Description
Book SynopsisOn August 26, 1960, twenty-three-year-old Danish cyclist Knud Jensen, competing in that year''s Rome Olympic Games, suddenly fell from his bike and fractured his skull. His death hours later led to rumors that performance-enhancing drugs were in his system. Though certainly not the first instance of doping in the Olympic Games, Jensen''s death serves as the starting point for Thomas M. Hunt''s thoroughly researched, chronological history of the modern relationship of doping to the Olympics. Utilizing concepts derived from international relations theory, diplomatic history, and administrative law, this work connects the issue to global political relations.
During the Cold War, national governments had little reason to support effective anti-doping controls in the Olympics. Both the United States and the Soviet Union conceptualized power in sport as a means of impressing both friends and rivals abroad. The resulting medals race motivated nations on both sides of the Iron Curtain
Trade Review
"This well-researched and well-written book provides a valuable analysis of the politics and regulation of drug use in Olympic sport." - Virginia Berridge, Review in American Historical Review
Table of Contents
- Foreword by John Hoberman
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Defining the Problem
- Chapter 2: Testing Begins
- Chapter 3: Nationalism Strikes
- Chapter 4: Old Problems and New Leadership
- Chapter 5: "In a Free Society, It All Depends on Us"
- Chapter 6: Turning Point
- Chapter 7: Toward a Unified Approach
- Chapter 8: Challenge and Partnership
- Chapter 9: A New Century
- Chapter 10: Difficulties of Partnership
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
