Titres dans Olympique

Lorsqu'il édita ces Mémoires olympiques, Pierre de Coubertin avait 69 ans en 1931. Ce livre est particulièrement utile pour comprendre l'Esprit des Jeux Olympiques de l'ère moderne tels qu'ils ont été recréés sous l'impulsion de Pierre de Coubertin. Car Pierre de Coubertin dut batailler ferme avant de pouvoir imposer son œuvre qui s'inscrit dans un contexte politique précis dont on retrouve la trace dans son récit.

Even today, it’s considered one of the most thrilling races in Olympic history. The hundred-meter sprint final at the 1924 Paris Games, featuring three of the world’s fastest swimmers—American legends Duke Kahanamoku and Johnny Weissmuller, and Japanese upstart Katsuo Takaishi—had the cultural impact of other milestone moments in Olympic history: Jesse Owens’s podiums in Berlin and John Carlos’s raised, black-gloved fist in Mexico City. Never before had an Olympic swimming final prominently featured athletes of different races, and never had it been broadcast live.

"Athletes first" is a slogan the International Olympic Committee often touts, but the reality is very different, as preeminent Olympics expert Jules Boykoff shows in this book. While the world’s attention is riveted by the triumphs and tribulations on their screens, there is much that goes on behind the scenes that is deeply troubling: athletes are increasingly voicing concerns over physical, mental and sexual abuse, and they are collectively expressing grievances around equity and human rights.