Disrupting the Rhetoric of the Rings: a Critique of Olympic Idealism in Physical Education

The Beijing olympics prompted educationalists to develop new curriculum resources. These resources focus on the socio-cultural elements of the games, olympism and olympic values, the moral and ethical aspects of sport and select geographical, historical and social dimensions of traditional and contemporary Chinese culture. Typically produced as glossy brochures, such resources helped to disseminate olympic knowledge. However, analyses and evaluations of these resources are rare. Drawing on Showcase China-Beijing 2008, an online resource published by New Zealand's Ministry of Education and previous olympic education resources published in New Zealand, I encourage scholars to question the comfortable and comforting rhetoric in olympic educational resources that increasingly penetrate physical education curricula. In so doing, I offer an alternative perspective and strategies for teachers to deal with these resources in ways I believe will improve their work and help their students to better understand their worlds.