Olympic Violence: Memory, Colonialism, and the Politics of Place

Abstract

This paper proceeds as a brief intervention in response to Andrew Foxall’s article ‘Geopolitics, genocide and the Olympic Games: Sochi 2014’. I address the violence that is associated with the Olympic Games and the politics of place that are involved in site selection. In offering some reflections on how the Olympics are irrevocably tied to colonial processes, my primary contention is that it is necessary to ask critical geographical questions about the Games. Such interrogation opens up a dialogue wherein greater awareness for the legacies of violence may be established, which has the potential to interrupt its ongoing unfoldings.