Occupying the Olympics: What can be done? (From @tentcityuni) #occupy2012
It was timely to hold a session at the Tent City University within the Occupy London camp on the notion of occupying the Olympics a day prior to the Independent reporting that the government are looking to ban demonstrations during the games next year. It emphasised completely what is going to happen, and what will happen, as the government cannot afford to allow for the games to fail (both financially, politically and internationally) – they will move the (*cringe for sports-related metaphor*) goalposts, whatever they are currently, to ensure that when the eye of the (carefully briefed and paying-customers) world’s media is upon …
Conclusions from the International Olympic Academy, Postgraduate Session
For the last four weeks I was in Ancient Olympia studying at the International Olympic Academy as part of their 18th Postgraduate Session. The sessions were split by weekly topics (week 1: Ancient Greece/Olympics; week 2: Revival of the modern games/social, economic and sports management; week 3: Philosophy and Ethics; week 4: Conclusions) and at the end were asked as groups of 6-8 to prepare conclusions that would be presented during the final ‘closing ceremony’ and would be published, and eventually shared with the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland. Although my work is closer to topics presented in week 2/week …
Olympic education and the need to protect critique: Guest Post for @Podiumfor2012
Taken at the International Olympic Academy, Ancient Olympia Last week I was asked to write a guest blog post for Podium. Podium are the official link between the London 2012 Olympic Games and higher and further education institutions – and encourage and promote the Olympic movement through education. I was asked to write about my experience/thoughts on the International Olympic Academy (where I have been for the month of September), an often under looked, but critically important part of the modern Olympic movement. An extract from the post is below, the full article is available here. “To those outside of the Olympic studies field, the notion …
Presentation at the International Olympic Academy: Harnessing the Twitter Olympics
If you’ve been following on twitter, you’ll know that I’ve been studying at the postgraduate session at the International Olympic Academy in Greece (near Ancient Olympia) since the start of September. Each week is based on a core set of themes (ancient history, sports management and sociology etc), with rotating visiting professors from differing background and related participant presentations (that were used to apply for the academy). This week, during philosophy and ethics week, I delivered my own paper on the twitter olympics, looking at the use of new media from Vancouver to London (but touching more on protest, resistance …
What I am working on: Four weeks in Greece, Blogging at IOA
Realised that I’ve been *really* busy on a couple of things but I haven’t blogged about anything in a while (the problem when you only seem to write up things that you’ve completed or attended) – I’m going to try and write some more “what I am working on” posts rather than simply waiting until the final product. A few months ago, I wrote about how I had been given the opportunity to attend the International Olympic Academy for their 18th Postgraduate Session in Olympic Studies. The session is due to begin in just over a week’s time and I’ve …
Accepted at the International Olympic Academy (2nd-30th September, 2011)
Below is the abstract that I submitted to the International Olympic Academy Postgraduate Session committee back in March. I recently found out that had been accepted and I would be representing the United Kingdom this September. Stoked. The Postgraduate Session is a four week seminar space (a bit like a summer school) that is dedicated to varies aspects of the Olympic movement and Olympism. It is located in Greece, nearby to the ancient Olympia (where the first games were held) – of course, when I told my mum that I had been given this prestigious opportunity, she said that firstly, I need to work …