The Development of Olympic Solidarity: West and Non-West (Core and Periphery) Relations in the Olympic World

This paper traces the development of Olympic Solidarity in the context of the use of aid, and in particular sport aid, as a tool in the Cold War battle for the hearts, minds, and political and economic support of the newly independent post-colonial states in Africa and Asia on the part of the USA and USSR in the post-war era. The paper draws on correspondence between the ‘core' of the Olympic movement in Western Europe and North America, and the peripheral and semi-peripheral states. It promotes an analysis of how Olympic Solidarity as an entity within the Olympic Movement was developed as a means of promoting access to resources and influence by Asian, African and other National Olympic Committees, as a counter to the domination of the movement by the conservative western elite which formed the core of the International Olympic Committee.