1,720,980 research outputs found
Winter Sporting Cultures and Japan
No full textScholars and media sources contest the origins of winter sporting cultures in Japan. For example, many scholars cite an Austro-Hungarian Army officer in the 1910s as systematically introducing skiing as a means of transport and recreational activity. However, in the post-World War II era, especially in the 1960s, there was a rapid growth in winter sports' popularity and infrastructure. Further to the domestic development, Japan has successfully hosted two Winter Olympic Games (Sapporo, 1972 and Nagano, 1998) and the first Winter Paralympic Games by a non-Western host country (Nagano, 1998). Given the sport and cultural signafance of winter sports in Japan and lack of related academic engagement, Such cultural representations are considered through three parts in this chaper: firstly, the participation in winter sports by Japanese citizens; secondly, the tourism industry and Japanese winter resorts; and finally, the use of the Winter Olympic Games to promote and leverage representations of Japanese culture on a global stage. This chapter will survey and present evidence for Japanese and international winter sporting cultures, using academic, government, sports organisations and media sources. The final part of the chapter will re-visit the context of the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics and how representations of winter sports in Japan manifest in political and global imaginaries. It will invite thinking about how winter sporting cultures represent specific Japanese-ness and the relationship between Japan and the world. This chapter concludes with reflections on the political and economic implications of the representations of Japanese society in winter sporting cultures
Tracing FIFA's "flagship women's competition" and its use of legacy from 1991 to 2023
No full textThis chapter examines how legacy emerged as a prominent theme throughout the competitive bid process for the 2023 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Women's World Cup (FWWC). The bid process for this event –the most recent FIFA Women's World Cup award – required all potential (co-)hosts to submit preliminary legacy proposals as part of their official bids. All nations bidding to (co-)host the event were evaluated by FIFA on their women's football development strategies and post-tournament legacy programs, including not only how such strategies might raise the profile of women's football in their respective regions but how they might contribute to improving opportunities for women in society more broadly. Despite the centrality of legacy to recent bid processes, in this chapter we explore how this has not always been the case. As we illustrate, the importance of legacy in FWWC bidding and evaluation is a relatively new phenomenon
The Development and Popularity of Volleyball in Japan: The Impact of the "Witches of the Orient"
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Handbook of Sport and Japan
Full text linkThe Handbook of Sport and Japan presents a fascinating collection of established and new scholarship, a valuable text for readers who want to use sport as lens to look more closely into a nation. The chapters in the handbook convey what taking part in sport feels and looks like, highlighting the sporting accomplishments of Japanese athletes and teams, while also reflecting how the sporting experience interacts with economics, diplomacy, media, culture, demographics, gender, ethnicity and identity. This book also provides an insight into Japan’s long history and engagement with sport, from the Meiji period until the present day. In this collection, contributions pose key questions about what conclusions can be made when sport is placed in the foreground of key events in Japanese history, including pre-war industrialization and empire building, to the post-war economic boom, the 2011 Tōhoku Disaster and the recent COVID-19 pandemic
Contextualising and chronicling the gender equality provisions in FIFA’s 2016 governance reforms:Situating the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023
No full textThis chapter situates the 2023 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Women's World Cup by contextualising and chronicling the gender equality statutory amendments passed at FIFA's Congress in February 2016. Co-author Moya Dodd, former member of Australia's women's national football team, was one of the first women on FIFA's Executive Committee and became “the driving force in the recent push for women within FIFA”. Dodd draws upon her first-hand experiences directing these reforms as chair of FIFA's Women's Football Taskforce, which drafted FIFA's Women's Football: 10 Key Development Principles. This chapter contextualises the FIFAGate crisis, introduces the Women's Football Taskforce proposals reflected in the 2016 FIFA Reform Report, and explains FIFA's passage of its gender equality statutory amendments. In so doing, the authors explain the process by which progress towards gender equality was, and can be, advanced within FIFA.</p
The Entanglement of Legacy from London 2012: Paralympic and Olympic Reflections Around the ‘Inspire a Generation’ Aim
No full textThe London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics have been celebrated in the media and popular discourse to have been unified around the promotion and delivery of the able-bodied and disability framed sporting events. To date there has been limited evidence and literature substantively considering the term legacy in the context of London 2012, specifically, from the perspective of a disability community. This paper intends to explore the positionality of the researcher and the findings from a doctoral project that has evaluated the policy and legacy from the ‘inspire a generation’ aim at the London 2012 Games. In terms of positionality, the researcher will articulate the rupturing of their own able-bodied centric perspective in conducting a document analysis and semi-structured interviews, in particular, the emergence of a disability discourse in the findings.
