linking the glocal

In general, Globalization refers to the act of extending or globalizing to all or other parts of the world, which in turn leads to the global acceptance of certain governing rules, norms, economic tendencies, etc. (1). Globalization of sport, especially the Olympic Games, allows not only for local but also global connections and links through the movement of many ideas, governing rules, etc. across national and international borders. The globalization of the Olympic Games has come to be through many different means such as media coverage which over the years has astonishingly increased leading to more exposure of the games to a growing number of countries. Furthermore, globalization is said to be a key word for the business sector and in the specific case of the Olympics, tourism, commercialism, marketing, celebrity endorsements and corporate sponsorship have had a significant impact on globalization increasing the interconnectivity between national economies (2). The establishment of the transnational organization International Olympic Committee (IOC) and their regulatory role made the Olympics an important part of the political globalization. The IOC possesses the role of choosing the hosting country of the Olympics and sets up standards which countries must meet in order to become eligible to host the games, which causes countries to unknowingly inherit similar ideologies which are created by the IOC, in order to become the ‘ideal’ hosting country. Combined, the global reach of these many aspects of the Olympic Games reveal a shrinking world, enforcing the interconnection between the local and global (2).

Firstly, the most worldwide aspect of popular culture happens to be sport. Sport is understood and reaches across all lang...

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...cceleration in media coverage of the games as the years progress. Media coverage is a key aspect in the globalization of the Olympics as the global audience as well as the participants of the games today is astonishingly larger than that of the first ever games of 1896, in Athens. During the first Olympic Games in Athens, a mere 241 athletes from selected from fourteen countries were competing and there was very minimal press coverage at this time. In comparison, the 2004 games of Beijing reflect the increased global interconnectedness as the number of athletes shifts from 241 to 10 000, with the athletes coming from approximately 200 countries. Not only have the Olympics grown in terms of size but international media coverage has also significantly increased with the Olympic Games now being the most watched event on television with the largest global audience (2).