Olympic and Paralympic Analysis 2024 – Mega events, media, and the politics of sport

Articles from Olympic and Paralympic Analysis 2024 will be published throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the final report published on 18th September 2024

• Introduction. Paradox in Paris: Studies in contrast at the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Prof. Daniel Jackson, Dr. Alina Bernstein, Prof. Michael Butterworth, Prof. Younghan Cho, Dr. Danielle Sarver Coombs, Dr. Michael Devlin, Dr. Ana Carolina Vimieiro
  
• Breaking menstrual taboos during the Olympic Games. Dr. Honorata Jakubowska
  
  
• The Olympic Channel’s position and content strategies on the road to Paris 2024. Dr. Xavier Ramon
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• Crowds are important, but the true venue of the Olympics is TV and new media. Dr. Fernando Borges
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• Paris the “greenest” Games in history? The case of surfing suggests otherwise. Prof. Belinda Wheaton and Prof. Holly Thorpe
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• Paris Olympics promote sustainability for good reason: Climate change is putting athletes and their sports at risk. Dr. Brian McCullough
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• The Olympic contestation over political meaning: Security, protest and paradoxes. Dr. Jan Ludvigsen and Dr. Adam Talbot

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• From motherhood to medals: New research sheds light on postpartum guidelines for returning to sport. Dr. Jenna Schulz and Dr. Jane Thornton
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• Stepping into the void: American conservative outrage about the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony. Dr. Michael L. Butterworth and Dr. Douglas Hartmann
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• A kayak repairer working with Olympic athletes: An unknown profession that impacts high-performance. Rémi Delafont, Dr. Helene Joncheray and Dr. Sylvaine Derycke
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• Murky infection control policies at the Paris Olympics. Dr. Kathleen Bachynski
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• Environment and resistance. Dr. Toby Miller
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• How sustainable is Paris 2024? It depends. Dr. Sven Daniel Wolfe
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• Framing a retiring female athlete in the media – The legacy of a minority rugby star. Dr. Riikka Turtiainen
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• Broadening the Olympics coverage from the science side of sports . Dr. José Luis Rojas Torrijos
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• Amidst AI-fakery, an iconic feat of visual authenticity goes viral. Dr. Michael Serazio
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• Fanship and the Caitlin Clark “snub”: social media and U.S. women’s 5×5 Olympic basketball. Prof. Pam Creedon and Dr. Laura A. Wackwitz
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• Legacy of the City of Light. Dr. Peter English
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• Simone Biles did not need “redemption”. Dr. Shanice Jones Cameron and Dr. Daniel A. Grano
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• Gang members and a German who forfeited her citizenship: Kenya’s fencers for 2024 Paris. Dr. Linda K. Fuller
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• Fringe to flag: Nation, the Olympics, and the popularization of golf. Dr. Lou Antolihao 
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• Olympics in the age of Netflix. Dr. Marcio Telles
  
