Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan

The London Olympics of 2012

Politics, Promises and Legacy

  • Book
  • © 2015

Overview

Authors:
  1. Stephen Wagg

    1. Leeds Beckett University, UK

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Global Culture and Sport Series (GCS)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. The Contemporary Olympic Games — Commercial Juggernaut or the Price of Progress?

    • Stephen Wagg
    Pages 1-13

  3. The Games Come to London

    • Stephen Wagg
    Pages 14-28

  4. ‘It Remains Unclear How Local People Will Benefit …’: Post-Bid, Pre-Games — Prognostication and Protest

    • Stephen Wagg
    Pages 29-43

  5. Looking for Inspiration: The Politics of the Olympic Flame at London 2012

    • Stephen Wagg
    Pages 44-60

  6. ‘Isambard Kingdom Brunel Wasn’t a Marxist’: The Opening Ceremony of London 2012

    • Stephen Wagg
    Pages 61-89

  7. ‘Just Put Down the Pepsi …’: London 2012 and the Corporations

    • Stephen Wagg
    Pages 90-133

  8. How Good Does That Feel? London 2012: Media and Celebrity

    • Stephen Wagg
    Pages 134-159

  9. Islands of Gentrification? London 2012: Politics and Legacy

    • Stephen Wagg
    Pages 160-195

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 196-211
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

Analysing the politics of the 2012 London Olympics, Stephen Wagg examines the framing of London's bid to host the Games, arguments about the Games' likely impact and the establishment of 'Fortress London' to protect the Games. The book asks who won, and who lost out, in this important event as well as exploring its media coverage and legacy.

Reviews

"Stephen Wagg's book makes an invaluable contribution to the growing body of critical literature on the Olympic industry [...] it debunks Olympic industry hype and documents the damaging impacts on individuals and communities" Professor Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, University of Toronto, Canada

"The politics of sport are systemically exposed in this compelling analysis of the London Olympics. Writing within the critical Olympic Studies tradition that he has helped to establish, Stephen Wagg examines the Games from the bid phase to the post-2012 sporting and urban legacies that successive governments promised would arise from hosting the event. The author provides a sharply argued and accessible critique of the UK's political class and its collaboration with the Olympic industry in the staging of London 2012." Professor Gavin Poynter, University of East London, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  • Leeds Beckett University, UK

    Stephen Wagg

About the author

Stephen Wagg is a professor in the Carnegie Faculty of Leeds Beckett University, UK and has written widely on the politics of sport. With Helen Jefferson Lenskyj he edited The Palgrave Handbook of Olympic Studies (2012). His other recent books include Sounds and the City (edited with Brett Lashua and Karl Spracklen, Palgrave, 2014), Thatcher's Grandchildren (edited with Jane Pilcher, Palgrave, 2014) and An Introduction to Leisure Studies (with Peter Bramham, 2014).

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation