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Abstract
This paper offers an overview, and critical, comparative reading, of the discourses of international development championed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) versus those ascribed through media and corporate communications to the 2016 Summer Olympics, awarded in 2009 to the city of Rio de Janeiro. The first Olympics bestowed to a South American host, the Rio 2016 Games continue the trend of (a) sports mega-events moving to the Global South and (b) the positioning of such events within a broader development policy agenda that advocates for a focus on sport and physical culture. Based on the data analysed, although the IOC now champions ‘Sport for Development and Peace’ (SDP) in ways that ostensibly and progressively challenge traditional development orthodoxy, there remains a tension between this vision of SDP on the one hand, and, on the other, the hegemony of new-liberal development philosophy as it underpins the hosting of global sports mega-events. These competing discourses of development suggest the need for the ongoing critical analyses into the ability, or the likelihood, of the Rio 2016 Games to contribute to sustainable and equitable change for the people of Rio, and cautious consideration of the extent to which the IOC's ethos of SDP has made inroads within the broader cultural and political economy.
Notes
†Current affiliation: School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, Durham, UK
1 An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 10th International Symposium for Olympic Research, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, October 2010 and appears in the conference proceedings: Barney, Forsyth, and Heine, eds. Rethinking Matters Olympic.
2 See CitationCornelissen, ‘The Geopolitics of Global Aspiration’.
3 CitationLee, ‘Rio de Janeiro Wins Bid for 2016 Summer Games’.
4 CitationSwart and Bob, ‘The Seductive Discourse of Development’, CitationCornelissen, ‘A Delicate Balance’.
5 CitationKidd, ‘A New Social Movement’, CitationLevermore and Beacom, eds., Sport and International Development.
6 CitationDesai and Vahed, ‘World Cup 2010’; CitationAlegi, ‘The Political Economy of Mega-Stadiums and the Underdevelopment of Grassroots Football in South Africa’; CitationCuri, Knijnik, and Mascarenhas, ‘The Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro 2007’; CitationGaffney, ‘Mega-events and Socio-spatial Dynamics in Rio de Janeiro, 1919–2016’.
7 CitationLevermore, ‘Sport-in-International Development’.
8 Cornelissen, ‘A Delicate Balance’.
9 CitationGreig, Hulme and Turner, Challenging Global Inequality.
10 CitationJudt, Ill Fares the Land.
11 CitationWorld Organization Against Torture, Poverty, Inequality and Violence.
12 Cornelissen, ‘The Geopolitics of Global Aspiration’; Gaffney, ‘Mega-events and socio-spatial dynamics in Rio de Janeiro, 1919–2016’; CitationTomlinson, ‘Whose Accolades?’.
13 CitationInvernizzi and Otero, ‘Introduction: Neo-Liberal Brazil and Beyond’.
14 Ibid.
15 CitationUnited Nations Development Program, ‘Human Development Report, 2007/2008’.
17 Cornelissen, ‘The Geopolitics of Global Aspiration’.
18 See Swart and Bob, ‘The Seductive Discourse of Development’, ‘A Delicate Balance’, CitationBlack, ‘Dreaming Big’.
19 Cornelissen, ‘The Geopolitics of Global Aspiration’ and ‘A Delicate Balance’.
20 CitationCornelissen and Swart, ‘The 2010 Football World Cup as a Political Construct’.
21 CitationGuest, ‘The Diffusion of Development-through-sport’.
22 CitationBlack, ‘The Symbolic Politics of Sport Mega-Events’.
23 See CitationCoalter, ‘Sport-in-Development’.
24 Levermore, ‘Sport-in-International Development’.
25 CitationDarnell, ‘Power, Politics and Sport for Development and Peace’.
26 Levermore and Beacom, Sport and International Development.
27 Greig, Hulme, and Turner, Challenging Global Inequality.
28 CitationHall, ‘Urban Entrepreneurship, Corporate Interests and Sports Mega-Events’.
29 CitationHorne and Manzenreiter, ‘An Introduction to the Sociology of Sports Mega-Events’.
30 Greig, Hulme, and Turner, Challenging Global Inequality.
31 CitationBlack and Van Der Westhuizen, ‘The Allure of Global Games for ‘Semi-Peripheral’ Polities and Spaces’.
32 Hall, ‘Urban Entrepreneurship, Corporate Interests and Sports Mega-Events’.
33 CitationWhitson and Horne, ‘Underestimated Costs and Overestimated Benefits?’.
34 Hall, ‘Urban Entrepreneurship, Corporate Interests and Sports Mega-Events’.
35 Gaffney, ‘Mega-Events and Socio-Spatial Dynamics in Rio de Janeiro, 1919–2016’.
36 Curi, Knijnik, and Mascarenhas, ‘The Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro 2007’.
37 Gaffney, ‘Mega-Events and Socio-Spatial Dynamics in Rio de Janeiro, 1919–2016’; Curi, Knijnik, and Mascarenhas, ‘The Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro 2007’.
