Government involvement in high performance sport: An Australian national sporting organisation perspective

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and Summer Olympic National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) to determine the effect the relationship has on Olympic performance outcomes. Five Olympic NSOs were examined: Athletics Australia, Cycling Australia, Rowing Australia, Swimming Australia and Yachting Australia. All five NSOs represent sports in which Australia has consistently achieved strong results at previous Olympic Games. These NSOs receive significant funding from the ASC and, as such, are expected to achieve success at the Olympic Games. The ASC–NSO relationship was examined through an agency theory framework whereby the ‘contracts’ between the ASC (principal) and the NSOs (agents) were investigated through a survey, interviews and document analysis to identify potential management issues that may affect Olympic performance outcomes, such as agent or principal opportunism. The findings identified a lack of a collaborative high performance sport system in Australia, with the findings emphasising concerns over the ASC’s management of NSO programmes. While the ASC staff identified their organisation as the leader of high performance sport in Australia, the study’s NSO participants did not believe that the ASC had the capacity, capability and knowledge to fulfil this role.No Full Tex

Informació i documentació en els Jocs Olímpics

Aquest treball té com a objectiu reflexionar sobre la informació i la documentació dels Jocs Olímpics des de tres perspectives. En primer lloc, el treball presenta l'entorn informatiu dels organitzadors d'events, els Comitès organitzadors dels JJ.OO (els OCOG) i presenta l'exemple de de la gestió de la informació i documentació dins del Comitè organitzador dels JJ.OO. de Sydney, el SOCOG (Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games). En la segona part del treball es destaca el paper de la organització principal en Comitè Olímpic Internacional (COI), com a creador, receptor i col·leccionista de la informació olímpica. L'últim apartat del treball està dedicat a la intersecció de fonts d'informació i documentació olímpica compilades per organitzacions i institucions externes al Moviment Olímpic, com per exemple estudiosos, bibliotecaris i Centres d'Estudis Olímpics. Aquests tres sectors en conjunt, tant dins com fora del Moviment Olímpic, conformen un òrgan complet del coneixement sobre els Jocs Olímpics.Este trabajo tiene como objetivo reflexionar sobre la información y la documentación de los Juegos Olímpicos desde tres perspectivas. En primer lugar, el trabajo presenta el entorno informativo de los organizadores de eventos, los Comités organizadores de los JJ.OO (los COJOs) y presenta el ejemplo de la gestión de la información y documentación dentro del Comité Organizador de los JJ.OO . de Sydney, el SOCOG (Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games). En la segunda parte del trabajo se destaca el papel de la organización principal en el Comité Olímpico Internacional (COI), como creador, receptor y coleccionista de la información olímpica. El último apartado del trabajo está dedicado a la intersección de fuentes de información y documentación olímpica compiladas por organizaciones e instituciones externas al Movimiento Olímpico, como por ejemplo estudiosos, bibliotecarios y Centros de Estudios Olímpicos. Estos tres sectores en conjunto, tanto dentro como fuera del Movimiento Olímpico, conforman un órgano completo del conocimiento sobre los Juegos Olímpicos.This work aims to reflect on the information and documentation of the Olympic Games from three perspectives. In the first place, the work presents the informative environment of the event organizers, the organizing committees of the Olympic Games (the OCOG) and presents the example of the management of the information and documentation within the organizing committee Sydney Olympics, the SOCOG (Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games). In the second part of the paper, the role of the main organization in the International Olympic Committee (COI), as creator, recipient and collector of Olympic information, stands out. The last section of the work is devoted to the intersection of sources of information and Olympic documentation compiled by organizations and institutions external to the Olympic Movement, such as scholars, librarians and Olympic Studies Centers. These three sectors as a whole, both inside and outside of the Olympic Movement, make up a complete body of knowledge about the Olympic Games

Exploring (semi) professionalization in women’s team sport through a continuum of care lens

Professional team male-dominated sports have been built on masculine values; however, these values are challenged by the increasing number of women athletes entering this workplace. In this research, we explore the suitability and gender appropriateness of existing management processes and practices through three women’s professional and semiprofessional leagues. Drawing on a feminist perspective of continuum of care, players (n = 36) and organizational representatives (n = 28) were interviewed to gain insights into how athletes and organizations contend with their rapidly evolving workplaces. Framed around the values of affirmation, empowerment, and belonging, the continuum of care contrasts players’ everyday experiences of care with how organizations administer care. The research contributes through application of the feminist continuum of care. We present considerations for the management of female professional athletes in ways that are careful and an alternative value system that is affirmative, inclusive, and empowering

Women’s professional sport leagues: a systematic review and future directions for research

Women’s professional sport has grown over the last decade and so has academic scholarship investigating it. It is timely to review and consolidate extant scholarship to identify patterns and gaps in research and future directions for research to support continued advancement in women’s professional sport knowledge and practice. This paper presents a systematic quantitative literature review (SQLR) of 57 academic peer-reviewed journal articles researching women’s professional sport leagues and published between 2000 and 2019. We provide bibliographic findings, extend the typical SQLR approach and provide an inductive thematic analysis of article findings to synthesise the knowledge base present in the extant research. Based on our SQLR findings, we highlight four key research directions, including the need for (1) diversity in inquiry and reflexivity by researchers, (2) innovative and enabling theories and conceptual frameworks, (3) transdisciplinary research approaches and (4) sustainable business models for women’s professional sport. We emphasise that to advance our theoretical understandings and sport management practices in women’s professional sport, academics must commit to exploring women’s sport in new and different ways, to achieve new and different knowledge and outcomes

