Abstract:
International sporting competition has played a rôle in diplomacy
since at least the ancient Olympiad. Competitors in international
sporting events have always possessed the capacity to represent
their governments and peoples—and, more latterly, sponsoring
firms—not only to foreign governments but also to foreign populations
and the global public more broadly. The rapid increase in the
number and variety of international sporting competitions over the
past 50 years has seen “the increase in people-to-people exchanges,
both virtual and personal, across national borders.” The communicative
power of international sport has increased dramatically by
the information and communications technologies revolution over
the past several decades, enabling the audience for major sporting
events to expand to hundreds of million people. Yet, little study on
how international sport relates to public diplomacy has occurred
and remains not well understood. This analysis fills in this lacuna.
