Olympism and the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay in the British and Chinese Media Discourses: A Comparative Study

Olympism has the potential to establish a common ground for tolerance of, and respect for, diversified ideologies. This is indispensable for humanity in the modern world. The 2008 Torch Relay and its representation in the press offers a unique window through which to examine the discursive construction of Olympism by and through the media within the historical and sociopolitical contexts associated with the Games. This paper firstly focuses on the historical development of the Olympic ideology (Olympism) along with the respective mainstream ideologies in China (harmony) and Britain (liberalism). It then attempts to explore the discursive construction of Olympism in the 2008 Torch Relay news coverage by the British and the Chinese media through applying the elaborated analytical approach – corpus-based CDA. This study demonstrates that there are contrasting expressions of Olympism in the media discourse. At a deeper level, this social practice is revealed to be dominated by the mainstream ideologies of the hosting and participating nations that have been entrenched throughout history. The involvement of China in Olympic history and the relevant sociopolitical events surrounding the 2008 Torch Relay are explored. The conclusion reinforces its significant contribution to the study of Olympism in the new era.