On February 4 the XXIV Olympic Winter Games will open in Beijing, marking the first time a city will host both the summer and winter Olympic Games. Politics — both within China and the Olympic movement more broadly — have been a major point of discussion, when the International Olympic Committee selected China to host the Games as well as with more recent announcements of diplomatic boycotts of the event. Professor Dichter will discuss how politics influenced the 2022 Olympic Winter Games selection process, resulting in Beijing’s victory, and how efforts to use the Olympic Games for political reasons historically have fared.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER: Heather Dichter is Associate Professor of sport history and sport management in the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK. She has published widely on international sport and diplomacy, including her recent book, Bidding for the 1968 Olympic Games: International Sport’s Cold War Battle with NATO (Massachusetts, 2021). Her edited book,Soccer Diplomacy: International Relations and Football since 1914 (Kentucky, 2020) was shortlisted for The Telegraph Sports Book Awards Football Book of the Year.