Political Celebrity and the Olympic Movement: Exploring the Charismatic Authority of IOC Presidents

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the modernization of the role of President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by analyzing the actions of three men who held the position during the 20th century: Pierre de Coubertin, Avery Brundage, and Juan Antonio Samaranch. Employing Weber’s concept of charismatic authority, and considering its connections to, and congruence with, contemporary understandings of political celebrity, we examine how each of these men mobilized their influence and authority to reinvigorate the political energy of Olympic sport and benevolent Olympism, particularly in times of crisis and/or apathy. In turn, we illustrate how the IOC under Samaranch came to embrace celebrity culture and spectacle in a way that solidified the organization’s legitimacy, power and influence amidst the challenges of governance posed by late modernity. Our central argument is that all three of these men were charismatic leaders, in the Weberian sense, and that they mobilized this authority using the forms, means and opportunities of power particular to their respective time periods. In turn, the extent to which they can be considered political celebrities should be considered against the ‘routinized authority’ that has become ascribed to the position of the IOC President itself.