By Erin Redihan This summer the Olympic Games return to Tokyo for the first time in fifty-six years, bringing with them some familiar storylines that resemble the news leading up to the 1964 summer contests. The last time Tokyo hosted, the Cold War was not quite raging, but still impacted how the Soviet and American…
Sweet, David A. F. Three Seconds in Munich: The Controversial 1972 Olympic Basketball Final. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019. Pp. 225. Bibliography, illustrations, index, and source notes. $29.95 hardback. Reviewed by Nicholas Evan Sarantakes The President of the United States was livid. Richard Nixon was meeting with his chief of staff, H.R. “Bob” Haldeman, and…
By Sam Schelfhout The collapse of the Soviet Union was predictable. Mikhail Gorbachev’s dual policies of glasnost and perestroika had introduced a sense of economic freedom and personal choice to citizens of the communist nation that inevitably hungered for more. After 1988, the Soviet Union was well along a path toward complete collapse, spurred on…
By Alec Hurley On a late July day in 1980, Renaldo Nehemiah, prohibitive favorite and world record holding hurdler, ascended to the top of the podium. His path to dominance in the pre-Olympic years was highlighted by victories at the 1979 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Cup and Pan-American Games. A junior, collegiate,…
Redihan, Erin Elizabeth. The Olympics and the Cold War, 1948-1968: Sport as Battleground in the U.S.-Soviet Rivalry. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2017. Pp. vii + 264. 16 unnumbered pages of plates and index. $35.00 hardcover, $3.99 e-book. Reviewed by Tony Calandrillo In The Olympics and the Cold War, 1948-1968: Sport as Battleground in the…
Editor’s Note: This is part final post of a five part biographical series on Barney Gill by Russ Crawford. He first encountered Barney Gill while researching his book on American football in France. Gill’s story didn’t make it into the book and was too good not to share. Click here to read parts one, two, three, and…
Editor’s Note: This is part four of a five part biographical series on Barney Gill by Russ Crawford. He first encountered Barney Gill while researching his book on American football in France. Gill’s story didn’t make it into the book and was too good not to share. Click here to read parts one, two, and three. Check…