  
• Media coverage of the Olympic refugee team contributes to sportswashing. Dr. Steve Bien-Aimé, Dr. Umer Hussain and Hanbo Liu  
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• Fingernails, tattoos, and iconic photos: Personal branding at the 2024 Olympics. Dr. Jana Wiske 
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• Fighting for the country: Mediated Ukrainian athletes’ success in Paris. Dr. Alice Němcová Tejkalová 
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• The influencers’ games: Communication strategies of the Brazilian Olympic Committee for Paris 2024. Dr. Fausto Amaro and Isadora Ortiz
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• Beyond football: Stefano Peschiera’s Olympic legacy. Dr. Alonso Pahuacho Portella
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• Beyond the podium: The role of protest at the Olympic Games and rule 50. Dr. Jake Kucek
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• Paris 2024 and the LGBTQ+ athlete. Dr. Rory Magrath
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• How Paris 2024 exposed a nexus of governance gaps, gender eligibility chaos and universality utopia. Prof. Dikaia Chatziefstathiou
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• Brazilian soccer legend Marta massively attacked by hate speech at the Paris Olympics. João Vítor Marques
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• Life after the medal: Brazilian Rayssa Leal’s challenges in high-performance skateboarding. Monique de Souza Sant’Anna Fogliatto
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• Propagating ideological discourse through sports and media framing in Iran. Dr. Mahdi Latififard and Dr. Sean R. Sadri
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• The 2024 Olympics and the wars in Ukraine and Middle East – a Critical examination for the IOC and sports journalism. Dr. Jörg-Uwe Nieland
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• A sports media system breaking down like it took a punch from Imane Khelif. Dr. Michael Mirer 
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• Breaking the rings: Twitter’s role in fragmenting Israel’s Olympic media event. Dr. Haim Hagay and Dr. Alina Bernstein
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• Champions of the mind: Positive mental health narratives shaping Olympic athlete success. Dr. Kim Bissell
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• Paris 2024: Spanish women break barriers and make Olympic history. Dr. Nahuel Ivan Faedo
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• Team Brazil on YouTube: the content production of the Brazilian Olympic Committee. Dr. William Douglas de Almeida and Prof. Katia Rubio
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• The Olympics and sports betting. Dr. Jason Kido Lopez
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• It’s not all about you: American perceptions of the 2024 Olympic opening ceremony. Dr. Dorothy Collins
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• In Transit from Tokyo to Los Angeles via Paris: place, memory, fantasy and the Olympics/Paralympics. Prof. David Rowe
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• Media sports events and soft disempowerment: Spotlight on the Zimbabwean delegation to the Olympic games . Dr. Tendai Chari
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• Radio Olympics in the UK. Prof. Raymond Boyle
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• Parenting at the Olympics – how medal-winning mothers and fathers are portrayed in the media. Dr. Karsten Senkbeil 
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• Renewing the fandom of the Olympic Games young audiences, videogames and esports. Dr. Adolfo Gracia Vázquez
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• Safeguarding at Paris 2024: A turning point? Carole Gomez 
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• The optics of parity.  Dr. Amy Bass
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• Did that upset you? – Activism at the Paris 2024 Games.  Dr. Anthony Cavaiani and Dr. Megan Klukowski 
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• Anti-Olympics activism.  Prof. Jules Boykoff 
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• Ethics and quality in journalistic coverage of Paris 2024 – The case of mass media in Colombia.  Prof. Francisco Buitrago Castillo
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• IOC’s positive social media shift: Paris 2024 online reactions.  Dr. Roxane Coche and Dr. Nathan Carpenter
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• Masculinity and the Asian turn at the Olympics.  Dr. Michelle H. S. Ho and Dr. Wesley Lim 
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• On the Paris 2024 Olympic marathon qualification controversy: Is it worth fighting for a dream? Dr. Kateřina Turková
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• The Ilona Maher effect. Dr. Courtney M. Cox
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• A new chapter in Olympic sponsorship at Paris 2024. Dr. T. Bettina Cornwell
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• The Olympic drone-spying scandal and Nike ad campaign: Why the myth of sport always wins. Dr. Karen L. Hartman
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• The Streaming Games: Analyzing NBC’s Coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on Peacock. Dr. Cody T. Havard
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• India and Pakistan celebrate Arshad Nadeem together. Dr. M. Fahad Humayun
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• A growing basketball rivalry: writing new chapters in France and U.S. sports diplomacy. Dr. Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff
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• Latino underrepresentation in Team USA: Systemic barriers ahead of the 2028 LA Olympics. Dr. Vincent Peña
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• Paris 2024 turned into a platform for geopolitical contention. Dr. Jung Woo Lee 
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• From gold medal to cyberbullying: Imane Khelif’s Olympic experience highlights persistent issues of online abuse. Dr. Tammy Rae Matthews
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• Bidding for a future capital: Indonesia’s worlding ambitions for Nusantara 2036. Dr. Friederike Trotier 
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• Brazilian media coverage of Olympians’ protests and demonstrations in Paris 2024. Clarisse Silva Caetano et al.
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• “The half-naked versus the covered”: On the development of sexualization in women’s competitive sport. Dr. Daniela Schaaf and Dr. Jörg-Uwe Nieland
