ethic, cultural and hybrid identities characteristic of their boroughs' population were sampled from various age groups, especially young people in local schools, representing each of the five Olympic boroughs. The groups lasted between 45 minutes and one hour, and were video-recorded for inclusion in the ‘East London Lives’ 2012 digital archive. The participants were invited to discuss and consider an array of topics, with an emphasis on ‘legacy’– and to explore thoughts and ideas about the 2012 Games – a mega event on their doorstep. Questions of identity and nation often emerged spontaneously. The cited excerpts refer to groups conducted in schools in Newham and in Waltham Forest.

[44] Damkjær, ‘Post-Olympism and the Aestheticisation of Sport’, 213.

[45] Kidd, ‘Recapturing Alternative Olympic Histories’. MacAloon, This Great Symbol.

[46] Smith and Porter, Sport and National Identity, 13.

[47] Nava, ‘Visceral Cosmopolitanism’, 164.

[48] Carrington, ‘Cosmopolitan Olympism’, 97.