Wei, Fan and Hong, Fan and Lu, Zhouxiang
(2012)
Why Did China Bid Twice for the Olympic Games?
Sport, Nationalism and International Politics.
Journal of Olympic History, 20 (2).
pp. 31-37.
Abstract
Hosting the Olympic Games is seen by China and most
Asian nations as a means for national restoration, the construction of national identity, economic prosperity and international recognition. In this sense the Olympic Games
have significant symbolic power. China ended its isolation
in 1978, re-joined the International Olympic Committee
in 1979; In 1984, they took part in the Summer Olympic
Games for the first tim e since the early fifties; and in 1985
established their "Olympic Strategy". Hosting the Olympic
Games was an im portant part o f the strategy to make China a sporting superpower, as well as a political and economic power, that could compete on equal terms w ith
the US in the West and Japan and South Korea in the East;
Thus Beijing was a candidate city for the Games in 2000
and 2008. This paper will examine the reasons for China's
tw o bids; the factors which resulted in the failure o f the
first bid and the success o f the second; and the impact of
the bids on the developm ent o f Chinese society and of
international politics.
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