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• Sexist framing in the media coverage of the Paris Olympic Games (OG). Dr. Sandy Montañola
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• As athletes became media producers in Paris, does it make sense for non-rights holders to still attend the Games? Dr. Merryn Sherwood
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• The Queen’s Legacy: Brazil can play without Marta. Dr. Leda Maria da Costa
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• What is next for Olympic surfing? Tiago Brant de Carvalho, Dr. Kevin Filo and Dr. Popi Sotiriadou
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• The new era of the Olympic movement. Dr. Yoav Dubinsky 
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• Paris 2024: South Korean competitive sports at a crossroads. Dr. Guy Podoler
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• Success or failure? – Mediated national expectations and reactions on Olympic performance in Hungary. Dr. Dunja Antunovic and Dr. Tamás Dóczi
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• Weber & Duplantis & Paris 2024 – an unlikely love story? Prof. Aage Radmann and Prof. Susanna Hedenborg
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• The Evolution of Ambush Marketing: Social Media, Rule 40, and Brand Protection at the Paris 2024 Games. Dr. John Grady and Dr. Gashaw Abeza
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• Ageism is an overlooked form of discrimination when it comes to Olympic participation. Dr. Brigid McCarthy
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• Paris 2024 demonstrated the role of unpredictability in competitive surfing, raising discussions about the use of wave pools in the future. André Tavares
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• Women’s participation in the Brazilian journalistic coverage of the Paris Olympic Games. Dr. Soraya Barreto Januário
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• How the U.S. women’s basketball team did without Caitlin Clark – regardless of the gold medal? Dr. Molly Yanity
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• Hijab ban demonstrates hypocritical nature of “liberté, egalité, fraternité” for French Muslim sportswomen. Dr. Adrianne Grubic
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• July in Paris: The last month before the Games. Prof. Garry Whannell
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• The Paralympic Games are still overshadowed by the Olympic Games in terms of media coverage. Dr. Christiana Schallhorn
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• Creating more media visibility for the Paralympics. Dr. David Cassilo
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  How much is a gold medal worth? Dr. Tatiane Hilgemberg
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• Coco Gauff and LeBron James cross the Delaware. Dr. Ever Josue Figueroa
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• Dualism at play: The politics of sport for development and peace. Prof. Shaun Anderson
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• From Long Beach to the 2024 Paris Olympics: The evolution of Snoop Dogg. Prof. Billy Hawkins and Dr. April Peters-Hawkins
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• Black girl magic: The unprecedented triumph of three Black women gymnasts at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Dr. April Peters-Hawkins and Prof. Billy Hawkins
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• The “value” of participating in the Games: about media, money, pressure and representation in sport. Dr. Thomas Horky and Dr. Meistra Budiasa  
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• An exoskeleton on parade: Kevin Piette’s “historical” steps. Dr. James L. Cherney 
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• They’re mistaking rugby for basketball! How can this happen when national media cover the Paralympics? Dr Kristin Vindhol Evensen and Dr Marte Bentzen
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• From sponsorship to transformational social change: the power of paralympic partnerships. Dr. Olga Kolotouchkina, Prof. Carmen Llorente Barrosso and Luis Leardy
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• Using humor vs. inspiration as a social media strategy for the Paralympic Games. Dr. Nicky Lewis
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• The sports diplomacy of Paris ‘24. Dr. J. Simon Rofe 
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• The role of legacy in the organization of the 2024 Olympic Games. Prof. Michaël Attali 
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• Bruna Alexandre at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Gabriel Mayr and Giovana Alves Pinheiro 
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• #Notplayinggames: Social media and disability at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Dr. Filippo Trevisan
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• 2024 Paralympics para equestrians showcase interspecies interdependence on world stage. Melissa Marsden
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• On and off the field of play: Equity and Paralympic sport medicine. Dr. Nancy (Quinn) Harrington
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• Online violence and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Dr. Emma Kavanagh and Dr. Keith D. Parry
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• The appeal of watching the Paralympic Games: “I care about my relatives, not about the sports”. Dr. Veronika Macková and Dr. Ondřej Trunečka 
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• Technology has helped para-athletes compete for decades. But it can also create an unfair advantage. Prof. John Cairney, Dr. Emma Beckman and Prof. Sean Tweedy
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• Glory, gold and GoFundMe’s: Who really profits at the Olympic Games? Dr. Amira Rose Davis 
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• Stories of sexual abuse within Olympic and Paralympic movement point to need for increased policies and protections for athlete-survivors. Lilah Drafts-Johnson
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• Paris 2024 and the agenda of accessibility and inclusion. Prof. Laura Misener
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• Athletes with intellectual impairments and the Paralympics: Achievements and challenges. Prof Jan Burns
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• Vitriol in Tokyo to sexism in Paris?  Narratives about Indian female athletes in Paris Olympics.  Dr. Kulveen Trehan

