Thierry Terret

The Albertville Winter Olympics: Unexpected Legacies – Failed Expectations for Regional Economic Development

For many observers at the time, the XVIth Winter Olympic Games, which took place in Albertville, France, in February 1992, were supposed to boost the local economy of the French Alps. Prior to the games, the political and economic discourses insisted on their potential for the development of ski resorts. In a context of both national economic difficulties and leisure ski decline in France, the official position was to consider mainly their positive impact on the general infrastructure of the region and on attracting tourists. These estimations resulted in a particular effort to increase the interest of the games for the press: for instance, the famous choreographer Philippe Decouflé was put in charge of the opening ceremony, acrobatic skiing was added to the official programme, and almost 6,000 journalists were accredited to the Olympic sites. However, according to various private and public reports, the economic impact of these games remained far from the expectations, and even created a very unbalanced situation among the ski resorts involved in the Olympic event.

From Marin County's Seventies Clunker to the Durango World Championship 1990: A History of Mountain Biking in the USA

Between the 1970s, during which several enthusiastic cyclists rode off-road, and the 1990s, during which the first Union Cycliste Internationale World Championship took place in Durango (Colorado), different steps contributed to the success of mountain bike in the US. Inventions took place throughout the period from Gary Fishers mechanical improvements in 1975 to Joe Breezes first specialized frames made in 1977. In the same fashion, the ‘Stumpjumper’ was sold on a large scale in 1982, making it the first industrially-produced mountain bike, which led to a new stage in terms of commercialization. The mountain bike opened a new market in the cycling industry and certainly became more financially accessible to a large number of people. This sport, which began in the US, became a worldwide outdoor sport in the last decade of the twentieth century when the Olympics welcomed it with open arms at the Atlanta Olympic Games.

From Alice Milliat to Marie-Thérèse Eyquem: Revisiting Women's Sport in France (1920s–1960s)

Alice Milliat (1884–1957) and Marie-Thérèse Eyquem (1913–1978) were two female sport leaders whose institutional actions had important consequences for womens sporting participation. This contribution examines the extraordinary careers of both of these women in the context of the broader history of womens sport in France. Milliats and Eyquems lives and the institutional battles they fought on behalf of women were similar in a number of respects although they took place in different time periods: during the 1920s for Milliat and in the 1940s and 1950s for Eyquem. In pursuing their goals through opportunistic means, both challenged the gender order during periods of war and their aftermath: Milliat in the First World War period, and Eyquem in the Second. In spite of their similarities and differences, the two sport leaders were nevertheless representative of two distinct forms of feminism: one more strictly militant, the second more political.

Prologue: Making Men, Destroying Bodies: Sport, Masculinity and the Great War Experience

Never before, have the historical relationships between sport and war provoked more attention among historians. There are undoubtedly several explanations for this convergence of interest, among them the search for national identities in a time of generalised crisis and the deep gap in the historiography which offers scholars promising new questions on which to ponder and the cult of celebrations attached to anniversaries as 2014 approaches. The Great War, indeed, took place in a very particular context and developed through specific characteristics, which continue to fascinate historians. At the beginning of the twentieth century the European nations strengthened their territorial, colonial and economic ambitions. A wind of militarisation blew upon the institutions, changing behaviours and representations. Schools assisted the army in preparing both bodies and spirits for possible battles. The crisis of 1914 and the murder of Austrian Crown Prince Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife led the Austro-Hungarian Empire to declare war upon Serbia, likewise afterwards Germany upon Russia and France. Britain quickly entered the stage in order to defend the neutrality of Belgium, whose land was crossed by the German armies. In a few months the conflict escalated and reached an unprecedented scale. The mobilisation was general, from Europe to Asia and Oceania. The scenes of the Great War were numerous, but they crystallised on two fronts: in the west in France and in the east in Russia. On the Western Front, the Germans progressed rapidly towards Paris before the French-British army succeeded in stopping them and keeping them at distance. Barely three months after its debut an endless and horrifying trench warfare replaced the rather more classical pattern of warfare. In both camps the losses were dramatic, the death and injuries uncountable. When the United States entered the war in 1917 the balance of the forces was modified and gradually began to favour the Allies. The Armistice was finally signed on 11 November 1918, marking the end of the hostilities. With eight million deaths and six million disabled persons, many square kilometres of destroyed lands and economies in ruin, Europe lost its status of first world power to the benefit of the United States. The Great War remains a fascinating yet dramatic episode to study. In their remarkable historiographical account, French Antoine Prost and American Jay

From Best to Worst? Romania and Its Nostalgia for Olympic Successes

While the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984 constituted Romanias best performance ever, 2012 London Olympic Games were characterised by the worst performance in its history. During the time between these two events, the country went from being a communist regime to a liberal government. This transition invites consideration of the transformation Romanias sports policy underwent and its repositioning with regard to the Olympic Movement, both before and after the 1989 turning point. Analysis suggests that, in failing to professionalise Romanian sport, the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR) was tempted to readopt a model of state-financed sport, with the aim of reinstating the nation to its former position among the worlds sporting elite.

