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The present paper looks at the different positions two major international sport federations, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS), took with respect to East Germany during the 1950s. Because these positions were greatly influenced by FIFA’s and the FIS’s prior relations with Germany and by the challenges posed by global politics, this study begins by examining these relations during the interwar period. By combining information from the FIFA, FIS, and International Olympic Committee (IOC) archives with documents from the German national archives and articles published in Switzerland’s sporting press, the authors were able to highlight differences between the two federations’ approaches and show the need for studies to go beyond an IOC-centric approach.

One could easily dismiss MGM’s 1954 production of Athena as a light-hearted, romantic, musical romp, devoid of intellectual, artistic, or social value. Although it was scripted by William Ludwig and featured several accomplished stars, it never lived up to box office expectations or critical acclaim. Much fault can be found in this film. The script seems whacky and simplistic, the acting wooden, and the songs unmemorable. Furthermore, Athena does nothing to remove existing stereotypes at a time when bodybuilders were often stigmatized as muscle-bound, narcissistic, and homosexual and health food aficionados viewed as kooks. Its legacy, however, was different. It inspired many other peplum films of the 1950s and early 1960s featuring bodybuilders, laying the groundwork of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Pumping Iron, and the fitness craze that swept America and the world in the 1970s.

In 1962, the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG), an arm of the Canadian federal government responsible for broadcasting, made the unprecedented move to force the national public broadcaster to televise the Grey Cup, the championship game of Canadian football, ostensibly because it was in the national interest. However, research reveals that this decision was not necessarily made because it was in the national interest, but more so to assist the new struggling private television network, CTV. The important content, allegedly linked to cultural citizenship, was not the national championship, but the television commercials. This paper explores why the BBG intervened and how the dispute was settled.

How can Global Sporting Governing Bodies (GSGBs) like the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) take a stand on political issues in places where a sporting event which comes under their aegis is being held without compromising their own position as neutral governing bodies of sport? Drawing upon a historical sociological approach and using the FIA and the Formula 1 world motorsport championship as its key example, this paper argues that one reason why controversy about this is growing is because FIA’s current power structures were established in an era less suited to today’s world of sports and stakeholdership. In order to change, we need to review the historical processes that shaped current power relations between the GSGB and its stakeholders and, through that, identify an alternative view of power which may resolve the dilemma which the relation between sport and politics currently throws up.

Dans les activités de nature, la « première » est une forme de performance particulière. L’analogie entre les premières et les records sportifs doit être questionnée. L’objet de cet article est de démontrer les spécificités des premières par rapport aux records sportifs et d’en tirer une meilleure compréhension de l’identité des activités de nature. Nous nous appuyons sur une analyse socio-historique des premières et de leur valorisation dans différents médias, propres à une communauté de pratiquants ou grand public. Nos principaux résultats révèlent que, les premières et les records se rejoignent sur certaines caractéristiques liées notamment à la performance physique. Néanmoins, derrière ces analogies, les premières se distinguent par de nombreux aspects comme leur unicité qui leur confère une historicité particulière. De cette analyse ressort l’identité des activités de nature et explique la mobilité inhérente à ces pratiques dans la mesure où la découverte est un moteur essentiel.