Organising Sport at the Olympic Games: THe Case Study of Sydney

Abstract

Organising the Olympic Games is a highly complex management task that involves many individuals and stakeholder groups. In 2000, Australia’s largest city, Sydney, staged the Summer Olympic Games. The agency given primary responsibility for the staging of these Games was the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG). Two additional organisations also played a significant role in the organisation of the Sydney Games. These two organisations were the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and the New South Wales (NSW) Government. This doctoral research investigated the part played by the AOC, as the host national Olympic committee (NOC), in the organisation of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The study examined the AOC’s involvement in the establishment of an independent Olympic agency that was called the SOCOG Sports Commission (SSC). The research explored the impact of the SSC on the organisation and management of the SOCOG Sport Program at the Sydney Games, which was managed by a SOCOG functional area known as the SOCOG Sport Program. The study investigated how the organisational power relations maintained by the AOC, through the formation of the SSC, influenced and shaped the management of the SOCOG Sport Program, and whether as a result of this involvement the organisation of sport received a high priority within SOCOG.