• Louis Vuitton, Notre Dame and the quest for ‘secular immortality’

  Ben Voyer, Cartier Chaired Professor of Behavioural Sciences, Full Professor, Department of Entrepreneurship, ESCP Business School   09:40 on 11 December, 2024
  The CEO’s splashy style, which some critics see as influenced by US philanthropy, contrasts with the traditional French preference for understated sponsorship. What is Arnault hoping to achieve?

• Move over Olympians, Australia’s wildlife are incredible athletes

  Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University   00:29 on 23 September, 2024
  Have you ever paused to think about the athletic abilities of Australian wildlife? Let’s look at some of our best competitors and how might they fare in a contest against humans and overseas entrants.

• What makes an Italian? An olympic gold medal and a vandalised mural reopen debate about race and citizenship

  Victoria Donnaloja, Early Career Leverhulme Fellow, Department of Sociology, University of Essex   16:57 on 17 September, 2024
  Like hundreds of thousands of others, Paola Egonu only became an Italian citizen as a teenager despite being born there.

• Online public shaming of women athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics highlights gender-based violence

  Gretchen Kerr, Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto   15:31 on 12 September, 2024
  To achieve more diverse and inclusive sport environments, it is essential to prevent and appropriately respond to gender-based violence, including incidents of online public shaming.

• Four reasons the UK should bid for the 2040 Olympic and Paralympic Games

  Mathew Dowling, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Sport Management, Loughborough University   15:43 on 6 September, 2024
  As sport researchers, we meticulously study international sporting events, focusing on their impacts and legacies.

• How to reduce the prohibitive cost of sports wheelchairs to make sport more inclusive

  Timothy Whitehead, Associate Dean Impact, Senior Lecturer in Product Design, Aston University   16:13 on 2 September, 2024
  Many of the 80 million wheelchair users worldwide will never have had a chance to play wheelchair sports. My research seeks to change that.

• What a ‘forgotten’ Torres Strait Island Paralympian teaches us about representation, achievement and history

  Alistair Harvey, UQ Amplify Research Fellow, The University of Queensland   03:27 on 2 September, 2024
  Harry Mosby won a silver medal for Australia at the 1976 Paralympics. It has only recently come to light how significant that achievement was.

• A new campaign aims to tackle period stigma to keep girls and women playing sports

  Sarah Zipp, Associate Professor, Bolte School of Business, Mount Saint Mary's University   22:27 on 29 August, 2024
  There remains a glaring lack of structural support and policies to address the ways menstrual health impacts women’s and girls’ participation in sports at all levels, from grassroots to elite.

• The Paris Olympics celebrated the gender-equal games. The picture isn’t so rosy for women Paralympians

  Georgia Munro-Cook, Research Fellow in Sport and Disability, Griffith University   01:35 on 28 August, 2024
  Just 19% of women with disability are regularly involved in organised sport, which is a big concern nine years before the Brisbane Paralympics.

• What challenges do Paralympic athletes face compared to their Olympic peers?

  Dan van den Hoek, Senior Lecturer, Clinical Exercise Physiology, University of the Sunshine Coast   00:22 on 27 August, 2024
  Many Paralympic athletes have overcome significant obstacles to reach Paris, including funding, accessibility and high-performance training.

• Social media accelerates trolling – just look at Raygun. How can we stop viral moments from spiralling?

  David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University   04:44 on 22 August, 2024
  Social media algorithms, anonymity and viral culture combine to amplify online abuse. To combat trolling, everyone must work together.

• What makes Brisbane 2032 different from Paris and the rest? A ‘climate-positive’ Olympics plan for lasting benefits

  Ali Cheshmehzangi, Head of School, School of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Queensland   20:34 on 18 August, 2024
  Brisbane is aiming to be the first Olympic Games host to make carbon savings greater than the emissions the event produces. That’s easier said than done, so what’s the plan to achieve this goal?

• Balancing the narrative: Celebrating Olympic mothers without losing sight of the postpartum struggle

  Iris Lesser, Assistant Professor in Kinesiology, University of The Fraser Valley   11:41 on 18 August, 2024
  We can appreciate the exceptional performance of mothers in the Olympics, while also recognizing the challenges faced by mothers and the need for realistic role models of postpartum physical activity.

• Why aren’t the Olympics and Paralympics combined into one Games? The reasoning goes beyond logistics

  Laura Misener, Professor & Director, School of Kinesiology, Western University   14:44 on 15 August, 2024
  Olympic host cities must maintain the momentum from the Olympics and ensure Paralympic athletes receive the recognition they deserve for their sporting successes.

• How Paris 2024 became the most memed Olympics ever

  Naomi Smith, Lecturer in Sociology, University of the Sunshine Coast   20:09 on 14 August, 2024
  Between Snoop Dogg’s antics, a muffin-obsessed swimmer and the coolest sharpshooter in the world, this year’s games delivered viral moments in spades.

