Mapping the Discipline of the Olympic Games An Author- Cocitation Analysis

When most people think about the Olympic Games it is usually in terms of athletic performance. Clearly they are more than that (see Toohey & Veal, 1990). Even the mass media does not confine itself to covering only the sporting angle. For example, symbolism, economic factors, nationalism and politics routinely appear in mass media articles relating to the Olympic Games. There are scholarly journals that are devoted exclusively to the Olympic Games, such as Olympika and the Journal of Olympic History. So what do we mean when we talk about Olympic scholarship? Cursory scanning of other sport journals also reveals a plethora of subjects ranging from legal aspects to history to philatelic aspects among a host of Olympic topics. This paper questions how can we identify, classify and measure them.