Recommended Reading

       

Students in "Seminar Abroad 2012: London Olympics" have been assigned to read several books to give them some perspective of the magnitude of this once-in-every-four-year spectacle.  Michael Payne's "Olympic Turn Around" tells the story of the IOC's miraculous transformation from virtual insolvency in the early 1980s to the multibillion dollar marketing juggernaut that it has become.  IOC member Dick Pound gives readers an unvarnished behind-the-scenes look at some of the machinations that drive the Olympic Movement and occasionally muck it up in "Inside the Olympics."  John Davis' "The Olympic Games Effect" illustrates the power of the Olympic brand, and describes how a few companies have leveraged their sponsorship of the Olympics to catapult their corporate identity to heights not otherwise attainable through conventional marketing strategies.  Finally, "Understanding the Olympics" by John Horne and Garry Whannel is an excellent primer on the phenomenon of the Olympic Games with a chapter on the bidding process that led to London's hosting of Games of the XXX Olympiad.  Happy reading!