Olympic Winter Games in Non-Western Cities: State, Sport and Cultural Diplomacy in Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022

Abstract

The summer and winter Olympics share the five-ring logo. However, their social and political connotations differ. The Olympic Winter Games displays an aura of a game for the rich and powerful. A few aspiring nations intend to host this luxurious sporting festival in order to polish their international reputations as powerful actors in the global capitalist order. The cases of Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022 illustrate this pattern. Wallerstein's world-system theory is a useful conceptual tool to examine the context of each Olympics, the content of the Olympic ceremonies, the nature of athletic competitions, and the post-event political environment. Although the three nations have different historical backgrounds and different diplomatic aims, the winter Olympics provided the trio with an opportunity to construct an image of major global or regional power. Russian Olympic diplomacy in Sochi was impressive but its post-event aggression undercut its soft power exercise on the ice. South Korea acquired desired political outcomes by hosting the Olympic Winter Games and its peace campaign continued after the event. China has the potential to highlight its emerging world power status at Beijing 2022. Yet, increasing China scepticism in the West may impede its winter Olympic diplomacy.While the summer and winter Olympics are global sport mega-events that share the identical five-ring logo, the social and political connotations of the two occasions differ significantly. 1 Most notably, the global north and south divide is more clearly visible at the Olympic Winter Games than its summer counterpart because economic and cultural barriers to winter sports are higher than most summer sporting activities. 2 At the same time, the winter Olympics today seems to reinforce Western cultural hegemony and white privilege as North American, European and Scandinavian athletes prevail in most of the winter Olympic events. 3 The winter sport mega-event awarded to non-Western cities, namely Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022, involves a distinctive interplay amongst state, sport, and cultural diplomacy. 4 Despite, or because of, the economic and cultural

War and Peace, Freeze and Thaw: Regional Narratives of North Korea and the 2018 Winter Olympics

“…Unsurprisingly, given the tense environment over the previous years with nuclear tests and missile launches, themes of war, conflict, peace and reunification were central to the coverage, and are therefore the focus of this paper. These themes are consistent with previous research on these Winter Olympics (English & Murray, 2022; Lee, 2020, 2021a, 2021b, 2022; Rowe, 2019, 2022). However, this paper applies a systematic approach to analysing the qualitative data from a sample drawn from four East-Asian publications, and deals specifically with the research question of how regional narratives portrayed North Korea’s participation in the Games?…”

“…Briefly, as North Korea’s history has been covered in detail in recent scholarship (see English & Murray, 2022; Lee, 2021a, 2021b, Rowe, 2019), sport has often been employed as a tool for nation building, political propaganda, and gaining recognition for its teams (see Jung, 2001; Lee, 2022; Lee & Bairner, 2009, 2017; Merkel, 2014; Min & Choi, 2019). A decade after the Korean War from 1950–53, North Korea was approved as a separate entity for Olympic purposes and participated in the 1964 Winter Games (Lee, 2022).…”

“…Relying on a sporting event to diffuse long-standing tensions was a lot to wish for. As Lee (2021a) has argued, it was an exaggerated claim that sport could resolve disputes between nations, although he later noted that the PyeongChang mega-event functioned “as a catalyst for a degree of reconciliation in Northeast Asian geopolitics” (Lee, 2021b, p. 1503).…”

“…As the focus shifts from East Asia, it is timely to reflect on the opening stage of this phase when mega sport, geo-politics and sports diplomacy intersected due to North Korea’s involvement (see English & Murray, 2022). In the relatively short time since PyeongChang 2018, there has been detailed scholarship on the Winter Olympics and themes of peace and sports diplomacy in the media (see Lee, 2020, 2021a, 2021b, 2022; Rowe, 2019, 2022). Rowe (2019) notes how these Games were the “centre of global media news discourse” while Lee (2021a) described reconciliation as a key factor in the coverage, and a development which may have changed geopolitics in Northeast Asia.…”

Gerakan Olimpiade dan Pengaruhnya Terhadap Gaya Hidup Aktif Masyarakat Indonesia

“…Olimpiade merupakan perhelatan olahraga terbesar karena diikuti oleh hampir seluruh negara yang ada di 5 benua di dunia yang tercermin dari 5 cincin yang saling berkait sebagai logonya (Lee, 2021;Müller et al, 2021;Kavasoglu, Kaplan & Yenel, 2021;Demarie, Chirico & Galvani, 2022). Menurut beberapa sumber sejarah, awal mula diadakannya olimpiade adalah untuk menghormati kemenangan dewa Zeus atas pertarungannya dengan dewa Cronos, dimana saat itu keduanya bertarung di puncak gunung Olympus untuk menentukan siapa yang berhak memiliki serta mengatur jagat raya dan segala isinya.…”