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Pulling the Pieces Together: Social Capital and the Olympics, Ancient and Modern

By Paul Christesen

“The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”

International Olympic Committee

“Serious sport … is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.”

George Orwell, “The Sporting Spirit”