John Horne is Professor of Sport and Sociology in the School of Sport, Tourism and The Outdoors, University of Central Lancashire. He is the author and co-author of numerous articles, book chapters and books including Sport in Consumer Culture (2006), Understanding Sport: A Socio-Cultural Analysis (2013) and Understanding the Olympics (2012) and co-editor of Sports Mega-Events (2006).

This edited collection contains six refreshing critical assessments of the leisure - sport relationship from societies that have staged the Olympic and Paralympic Games and contains valuable information for those who live in societies that aspire to host the Games. This collection provides not just insight into the past and present effects of the Olympic and Paralympic Games but also offers readers the opportunity to reflect on and consider the impact of these sports mega-events on their everyday lives.

This book was published as a special issue of Leisure Studies.

1. Introduction: Leisure, culture and the Olympic games 2. Retrospective reflections on the Black American male athlete and the 1968 Olympics: an elite interview with Dr Harry Edwards 3. The sociocultural legacy of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games 4. Complex context: Aboriginal participation in hosting the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games 5. Beyond the Games: regeneration legacies and London 2012 6. A vision of London in the twenty-first century or just terrifying monsters: a semiotic analysis of the official mascots for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games 7. The Olympics as a platform for protest: a case study of the London 2012 'ethical' Games and the Play Fair campaign for workers' rights