International Centre for Olympic Studies

ICOS-based Research Projects

University researchers and graduate students making use of ICOS infrastructural and archival support are engaged in a variety of research projects related to the Olympic and Paralympic spaces. Some recently completed as well as ongoing projects are described below.


Nevada Cooke
U.S. President Gerald Ford's Commission on Olympic Sports

Gerald Ford's turn as President of the United States produced an under-researched and underappreciated piece of United States Olympic sports history: the President's Commission on Olympic Sports. From his days as Vice President, Ford attached himself to the commission which sought to "cure what ailed" the United States amateur sport effort. In-fighting between the AAU and NCAA -- compounded with a relatively impotent USOC -- routinely saw the United States field an Olympic team far from its best. The Commission resulted in numerous sweeping recommendations, not the least of which was the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, which designated the USOC as the coordinating body for American amateur sport, ending the decades-long struggle for amateur supremacy.
Project Outcomes
- Doctoral research project, in progress -
Nevada Cooke, "Preserving the American Way: US President Gerald Ford and American Involvement in the 1976 Olympic Games," in: Toby Rider & Kevin Witherspoon (eds.). Defending the American Way of Life. forthcoming.
Nevada Cooke, " Preserving the American Way. Gerald Ford and the President's Commission on Olympic Sport in the Shadow of Cold War Politics." Paper Presented at the 2016 Annual Convention of the North American Society for Sport Histor, Atlanta, Georgia, May 28-June 1, 2016.


Evan Nagel
The Buck Starts Here: The Miracle on Ice, the NHL Draft, the 1984 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, and the Beginning of the End for Olympic Amateurism

This study details the long history of Avery Brundage-style amateurism that enveloped U. S.  Olympic ice hockey matters from 1920 up through and including the 'Miracle on Ice' episode at Lake Placid in February 1980.  Afer1980, greatly heightened National expectations of success, increased numbers and playing stature of American hockey players challenging Canadian player dominance in the NHL, and NHL franchise expansion and an expanding labor demand (player personnel) combined to signal the beginning of the end for American Olympic ice hockey Amateurism.   
Project Outcomes
- Extended Graduate Research Project - 


Doiara Silva dos Santos
Avery Brundage, the Pan American Games and the Consolidation of the Olympic Movement in South America

The project investigates the role of Avery Brundage in the development of the Olympic Movement in South America; it specifically focusses on Brundage's interest in the Pan-American Games as a vehicle to promote the Olympic Games in South America.
Project Outcomes
- Doctoral research project -
M.S. Doiara S. dos Santos, "Growing Pains: Avery Brundage and the Olympic Movement in South Africa," In: in: Janice Forsyth & Michael Heine (eds.), Problems, Possibilities, Promising Practices: Critical Dialogues on the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 11th International Symposium for Olympic Research. London, ON: ICOS, 2012, 19-22.
Doiara Silva dos Santos & Otávio Guimarães Tavares da Silva, "The Olympic Winter Games and Brazilian Participation: The Question of National Identity in the Media Coverage," in: R.K. Barney & M.K. Heine (eds.), Rethinking Matters Olympic: Investigations into the Socio-Cultural Study of the Modern Olympic Movement. Tenth International Symposium for Olympic Research. London, ON: ICOS, 2010, 146-153.



Wenshui (Sunny) Mao
Failed Sustainability: The Nature and Significance of Olympic Education in Beijing Commensurate with the 2008 Summer Olympics 

The project investigates the importance, and failure, of Olympic education programs organized in the context of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, PRC.
Project Outcomes
- Doctoral research project -


Janice Forsyth
Public Representations of Aboriginal Olympic Marathon Runner Fred Simpson

An analysis of the representation of Aboriginal marathon runner Fred Simpson in public media narratives. Simpson participated in the marathon at the 1908 London Olympic Games, but he was overshadowed by his more famous contemporary Tom Longboat. His story has remained obscured in public narratives.
Project Outcomes
Janice Forsyth & Josh Archer, "Fred Simpson Is No Tom Longboat: Public Memory and the Construction of Historical Knowledge." Sport History Review, 45, no. 1 (2014), 37-58.
Janice Forsyth, "Out from the Shadows: Researching Fred Simpson," in: R.K. Barney & M.K. Heine (eds.), Rethinking Matters Olympic: Investigations into the Socio-Cultural Study of the Modern Olympic Movement. Tenth International Symposium for Olympic Research. London, ON: ICOS, 2010. 177-183.


