Chris KENNETT

　　Chris KENNETT

　　Head of Research at the Olympic Studies Centre, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Associate lecturer at UAB’s Department of Sociology;

　　Head of the Sports Management specialization at the La Salle Universities International Programme (Barcelona Campus).

　　Educational background: PhD in the area of Sports Management from Loughborough University

　　Research field: Sports management, communication and the Olympic Movement, the legacy of the Olympic Games and the role of sport in issues of social inclusion.

　　The Olympic Ceremonies and Cultural Exchange:

　　Challenges for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

　　Chris KENNETT

　　This paper will analyse the development of the Olympic ceremonies’ structures as communication spaces that combine universal humanistic messages, Olympic protocol and discourse, displays of nationhood, global and local cultural contents. The rich symbolic value of the ceremonies is viewed as an opportunity for cultural exchange and intercultural understanding that is subject to a mass media production process. This involves the transformation of Olympic stadiums into television studios and the construction and broadcast of the ceremonies as media products for mass consumption on a global scale.

　　Building on the framework established by Moragas et al (1995) the paper will reflect on the changing nature of ceremony structures and their international broadcast since Los Angeles’84. A case study of the international broadcast of Beijing’s presentation as host city for the 2008 Olympic Games during the Athens 2004 closing ceremony is used to highlight the complex and diverse nature of national broadcasts and the challenges facing the Beijing organizing committee in the communication of host identity (Kennett and Moragas 2007 forthcoming).

　　The paper concludes that while the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies constitute an opportunity for cultural exchange and the communication of universal values, the high risk of reductionism, misunderstanding and triviality in the broadcast process can result in a loss of meaning for the host and the Olympic Movement. Recommendations are made to the organizers of the 2008 ceremonies as to how these challenges could be overcome in the digital era of communication.