A Romanian within the IOC: Alexandru Siperco, Romania and the Olympic Movement

Alexandru Siperco was the third and last Romanian member of the International Olympic Committee. After joining the prestigious institution in 1955, he remained there for 41 years and was named vice president at the beginning of Antonio Samaranchs presidency. His Olympic career, which developed throughout the Cold War, reflected the ambivalent position of Romania, which tended to go it alone in the Eastern Bloc, in the shadow of the USSR. Using IOC Archives, the reconstruction of his institutional rise and the analysis of his proposals in several international projects, including the Rules of Amateur Status, IOC collaboration with UNESCO and Romanias participation in the Los Angeles Olympic Games, clearly highlight his diplomatic skill and serve to confirm the great complexity of communist positions within the Olympic movement.

Journey in the historiography of the French Method of Physical Education: a matter of nationalism, imperialism and gender

The three volumes of the French Method of Physical Education were published by the military school of Joinville-Le-Pont between 1925 and 1927 and became one of the most successful reference materials in France for sport and physical education among school, military and civilian institutions. Several authors studied these manuals, but they focused mainly on their pedagogic eclecticism and philosophical background. They also stressed that the Army accepted to reduce its military goal in order to fulfil the hygienic aims that the country considered crucial in the post-war context. Only recently, however, have new perspectives begun exploring more systematically the French Method in its social, political, gender and international aspects. The aim of this paper is to propose a first synthesis of these works and, together with some new insights, to free the French Method from the purely pedagogic history in which it has long remained within the historiography of education.

Introduction: Sport, Europe and Migration

Migration is a relatively long-term change [1] of geographical location undertaken by individuals or groups of individuals. The term itself has been progressively employed to describe population displacement to another country rather than within the borders of a single country. It is in the former sense that it has been used in this collection of essays. The phenomenon of migration has always had a strong effect on Europe, be it migration between European countries, the departure of entire groups to other continents or the arrival of large numbers of non-European populations. Some of these actions were voluntary; others were imposed. The motives for migration were, in fact, extremely varied. For centuries emigration beyond European frontiers developed mainly for economic, political or religious reasons. Crisis situations – war, hunger etc. – particularly contributed to the phenomenon. For a long time, on the other hand, motives for immigration into Europe were underpinned by colonial or postcolonial dynamics against a background of political tension, economic needs or cultural attraction. More recently, however, globalization has substantially modified this demographic, historical and geographical logic creating new forms of migration (the ‘brain drain’ to the United States, for example). In this context, Europe no longer seems to have the role that she played last century. Indeed, 75 per cent of international migrants now leave for 12 per cent of the world’s countries. The three main host countries are the United States, Russia and Germany, while the three principal countries of origin are China, India and the Philippines. On the other hand, the end of the Cold War and the emergence of the European Union have considerably increased intra-European migratory flux since the beginning of the 1990s. These dynamics occur in an extremely fertile period in history. Their historiography reveals two major themes: emigration and immigration, both of which have often been analysed at a country or group level. In emigration, studies are particularly centred upon the populations concerned and the social, political or economic conditions that determine the decision to leave. Immigration, however, is

FORMS OF RECREATIONAL SWIMMING PRACTISED IN LYON (FRANCE)

Studies on the way recreational swimming is practised in the swimming pool environment generally highlight sociodemographic criteria. The objective of the present study is to identify and understand such practices, based more on subjective factors and the meaning of the practices for the participants. Our study concerned indoor pools in Lyon (France) and was based on a questionnaire (N=700). Interpretation was based on the concept of forms of practice with five different aspects: the meaning given to the practice; wishes in the way of change to facilities and services; space relations; time relations; and the major social characteristics of users. The results showed that the types of use were highly complex and varied.

Is There a French Sport History? Reflections on French Sport Historiography

This paper examines the conditions in which sports history appeared in France at the end of the 1960s and its development during the last three decades. It argues that the first works were strongly influenced by the place of physical education and by the new forms of social and cultural history, the structuralist sociology of Pierre Bourdieu and the thinking of Michel Foucault on the body. The analysis identifies the main characteristics of French sports historiography in terms of topics, approaches and conceptual frames, stressing some weaknesses but also some unexpected specificities.