'Here be dragons, here be savages, here be bad plumbing: Australian media representations of sport and terrorism

As 'Propaganda Theorists argue, an examination of key discourses can enhance our understanding of how economic, political and social debate is shaped by mainstream media reporting. In this essay we present content and discourse analysis of Australian media reporting on the nexus of sport and terrorism. Examining newspaper reports over a five-year period, from 1996-2001, which included the 11 September 2001 terrorist tragedy in the United States (9/11), provides useful insights into how public discourse might be influenced with regard to sport and terrorism interrelationships. The results of the media analysis suggest that hegemonic tropes are created around sport and terrorism. The distilled message is one of good and evil, with homilies of sport employed in metaphors for western society and its values. The reactions and responses of sport administrators and athletes to terrorist acts and the threat of terrorism to sport are used to exemplify these ideals, providing newspaper readers a context within which to localize meaning and relevance

Mapping the Discipline of the Olympic Games An Author- Cocitation Analysis

When most people think about the Olympic Games it is usually in terms of athletic performance. Clearly they are more than that (see Toohey & Veal, 1990). Even the mass media does not confine itself to covering only the sporting angle. For example, symbolism, economic factors, nationalism and politics routinely appear in mass media articles relating to the Olympic Games. There are scholarly journals that are devoted exclusively to the Olympic Games, such as Olympika and the Journal of Olympic History. So what do we mean when we talk about Olympic scholarship? Cursory scanning of other sport journals also reveals a plethora of subjects ranging from legal aspects to history to philatelic aspects among a host of Olympic topics. This paper questions how can we identify, classify and measure them.Olympic Games, Olympic scholarship, sport journal

Perceptions of Terrorism Threats at the 2004 Olympic Games: Implications for Sport Events

A legacy of September 11, 2001, and subsequent terrorist attacks such as the Bali, (2002), Madrid (2004) and London (2005) bombings, is evidenced in the increased security measures put in place at major sport events. Heightened attention to safety management and public concern about terrorism threats and perception of risk has now become a fundamental component of the planning and risk management strategies for sport events. On the basis of appraisal-tendency theory (Lerner & Keltner, 2001), we investigated effects of anger and fear on risk judgments of 277 attendees at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Attendees who reported being fearful or feeling unsafe at the Games displayed increased risk estimates and associated concerns, whilst respondents expressing defiance and anger produced opposite reactions. Male respondents had less pessimistic risk perceptions than did females, and men were more likely than women to report that the increased security measures detracted from their Olympic Games experience. Nationality had minimal effect on perceptions of risk except in the case of the host country, with Greek respondents reporting fewer concerns for safety but greater awareness of the security measures present at the Games. The discussion focuses on theoretical, methodological and practical implications

Informació i documentació en els Jocs Olímpics

Aquest treball té com a objectiu reflexionar sobre la informació i la documentació dels Jocs Olímpics des de tres perspectives. En primer lloc, el treball presenta l'entorn informatiu dels organitzadors d'events, els Comitès organitzadors dels JJ.OO (els OCOG) i presenta l'exemple de de la gestió de la informació i documentació dins del Comitè organitzador dels JJ.OO. de Sydney, el SOCOG (Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games). En la segona part del treball es destaca el paper de la organització principal en Comitè Olímpic Internacional (COI), com a creador, receptor i col·leccionista de la informació olímpica. L'últim apartat del treball està dedicat a la intersecció de fonts d'informació i documentació olímpica compilades per organitzacions i institucions externes al Moviment Olímpic, com per exemple estudiosos, bibliotecaris i Centres d'Estudis Olímpics. Aquests tres sectors en conjunt, tant dins com fora del Moviment Olímpic, conformen un òrgan complet del coneixement sobre els Jocs Olímpics.Este trabajo tiene como objetivo reflexionar sobre la información y la documentación de los Juegos Olímpicos desde tres perspectivas. En primer lugar, el trabajo presenta el entorno informativo de los organizadores de eventos, los Comités organizadores de los JJ.OO (los COJOs) y presenta el ejemplo de la gestión de la información y documentación dentro del Comité Organizador de los JJ.OO . de Sydney, el SOCOG (Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games). En la segunda parte del trabajo se destaca el papel de la organización principal en el Comité Olímpico Internacional (COI), como creador, receptor y coleccionista de la información olímpica. El último apartado del trabajo está dedicado a la intersección de fuentes de información y documentación olímpica compiladas por organizaciones e instituciones externas al Movimiento Olímpico, como por ejemplo estudiosos, bibliotecarios y Centros de Estudios Olímpicos. Estos tres sectores en conjunto, tanto dentro como fuera del Movimiento Olímpico, conforman un órgano completo del conocimiento sobre los Juegos Olímpicos.This work aims to reflect on the information and documentation of the Olympic Games from three perspectives. In the first place, the work presents the informative environment of the event organizers, the organizing committees of the Olympic Games (the OCOG) and presents the example of the management of the information and documentation within the organizing committee Sydney Olympics, the SOCOG (Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games). In the second part of the paper, the role of the main organization in the International Olympic Committee (COI), as creator, recipient and collector of Olympic information, stands out. The last section of the work is devoted to the intersection of sources of information and Olympic documentation compiled by organizations and institutions external to the Olympic Movement, such as scholars, librarians and Olympic Studies Centers. These three sectors as a whole, both inside and outside of the Olympic Movement, make up a complete body of knowledge about the Olympic Games