In terms of findings a disability discourse became prevalent in the two phases of data collection. Firstly, through the documents analysis. Where post London 2012 the documents demonstrate a pattern of change in language around inclusivity and disability. Secondly, through the semi-structured interviews. Where a disability discourse has emerged around the supposed tangible legacy of the ‘inspire a generation’ aim, especially, the perception change and delivery of sport in a disability education setting. This paper will present emerging themes and findings that indicate a tension between: legacy literature, empirical evidence and the discourse around disability and the Paralympics more widely. Implications of this research are twofold. Firstly, methodological in terms of the positionality of the researcher; and secondly, empirical in regards to moving our understanding of London 2012 and the legacy aim ‘inspire a generation’ to include and be challenged by the disability community
Inspiring a Generation(?): Interconnecting discourses between governing actors, policy, and legacy around London 2012
Full text linkIn this thesis, I critically examine governing actors, policy, and legacy discourses connected
to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games’ legacy aim to ‘inspire a generation.’
In academic, political, and media scrutiny around the ‘inspire a generation’ legacy aim the
debates are frequently reduced to considering why policy changes or legacy initiatives have
not resulted in observable increases in sport and physical activity among young people. I
move beyond these debates to discuss the governing aspect and to contribute a perspective
on how the legacy aim affected policy across the bidding, planning, delivery, and (ongoing)
legacy of London 2012. I focus on how the official London 2012 educational programme
(Get Set) affected discourses around domestic policy in the sport and education sectors.
To achieve this, I employ a multimethod qualitative design (documentary evidence, political
and policy dialogue, and semi-structured interviews) to, firstly, identify key policy and
legacy documents related to the Get Set educational programme and the London 2012
’inspire a generation’ legacy aim. Secondly, to explore discursive changes to legacy and
policy from the perspective of a variety of governing actors that span across the state,
commercial, and non-profit organisations. Given the importance placed on young people by
the UK Government and the Olympic and Paralympic movements, the legacy aim intersects
both domestic and international discourses, such as neoliberalism and ableism. The findings
of the analysis are examined further through a theoretical lens influenced by the Foucauldian
concept of governmentality.
The findings and discussion demonstrate how policy and legacy discourses have been
interpreted and utilised differently by governing actors, moreover, how such differences can
be analysed through governmental ambitions, political rationalities, and governing
technologies. The findings and discussion highlight, firstly, the ownership and responsibility
of the ‘inspire a generation’ legacy aim as there are distinct differences between the UK
Government and the Olympic and Paralympic organisations formations of governing.
Secondly, the intersection of legacy and policy around the visibility and legitimacy of the
Paralympic movement and disabled young people. The thesis contributes to the ongoing
debate around the London 2012 legacy. It suggests how the case of the ‘inspire a generation’
legacy aim has implications for academics, policymakers, and other agents understanding of
governing systems around young people, sport, and education
Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and the Controversy of the Russian Propaganda Laws: is the IOC Buckling Under the Pressure of its own Incoherence in Thought?
Full text linkThe Sochi Winter Olympics were a triumph in the eyes of Russia and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Yet, a controversy around the introduction of anti-propaganda laws in Russia that had been criticised for being discriminatory marred the efforts of the IOC to fulfil its self proclaimed aspiration of ‘encouraging the harmonious development of man’. This article discusses the controversy utilising a legally pluralist approach to sports governance, and providing a critical reading of the practices of neoliberal globalisation that marked the issue of sexuality at the Sochi games. The paper argues that the legal influence of the IOC on domestic and international legal norms is contradictory and inconsistent. This, when considered alongside the aspirations of the IOC is significantly problematic and demonstrates the importance of investigating the underlying power structures of this influential international governing body
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