Sport, Maoism and the Beijing Olympics: One Century One Ideology

The development of sports in China since the 19th nineteenth century has been influenced to varying degrees by imperialism, nationalism, Maoism, and postcolonial thinking. This paper explores these ideologies and political practices connected with sport during this time from three angles: Mao’s early thoughtthinking on regarding physical culture and sport; the development of sports under Mao’s socialism and the Cultural Revolution; and China’s breakthrough in the post-Mao era. In sum, sport remains connected over time with the idea of “imagined Olympians�? and of a response to the “Sick Man complex.�?. TFinally, he advent of postcolonial thought thought  has opened the possibility of more diverse understandings of sports in China.