38 CitationWagar, ‘Marginal Benefit of Hosting the Summer Olympics’.
39 CitationMurad, ‘Pan-2007 no RJ: um olhar e algumas considerações’.
40 Horne and Manzenreiter, ‘An Introduction to the Sociology of Sports Mega-Events’, p. 11.
41 CitationWilson and Hayhurst, ‘Digital Activism’, p. 177.
42 Ibid.
43 CitationLiao and Markula, ‘Reading Media Texts in Women's Sport’.
44 CitationSchuurman, ‘Critical Development Theory’.
45 Ibid.
46 CitationNgonyama, ‘The 2010 FIFA World Cup: Critical Voices From Below’.
47 See Darnell, ‘Power, Politics and Sport for Development and Peace’, Wilson and Hayhurst, ‘Digital Activism’.
48 CitationPayne, ‘The Politics of Unequal Development’.
49 See CitationPeacock, ‘A Secret Instinct of Social Preservation’, Third World Quarterly, 2011.
50 CitationCoalter, ‘The Politics of Sport-for-Development’.
53 http://www.olympic.org/development-through-sport. It is also interesting to note that the other five components of Olympism in Action could all be considered part of an international development mandate as well.
55 CitationInternational Olympic Committee and United Nations, ‘Recommendations UN-IOC Forum’.
56 Levermore, ‘Sport-in-International Development’.
57 Coalter, ‘The Politics of Sport-for-Development’.
58 The 2nd UN – IOC Forum on Sport, Peace and Development Took Place on May 10 and 11, 2011 During Which the Recommendations from 2010 were Revisited.
59 CitationHeron, ‘Desire for Development’.
60 Live Your Passion: Rio Citation2016. http://www.rio2016.org.br/sumarioexecutivo/default_en.asp.
61 Ibid., 3.
62 Ibid., 4.
63 Black, ‘Dreaming Big’.
64 Cornelissen, ‘A Delicate Balance’, David Black.
65 Live Your Passion: Rio 2016, p. 3.
66 Ibid., 3.
67 CitationReuters, ‘Brazil Stocks Jump on Rio Olympic Victory’.
68 CitationAll Africa, ‘GEDA to Benefit From Zuma's Visit to Brazil’.
69 CitationAllison and Monnington, ‘Sport, Prestige and International Relations’.
70 CitationRabuffetti, ‘Rio Olympic Win Latest Step in Brazil Transformation’.
71 CitationBihong, ‘News Analysis?’.
72 CitationUsborne, ‘Windy City Holds Its Breath’.
73 See CitationLenskyj, Olympic Industry Resistance.
74 Levermore, ‘Sport-in-International Development’.
75 Gaffney, ‘Mega-Events and Socio-spatial Dynamics in Rio de Janeiro, 1919–2016’; Curi, Knijnik, and Mascarenhas, ‘The Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro 2007’.
77 CitationEssex and Chalkley, ‘Olympic Games’; CitationSilvestre, ‘The Social Impacts of Mega-Events’.
78 CitationSugden and Tomlinson, ‘Not for the Good of the Game’.
79 Wilson and Hayhurst, ‘Digital Activism’.
80 CitationGruneau, ‘Sport, Development and the Challenge of Slums’.
81 Coalter, ‘The Politics of Sport-for-Development’.
82 CitationBiccum, ‘Global Citizenship and the Legacy of Empire’.
83 Ibid.
84 CitationProni, ‘A Reinvenção dos Jogos Olimpicos’.
85 CitationTomlinson, ‘Olympic Survivals’.
86 CitationCiochetto, ‘People, Profit, Planet’.
87 Guest, ‘The Diffusion of Development-Through-Sport’, p. 1337.
88 Kidd, ‘A New Social Movement’.