• Mental health after the Olympics: why so many athletes struggle to adapt to normal life after big competitions

  Juan González-Hernández, Professor and Researcher on Personality, Sport and Health Psychology, Universidad de Granada   13:47 on 14 August, 2024
  26.4% of elite athletes experience serious mental health problems after retirement.

• Raygun is now Australia’s most famous dancer. What does she reveal about our own attitudes towards dance?

  Jeanette Mollenhauer, Honorary Fellow (Dance), Faculty of Fine Arts & Music, The University of Melbourne   20:29 on 13 August, 2024
  Raygun has forced us to focus on many aspects of dance that are often ignored in Australia, including the role of dance in communities and the politics of dance.

• Why is an ultimate goal called a ‘Holy Grail?’

  Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross   12:22 on 12 August, 2024
  Several threads, including pre-Christian mythology, veneration of relics in Christian tradition, and medieval literature, have combined over the centuries into the Holy Grail metaphor of today.

• The major factors behind Australia’s surge to a record-breaking Olympics

  Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania   05:04 on 12 August, 2024
  Australian athletes reached new heights at the Paris Olympics but what was behind the record-breaking medal haul?

• Have the Paris Olympics cracked the code of the circular economy?

  Anna Gerke, Associate Professor in Management, Audencia   09:49 on 11 August, 2024
  The Paris 2024 Olympics Games are the first Olympics organisation committee to have appointed a Circular Economy Officer.

• Paris Olympics 2024: under immense pressure to win, athletes need to practise self-compassion

  Katie Sparks, Lecturer of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Staffordshire University   13:43 on 9 August, 2024
  After years of training, focus and preparation, losing can be a devastating experience for athletes, so they need to develop a coping strategy – self-compassion is a good place to start.

• We ranked all 34 Olympic sports by sustainability – here’s the leaderboard

  Thomas Cuckston, Professor of Accounting and Ecology, University of Birmingham   13:43 on 9 August, 2024
  The IOC asked every sport to prepare a sustainability strategy, and some are much better than others.

• ‘Olympic comedown’ is a common ailment after the games – here’s what it is and how athletes cope

  Helen Owton, Lecturer in Sport and Fitness, Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, The Open University School of Education, Childhood, Youth & Sport, The Open University   12:09 on 9 August, 2024
  Olympic depression is common ailment for athletes post-competition.

• Why Olympic success can come at the cost of mental health for youth athletes

  Lisa O'Halloran, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, Nottingham Trent University   12:09 on 9 August, 2024
  Competing in the Olympics might be considered the pinnacle of any athletic career, but there may be a dark side for young sportspeople peaking so early on the world stage.

• Paris Games herald a new anti-corruption era, but carrying the torch may pose an Olympic challenge for the US

  Andy Spalding, Professor of Law, University of Richmond   09:49 on 9 August, 2024
  France’s distinctive anti-corruption legal framework made possible an Olympics free from major corruption scandals.

• Paralympics showcase high-tech prosthetics, but for many people with limb loss, access to prostheses looks quite different

  Alfiya Battalova, Assistant Professor in Justice Studies, Royal Roads University   16:20 on 17 September, 2024
  The role of prosthetic devices in the lives of people with limb loss cannot be overestimated. But acquiring prosthetic limbs can be challenging and expensive for patients.

• Too many disabled young people are missing out on PE – here’s how that could change

  Janine Coates, Senior Lecturer in Qualitative Research Methods, Loughborough University   12:58 on 12 September, 2024
  Too often, disabled children are not afforded the same opportunities as their peers

• If we truly want our Paralympic athletes to shine, their coaches need more support

  Andrew Bennie, Associate Professor, Health and Physical Education/Sport Development, Western Sydney University   02:44 on 9 September, 2024
  Other nations have begun to invest more seriously in para sports, which may be a sign Australia needs to invest more in coaches of future Paralympians.

• Why the Paralympics ‘inclusive’ messaging is misleading

  P. David Howe, Professor, Western University   19:40 on 8 September, 2024
  While the Paralympics enhance visibility for athletes, its use of inclusivity can mislead the public and overshadow other important disability sports and grassroots initiatives.

• Useless spies save Britain in the brilliant Slow Horses – what you should watch, listen to and read this week

  Naomi Joseph, Arts + Culture Editor   15:43 on 6 September, 2024
  A funny spy thriller, a classic album, a blockbuster feminist exhibition, a good book about a bad childhood and the end of our summer of sport

• Who are the greatest Paralympians of all time?

  Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania   01:24 on 6 September, 2024
  Thousands of elite athletes have made it to the Paralympics Games. But who are the greatest Paralympians? And how would you decide?

• Paris is adding another page to Paralympic history but what will its legacy be?

  Simon Darcy, Professor of Social Inclusion - UTS Business School - Co-Lead UTS Disability Research Network - Australian Centre for Olympic and Sport Studies - Centre for Sport, Business and Society, University of Technology Sydney   04:11 on 4 September, 2024
  The Paralympics have evolved from an archery competition between hospital wards to a global mega-event, but what will the Paris legacy be?

• Paris 2024 Paralympics in pictures

  Matt Garrow, Editorial Web Developer   06:02 on 2 September, 2024
  The best pictures from the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

• Technology has helped para athletes compete for decades. But it can also create an unfair advantage

  John Cairney, Professor and Head of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences; Director, The Queensland Centre for Olympic and Paralympic Studies, The University of Queensland   06:29 on 30 August, 2024
  While technology presents challenges around fairness, it also offers solutions.

• The Paralympics can be an economic boon for host cities – and leave a unique legacy

  Kirsten Holmes, Professor, School of Management and Marketing, Curtin University   06:06 on 30 August, 2024
  The Olympic and Paralympic games have been awarded to host cities in tandem since the early 2000s. But hosting the Paralympics can bring a city unique benefits that long outlast the games.

• Why sport must be (re)imagined in ways that make it more accessible for all disabled athletes

  Jennifer Mooradian, Doctoral Candidate, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Department of Sport Management, Brock University   20:23 on 28 August, 2024
  If sport is for everyone, sport must be (re)imagined in ways that make it more accessible for all bodies. We have an ethical responsibility to change sport to make it meaningfully inclusive for all.

• Classifications, history and Australian hopes: what to expect at the Paris Paralympics

  Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania   20:18 on 28 August, 2024
  As Paris prepares to host the Paralympic Games, you may be wondering how classification works, which Aussies to watch, or whether there any sports unique to the Paralympics.

• When Paralympic athletes fake the extent of their disability

  Jaime Schultz, Professor of Kinesiology, Penn State   12:33 on 28 August, 2024
  Parasports couldn’t exist without classifying competitors by their physical and mental limitations. But the process is far from perfect, and a handful of athletes have tried to game the system.

• Paralympic classification isn’t just a way to organize sports – it also affects athletes’ experience

  Janet Lawson, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, University of Manitoba   19:17 on 27 August, 2024
  The classification system is meant to ensure all athletes have a fair and equitable chance at achieving success. However, for some athletes, the process of getting classified can itself be damaging.

• Break dancing used to pride itself on inclusivity – so why is it in the Olympic Games but not the Paralympics?

  Simon Hayhoe, Associate Professor of Special Educational Needs, Disability & Inclusion, University of Exeter   11:48 on 2 August, 2024
  Break dance can help with balance and teach ways to fall safely, both of which are helpful for people with visual impairments.

• Despair after four years of pressure: how do Olympians deal with disappointment?

  Christopher Mesagno, Senior Lecturer - Sport and Exercise Psychology, Research Fellow - Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University   02:14 on 1 August, 2024
  Athletes can spend four years preparing for an Olympic or Paralympic games. For those who don’t achieve their goals, the disappointment can be crushing.

• Surviving the Olympiczzzzz: how fans can best cope with sleep deprivation during major overseas events

  Shona Halson, Associate professor, school of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University   01:40 on 25 July, 2024
  Many sports fans will suffer sleep deprivation as they stay up to watch the Olympics but there are ways to minimise it and bounce back after the closing ceremony.

• People with disability know bodies can be funny – so it’s OK that you’re laughing at the Paralympics TikTok account

  Shane Clifton, Associate Professor of Practice, School of Health Sciences and the Centre for Disability Research and Policy, University of Sydney   20:22 on 23 July, 2024
  The genius TikTok account for the Paralympics draws on the comedic beauty of disabled bodies. It is a relief to see a promotion of the Paralympics that avoids the usual stereotypes.

• Brand Olympics: do the famous rings deliver value to host countries?

  Steven Greenland, Professor in Marketing, Charles Darwin University   02:26 on 18 July, 2024
  What makes the Olympics’ five rings such a powerful brand, and do they deliver value for host nations?