Barbara Goff is Professor of Classics, University of Reading. Michael Simpson is Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Goldsmiths University of London.

[T]his book has much to offer all historians. Highlighting the value of sport as an alternative, indeed frequently revealing, prism through which to view past and present, Thinking the Olympics offers illuminating insights into changing perspectives over time regarding the classical tradition; the invention of tradition, and particularly the use of an idealized version of ancient Greece for both overt and covert present-day purposes at varying time periods for diverse audiences; and the problem that "so much is speculation" because of fragmentary and partial evidence.

• Acknowledgements List of Contributors List of Illustrations Introduction: Game Plan - Barbara Goff 1. Pythagoras and the Origins of Olympic Ideology - Nigel Spivey2. True Heroes and Dishonourable Victors at Olympia - David Gilman Romano 3. To Give Over One’s Heart: Pindar, Bataille and the Poetics of Victory - Damian Stocking 4. Epideictic Oratory at the Olympic Games - Eleni Volonaki 5. Living in the Shadow of the Past: Greek Athletes during the Roman Empire - Stephen Brunet 6. Gilbert West and the English Contribution to the Revival of the Olympic Games - Hugh Lee 7. James Barry’s Crowning the Victors at Olympia:Transmitting the Values of the Classical Olympic Games into the Modern Era - William Pressly 8. The Race for a Healthy Body: The Ancient Greek Physical Ideal in Victorian London - Debbie Challis 9. Nervi’s Palazzo and Palazzetto dello Sport: Striking a Delicate Balance between Past and Present in 1960 Rome - Ann Keen 10. Trailing the Olympic Epic: Black Modernity and the Athenian Arena, 2004 - Michael Simpson 11. Pindar at the Olympics: The Limits of Revivalism - Armand D’Angour Afterword: London 2012 - Tessa Jowell Bibliography Index

Barbara Goff is Professor of Classics, University of Reading. Michael Simpson is Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Goldsmiths University of London.

[T]his book has much to offer all historians. Highlighting the value of sport as an alternative, indeed frequently revealing, prism through which to view past and present, Thinking the Olympics offers illuminating insights into changing perspectives over time regarding the classical tradition; the invention of tradition, and particularly the use of an idealized version of ancient Greece for both overt and covert present-day purposes at varying time periods for diverse audiences; and the problem that "so much is speculation" because of fragmentary and partial evidence.

• Acknowledgements List of Contributors List of Illustrations Introduction: Game Plan - Barbara Goff 1. Pythagoras and the Origins of Olympic Ideology - Nigel Spivey2. True Heroes and Dishonourable Victors at Olympia - David Gilman Romano 3. To Give Over One’s Heart: Pindar, Bataille and the Poetics of Victory - Damian Stocking 4. Epideictic Oratory at the Olympic Games - Eleni Volonaki 5. Living in the Shadow of the Past: Greek Athletes during the Roman Empire - Stephen Brunet 6. Gilbert West and the English Contribution to the Revival of the Olympic Games - Hugh Lee 7. James Barry’s Crowning the Victors at Olympia:Transmitting the Values of the Classical Olympic Games into the Modern Era - William Pressly 8. The Race for a Healthy Body: The Ancient Greek Physical Ideal in Victorian London - Debbie Challis 9. Nervi’s Palazzo and Palazzetto dello Sport: Striking a Delicate Balance between Past and Present in 1960 Rome - Ann Keen 10. Trailing the Olympic Epic: Black Modernity and the Athenian Arena, 2004 - Michael Simpson 11. Pindar at the Olympics: The Limits of Revivalism - Armand D’Angour Afterword: London 2012 - Tessa Jowell Bibliography Index

Barbara Goff is Professor of Classics, University of Reading. Michael Simpson is Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Goldsmiths University of London.

[T]his book has much to offer all historians. Highlighting the value of sport as an alternative, indeed frequently revealing, prism through which to view past and present, Thinking the Olympics offers illuminating insights into changing perspectives over time regarding the classical tradition; the invention of tradition, and particularly the use of an idealized version of ancient Greece for both overt and covert present-day purposes at varying time periods for diverse audiences; and the problem that "so much is speculation" because of fragmentary and partial evidence.

• Acknowledgements List of Contributors List of Illustrations Introduction: Game Plan - Barbara Goff 1. Pythagoras and the Origins of Olympic Ideology - Nigel Spivey2. True Heroes and Dishonourable Victors at Olympia - David Gilman Romano 3. To Give Over One’s Heart: Pindar, Bataille and the Poetics of Victory - Damian Stocking 4. Epideictic Oratory at the Olympic Games - Eleni Volonaki 5. Living in the Shadow of the Past: Greek Athletes during the Roman Empire - Stephen Brunet 6. Gilbert West and the English Contribution to the Revival of the Olympic Games - Hugh Lee 7. James Barry’s Crowning the Victors at Olympia:Transmitting the Values of the Classical Olympic Games into the Modern Era - William Pressly 8. The Race for a Healthy Body: The Ancient Greek Physical Ideal in Victorian London - Debbie Challis 9. Nervi’s Palazzo and Palazzetto dello Sport: Striking a Delicate Balance between Past and Present in 1960 Rome - Ann Keen 10. Trailing the Olympic Epic: Black Modernity and the Athenian Arena, 2004 - Michael Simpson 11. Pindar at the Olympics: The Limits of Revivalism - Armand D’Angour Afterword: London 2012 - Tessa Jowell Bibliography Index