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The History and Geography of a Forgotten Olympic Project: The Spring Games

2010; Routledge; Volume: 30; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17460263.2010.530748

1746-0271

André Suchet, Dominique Jorand, John Tuppen,

French Urban and Social Studies

Abstract This article concerns the project put forward in the late 1980s to create a third type of Olympic Games in the French Pyrenees. The idea consisted of organizing a gathering for new outdoor sports (climbing, mountain biking, rafting, canyoning, hang gliding, paragliding, skateboarding, etc) designed as a third Olympic event: the Spring Games (the Jeux de Printemps in French). The whole project was entitled: Pyrénées: Laboratoire de l'Olympisme (literally, Pyrenees: Laboratory of the Olympic ideal). This study, based on written documents and oral accounts, provides details of the nature of the project and the major actors. Complications in the local organization of the programme caused it to end prematurely, and only a first event took place under the name of the Pyrenean Games of Adventure in 1993 on the boundary between France and Spain (Jeux Pyrénéens de l'Aventure or los Juegos Pirenaicos de la Aventura). Acknowledgements We thank Anne-Laure Amilhat-Szary and Michel Raspaud at the University of Grenoble for their comments and encouragement. The first version of this paper was presented at the 27th Annual Conference of the British Society of Sports History at the University of Stirling, Scotland, 17–19 July 2009. A shorter version of this work was published in French in the book Les Jeux Olympiques. Fierté nationale et enjeu mondial, Claude Boli, ed. (Biarritz, Atlantica, 2008). Notes 1. Allen Guttmann, The Olympics. A History of the Modern Games (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2002), ix. 2. Bruce Kidd, ' "Another World is Possible" ': Recapitulating Alternatives Olympic Histories, Imagining Different Games', in Global Olympics: Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games, ed. Kevin Young and Kevin Wamsley (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2005), 143. 3. Bernadette Deville-Danthu, Le sport en noir et blanc. 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Donald Macintosh and Michael Hawes, 'The IOC and the World of Interdependence', Olympika 1 (1992): 29–45; Alfred E. Senn, Power, Politics, and the Olympic Games (Champaign: Human Kinetics, 1999), 209–12. 24. Max Triet, Erich Beyer, and Peter Pretsch, World Games 1989 Karlsruhe: Vom Spiel Zum Wettkampf Ausstellung Zur Geschichte Nichtolympischer Sportarten (Karlsruhe: Badenia Verlag, 1989). 25. Stephen G. Jones, Sport, Politics and the Working Class (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992); People's Olympiad (1936, Spain): http://flagspot.net/flags/es@olpop.html 26. Gisèle Lacroix, 'Déclinaison de l'aventure et stratégie de communication', in Sport, relations sociales et action collective, ed. Jean-Pierre Augustin and Jean-Paul Callède (Talence: Maison des Sciences de l'Homme d'Aquitaine, 1995), 625. 27. This article is based on research for a PhD thesis on the geography and history of sport. This doctoral research also concerns the planning strategies of the French Pyrenees in comparison with those of the French Alps in the 1990s, as well as the contemporary political relationships between France and Spain. 28. Jacques Marion, in discussion with the author, February, 2007. 29. 1er Jeux Olympiques de Printemps. Pau 1996. Béarn, Pays Basque, Bigorre. L'ambition Olympique pour les Pyrénées (unpublished report, Mauzac, 1998). Bernard Tourte, in discussion with the author, April, 2007. 30. Jacques Marion, in discussion with the author, February, 2007. 31. Nouvelles Pyrénées, Pyrénées: Laboratoire de l'Olympisme (unpublished report, Arreau, 1992); Nouvelles Pyrénées, Les Pyrénées: le laboratoire de l'Olympisme. (10 ans de communication evénementielle pour les Pyrénées); Bigorre 2001. XI Plan, unpublished report, Arreau, 1992). 32. Belinda Wheaton, ed., Understanding Lifestyle Sports: Consumption, Identity and Difference (London: Routledge, 2004); Robert Rinehart and Synthia Sydnor, eds., To the Extreme. Alternative Sports, Inside and Out (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003); Nancy Midol, 'Cultural Dissents and Technical Innovations in The "Whiz Sports"', International Review for the Sociology of Sport 28, no. 1 (1993): 23–33. 33. In France, the development of these new outdoor sports has been studied by several authors and with different theoretical frameworks, in particular: Alain Loret, Génération glisse (Paris: Autrement, 1995); Antoine Maurice, Le surfeur et le militant (Paris: Autrement, 1987); Gisèle Lacroix and Olivier Bessy, 'Glisse d'hier et surf d'aujourd'hui', in Surf Atlantique. Les territoires de L'éphémère, ed. Jean-Pierre Augustin (Talence: Maison des Sciences de L'Homme d'Aquitaine, 1994); Jacques Defrance, 'La course libre ou le monde athlétique renversé', Travaux et Recherches en EPS 8 (1985): 128–36; Christian Pociello, ' "La force, l'énergie, la grâce et les réflexes". Le jeu complexe des dispositions culturelles et sportives', in Sports et Société, ed. Christian Pociello (Paris: Vigot, 1981). 34. Loret, Génération glisse. 35. Frédéric Savre, 'La diffusion et l'institutionnalisation du mountain bike : Des origines Californiennes à la légitimation Olympique (1970–1996)' (PhD diss., Université de Lyon 1, 2009). 36. Association Jeux Pyrénéens de l'Aventure, Charte des Jeux Pyrénéens de l'Aventure, Association Jeux Pyrénéens de l'Aventure, Arreau and Ainsa, 1993. 