John Petrella
Black, White, and Red All Over: A Thematic Analysis of Selected Canadian and American Newspapers Coverage of the 1968 Mexico City Massacre 

This project investigated the politically-charged responses of American and Canadian newspapers, the New York Times, Washington Post, Globe and Mail, and Ottawa Citizen, during October 1968 to the Mexico City massacre. Through a qualitative thematic analysis of these newspapers, dominant themes of the massacre were identified and analyzed using Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding paradigm.  In this examination it was found that U.S. newspapers provided knowledgeable and comprehensive reporting of the massacre while Canadian newspapers presented only a cursory examination.
Project Outcomes
- Master's research project -
John Petrella, "2014 Graduate Student Essay Competition: Black, White, and Red all over: Selected Canadian Newspapers and the 1968 Mexico City Massacre," In: Janice Forsyth, Christine O'Bonsawin and Michael Heine (eds.), Intersections and Intersectionalities in Olympic and Paralympic Studies. Twelfth International Symposium for Olympic Research. London, ON: ICOS, 2014, 10.


Robert Barney, Michael Heine
First use of the Maple Leaf Emblem as a Symbolic Expression of Canadian Identity in the Space of Sports

The project investigates the use of the Maple Leaf emblem as an expression of an incipient Canadian identity at the 1908 Olympic Games in London, England. The event marks the initial time that the Maple Leaf symbol, identifying Canadian athletes at Olympic competitions, was understood in public representations in the Canadian media, as a signifier of Canadian identity, expressed in the space of Olympic sports.
Project Outcomes
R.K. Barney & M.K. Heine, " 'The Emblem of One United Body ... One Great Sporting Maple Leaf': The Olympic Games and Canada's Quest for Self-Identity." Sport in Society, vol. 18, no. 7 (2015): 816-834.
R.K. Barney, " 'For the Athletic Honor of the Maple Leaf': The Photographic Identity of the 'Lost Olympians' - Canada's Olympic Stadium Team, London, England, 1908." Olympika. International Journal of Olympic Studies 18 (2009), 137-148.


Michael Cathcart 
'When Green Became the New Gold': A Thematic Analysis of the Environmental Sustainability Narratives of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

The study examined the construction of newspaper narratives of Olympic environmental sustainability and their legitimizing effects in the sports media space.
Project Outcomes
- Master's research project -


Michael Capobianco
Voices of Discontent: Avery Brundage and the IOC's Dilemma of South African Olympic Participation, 1956-1968

The project investigated the debates surrounding South Africa's participation in, and expulsion from, the Olympic movement, from a perspective excavated through a close examination of the voluminous correspondence of IOC president Avery Brundage.
Project Outcomes
- Doctoral research project -


Michael Heine
Discourse Analysis of the Commodification of Civic Spaces during Olympic Events

The project investgates the temporary commodification and near-monopolistic appropriation of civic spaces by the IOC / NOCs, and their commercial partners, during the hosting of Olympic Games.
Project Outcomes
Michael Heine, "‘Four Sad Faces and a Smiley’A Political Topology of Civic and Olympic Spaces at the 2010 Winter Games," In: Robert K. Barney & Michael Heine (eds.), Rethinking Matters Olympic: Investigations into the Socio-Cultural Study of the Modern Olympic Movement Tenth International Symposium for Olympic Research. London, ON: ICOS, 2010, 233-238.
Michael Heine, "Constructing the Volunteer: Preliminary Examination of Olympic Discourses on Volunteering," in: Janice Forsyth & Michael Heine (eds.), Problems, Possibilities, Promising Practices: Critical Dialogues on the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Eleventh International Symposium for Olympic Research. London, ON: ICOS, 2012, 134.


