Science in the service of physical education and sport : the story of the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education, 1956-1996

Recent decades have seen a vast growth in sport science and this book documents the formation and work of an organisation, the International Council of Sport. Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE), that has provided a foundation for much of this development. The book draws on a wide range of sources to illustrate the important co-ordinating role the Council has played in physical education and sport and examines the emergence and consolidation of the disciplines and themes of sport science. The author shows how ICSSPE has been instrumental in nursing many specialised areas to maturity and, since ICSSPE functioned within a Cold War context, international politics provides the backdrop to the organisation?s pioneering promotion of international understanding in sport science through co-operation between East and West. ICSSPE has not worked in isolation however, and the close association between ICSSPE and UNESCO is discussed in detail by the author, as is the more recent positive relationship with the International Olympic Committee. "For four decades, the history of ICSSPE and the global experience of the Olympic Movement have been intertwined, and from its intellectual inception during the Games of the XVI Olympiad in Melbourne in 1956 to the present, it has made a significant contribution to both the international sport science community and the Olympic Movement." Juan Antonio Samaranch, President, International Olympic Committee