37. Allen Guttmann, Games & Empires. Modern Sports and Cultural Imperialism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994); Jean-Pierre Augustin, Géographie du sport. Spatialités contemporaines et mondialisation (Paris: Armand Colin, 2007); John Bale, Sports Geography (London, Routledge, 2003); Lincoln Allison, ed., The Global Politics of Sport. The Role of Global Institutions in Sport (London: Routledge, 2005); Antoine Haumont, 'Les variations géographiques du sport', in Sport, relations sociales et action collective, ed. Jean-Pierre Augustin and Jean-Paul Callède (Talence: Maison des Sciences de L'Homme d'Aquitaine, 1995); Jean-Marie Brohm, 'La crise de l'Olympisme', Travaux 32 (1981): 77–90. 38. Jacques Demorgon, 'Le spectacle des sports, c'est bien plus qu'on ne pense! La sporTiVisation mondiale', Communications 67 (1998): 117–34; Pierre Parlebas, 'La mise en ordre sportive', in Sport, relations sociales et action collective, ed. Jean-Pierre Augustin and Jean-Paul Callède (Talence: Maison des Sciences de L'Homme d'Aquitaine, 1995). 39. Errais and Fates, 'Les Jeux Régionaux', 26. 40. Pierre de Coubertin, April 1923 meeting of the International Olympic Committee at the Capitole in Rome cited by Pascal Charitas, 'La naissance d'une solidarité … les conditions d'émergence de l'aide au développement sportif Olympique (la Commission d'aide internationale olympique, 1952–1964)', Revue STAPS 29, no. 80 (2008): 23–32. 41. Brohm, 'La crise de l'Olympisme', 83. 42. All the correspondence between the Olympic Movement and the Games organizers was consulted. In particular: Juan Antonio Samaranch to Maurice Dubarry, March 25, 1993; Jacques Rogge, to Maurice Dubarry, March 2, 1993; Carlos Ferrer and Nelson Paillou, 'Les Jeux Pyrénéens de l'Aventure' (unpublished co-signed document, December 29, 1992). 43. For an example of a sports' association which did not support the Games and disputed the sportification of outdoor recreation, see the case of the Fédération française de spéléologie in charge of the caving and of the canyoning, André Suchet, 'La Sportivisation du canyoning en France par la fédération de spéléologie (1980–1992)', (Master's diss., Université de Grenoble, 2007); André Suchet and Michel Raspaud, 'Le débat autour des premières compétitions de spéléologie en France (1980–1992)', European Studies in Sports History 3, no. 1 (2010): 97–119. 44. Juan Antonio Samaranch to Maurice Dubarry, March 25, 1993. 45. For example: Gilles Goetghebuer, 'Jeux Pyrénéens de l'Aventure : un an après les Jeux Olympiques en Espagne et en France, les Jeux Pyrénéens de l'Aventure ouvrent une fenêtre sur les sports de demain', Sport et vie 18 (1993): 31–50 ; Jean-Louis Amella, 'Le drapeau Olympique sur la vallée d'Aure', La Nouvelle République des Pyrénées 10, 1993. 46. Maurice Duchêne, Bilan des Premiers Jeux pyrénéens de l'Aventure … Quel avenir pour les Jeux Pyrénéens de l'Aventure (unpublished report, 1994). For more details see: Manolo Bara Alós, Maurice Duchêne, Maurice Dubarry, Jacques Marion and the other interviews undertaken in France and in Spain. 47. Suchet, 'La sportivisation du canyoning',. 48. Maurice Duchêne, Synthèse des Bilans techniques et sportifs des premiers Jeux Pyrénéens de l'Aventure (unpublished report, 1994). 49. Maurice Duchêne, Synthèse des Bilans techniques et sportifs des premiers Jeux Pyrénéens de l'Aventure (unpublished report, 1994)., 15. 50. Bernard Tourte, in discussion with the author, April, 2007; Pierre-Yves Dallas, in discussion with the author, 2007. 51. Maurice Dubarry, in discussion with the author, February, 2007. 52. Jacques Marion, Jeux de Printemps – Maroc 1995. Pré-projet, (unpublished document, July 1993); Philippe Housiaux (of Dialogic agency) to Housni Benslimane (president of the Comité Olympique Marocain), (October 11, 1993). Dialogic agency, Récapitulatif au 15 septembre 1994 des déplacements frais et investissements effectués dans le cadre de l'étude de faisabilité des 1ers Jeux de Printemps Marrakech Maroc 1996, (unpublished document September 1995) ; Jacques Marion, in discussion with the author, February, 2007; Jean-Pierre Monteils, in discussion with the author, September, 2007. 53. Dialogic SA, Jeux de l'Aventure (unpublished document, January 2002); Jacques Marion, in discussion with the author, April, 2009. 54. http://www.dialogic-agency.com/ 55. This paper concentrates on the relationship between the Olympic Movement and alternative trends, but the programme also integrated a cross border dimension which is not studied in detail here. 56. Éric Monnin, 'Genèse et attribution des premiers Jeux Olympiques de la Jeunesse', Revue Européenne de Management du Sport 22 (2008). http://www.acteursdusport.fr/197-publications.htm (accessed November 10, 2010) 57. Robert Rinehart, 'Sport as Constructed Audience: A Case Study of ESPN's the eXtreme Games', in Players All: Performances in Contemporary Sport, ed. Robert Rinehart (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998). 58. Sylvie Bages Bechade, 'L'Europe soutien du développement des relations transfrontalières', in Les Pyrénées entre deux mondes, ed. Frédéric Bartczak and Johann Rage (Perpignan: Presses universitaires de Perpignan, 2003). 59. Jacques Marion, in discussion with the author, April, 2009. Two other figures, who did not want to be named, made similar claims. An experimental, First Extreme Games was held in 1994 at Rhode Island. Subsequently the official inaugural X Games (eXtreme Games) were held in the summer of 1995 also in Rhode Island.