Olympic Secrets: The Politics, Scandals, and Honors Behind the Olympics

Author: (US) Peter Ueberroth
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: Every two years, for a few weeks, the world's attention focuses on the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, admiring the athletes' performances, experiencing the excitement of sports competition, and cheering for national honor. However, in recent years, the Olympic ideal has been shrouded in the shadows of scandals, greed, and corruption. Cases of bribery, match-fixing, doping, political conspiracies, and exploitation have occurred repeatedly. In response, Peter Ueberroth, who served on the International Olympic Committee, did not turn a blind eye. He boldly exposed the entire inner workings of the Olympics (both positive and negative). He made public the controversial events and issues at the Olympics, such as the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics bribery scandal, the 2002 Winter Olympics figure skating judging controversy, terrorist incidents, human rights issues, the commercial operations of the International Olympic Committee, the behavior of sports officials, and doping scandals. He believes these are the greatest threats facing sports today. Peter Ueberroth participated in the Olympics and served as the vice president of four International Olympic Games, allowing him to witness and experience the ups and downs of world sports and politics over the past half-century. In this book, he vividly describes the negotiation process for Olympic television broadcasting rights and corporate sponsorships, the political struggles, and the various conspiracies behind the scenes in international sports. In this book, Peter Ueberroth shares his unique insights into the behind-the-scenes commercial operations, internal personnel, sports objectives, and organizational work of the Olympics—the world's largest sporting event. His words are sometimes sharp or humorous, but always sincere and insightful.