Olympic Exclusions

'In Olympic Exclusions: Youth, Poverty, and Social Legacies Jacqueline Kennelly focuses on those in the Olympic city who all too often are ignored. Zeroing in on marginalized populations—youth, the homeless, the poverty-stricken, and working-class people—she shows us how some people are neither invited to the Olympic party nor privy to the Games’ social legacies. Drawing from extensive fieldwork on the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Games in London, Kennelly’s nuanced ethnographic inquiry explores the complex, lived experiences of everyday people before, during, and after the Olympic Games. Given that the processes of exclusion typically transpire far from the white-hot glare of the media spotlight, this book is especially important. Olympic Exclusions exposes the grim underbelly of the Olympic spectacle. This book is a vital contribution that helps us better understand how ordinary people are affected by the Olympic Games in the twenty-first century.' - Professor Jules Boykoff, Department of Politics and Government, Pacific University in Oregon, USA

'Olympic Exclusions provides eye-opening accounts of the impact of the Olympic Games on poor urban youth, illustrating poignantly how "legacy" promises for housing and employment are underachieved. Kennelly uses first-hand, ethnographic research to uncover the actual experiences of poor, urban youth around the Vancouver Winter Games of 2010 and the London Summer Games of 2012. Kennelly puts these personal stories into a rich framework set by the growing literature on the impact of hosting the Olympics. Olympic Exclusions is important reading for anyone seeking to understand how the Olympics can set back, rather than advance, the social goals of a city.' - Professor Andrew Zimbalist, Department of Economics, Smith College, USA

"Using a high-quality ethnographic research design, in which multiple methods are used (e.g., walking interviews, focus groups, photo-voicing, document analyses), Kennelly spoke to almost 200 marginalised urban young people about their daily experiences during a five-year period before, during and after the Olympic Games in Vancouver (2010) and London (2012). In addition to the interviews, Kennelly also critically analysed policy documents, bidding reports, media accounts and academic studies. These methods lift the book to a high scholarly level. The fact that Kennelly covered the periods before, during and after the Games can be seen as “groundbreaking” and generates critical insights." - Reinhard Haudenhuyse, Sport & Society Research Unit, Vrije Universiteit Brussel