Sophie Chan
Unveiling the 'Olympic Kidnapping Act': Examining Public Policy and Homelessness in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games

The project investgated the impact of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games on homelessness in the city of Vancouver. It focussed on local policies intended to criminalize unwanted behaviours related to homelessness in order to secure the event space of the Olympic Games; and on the oppositional strategies used by advocacy groups. The project showed that the problems of homeless people were exacerbated both by local policy regulations and by landlords and homeowners seeking to secure increased profits during the time of the 2010 Games.
Project Outcomes
- Master's research project-


Brad Congelio
Before the World Was Quiet: Ronald Reagan, Cold War Foreign Policy, and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Summer Games

The project examined political positions taken by U.S. President Ronald Reagan over the hosting of the 1984 Olympics by the city of Los Angeles, amid the long-term political effects of the boycott by Western nations of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Project Outcomes
- Doctoral research project -


Joshua F. Archer
What Canada Read/Red: A Content Media Analysis of the Montreal Olympic Games and the Soviet Union as Reported in the Montreal Gazette and The Globe and Mail

This study describes the media coverage of the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympic Games. Two newspapers were used for the data collection: the Montreal Gazette and The Globe and Mail. A systematic, descriptive content analysis of the Olympic Games news coverage was completed using 966 articles. Five categories were constructed for the quantitative analysis: general themes, change over time, sport, gender, and national representation. This study describes the media coverage of the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympic Games. Two newspapers were used for the data collection: the Montreal Gazette and The Globe and Mail. A systematic, descriptive content analysis of the Olympic Games news coverage was completed using 966 articles. Five categories were constructed for the quantitative analysis: general themes, change over time, sport, gender, and national representation.
Project Outcomes
- Master's research project -


Xiaowei Yu
The Question of Legacy and the 2008 Olympic Games: An Exploration of post-Games Utilization of Olympic Sport Venues in Beijing

The project investigated the post-Olympic use of athletic facilities constructed for use in the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing, PRC. A variety of cultural, social, economic, political, and historical reasons were identified to explain the differing degrees of use frequency and intensity characteristic of post-Games venue utilization.
Project Outcomes
- Doctoral research project - 
Xiaowei Yu, "To Go or Not to Go: An Examination of the People’s Republic of China’sParticipation in the Olympic Games between 1980 and 1984," in: R.K. Barney & M.K. Heine (eds.), Rethinking Matters Olympic: Investigations into the Socio-Cultural Study of the Modern Olympic Movement. Tenth International Symposium for Olympic Research. London, ON: ICOS, 2010, 127-137.


Toby C. Rider
The Olympic Games and the Secret Cold War: The U.S. Government and the Propaganda Campaign Against Communist Sport, 1950-1960

The project investigated the anti-communist propaganda strategies in the space of sports, developed by U.S. administrations during the cold war era.
Project Outcomes
- Doctoral research project -
Toby C. Rider, "Political Warfare in Helsinki: American Covert Strategy and the Union of Free Eastern European Sportsmen," International Journal of the History of Sport vol. 30, no. 13 (2014), 1493-1514.
Toby C. Rider, "The Distant Fight against Communist Sport Refugee Sports Organizations in America and the International Olympic Committee," in: R.K. Barney & M.K. Heine (eds.), Rethinking Matters Olympic: Investigations into the Socio-Cultural Study of the Modern Olympic Movement. Tenth International Symposium for Olympic Research. London, ON: ICOS, 2010, 116-126.


Douglas Brown
Theories of Beauty and Modern Sport: Pierre de Coubertin's Aesthetic Imperative for the Modern Olympic Movement, 1894-1914

The project investigated the evolution of Baron Pierre de Coubertin's aesthetic theory of the Olympic cultural theory of sport as an ideolgoical framework that would complement the ideology of the Modern Olympic Movement.  The objective was to understand how philosophical ideas about art and beauty contributed to the discursive, and ultimately cultural, articulation of this modern sporting ideology. Historical analysis focuses on the personalities, publications and events that incorporated aesthetic concepts into the discourses of sport and Olympism. The aesthetic content expressed in specific of de Coubertin's writings was examined from a Marxist-based critical theory perspective. This thesis identified and described three distinct periods in which the aesthetic idea of Olympism became increasingly intertwined with a cultural theory of sport and public spectacle.
Project Outcomes
- Doctoral research project -