Olympic Turnaround: How the Olympic Games Stepped Back from the Brink of Extinction to Become the World’s Best Known Brand - and a Multibillion Dollar Global Franchise

Abstract

First paragraph: A notable moment in the 1993 film adaptation of Kasuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day comes when Lewis, a wealthy American dinner party guest, pillories a table full of European aristocrats. The party, a group reminiscent in habitus and preoccupation with Pierre de Coubertin’s foundational International Olympic Committee (IOC), is taken aback. Lewis throws up his hands at their meddling in the serious business of global diplomacy, as it turns out, hurtling into World War II: You are, all of you, amateurs … Do you have any idea of what sort of place the world is becoming around you? … You need professionals to run your affairs, or you’re headed for disaster (The Remains of the Day 1993, adapted from Ishiguro 1989:106-107). Transplanted into the field of global sport and projected 50-odd years later, Michael Payne’s Olympic Turnaround recounts a similar ‘wake-up’ call – in this instance aimed at the IOC of the late 20th century. Payne is a former athlete (skiing) whose career flourished in sports marketing management – in an era (the 1970s) when this was a relatively underdeveloped area.