Join us for a lecture by Heather L. Dichter, editor of the Kennedy Center’s winter 2026 featured title, Diplomatic Games: Sport, Statecraft, and International Relations since 1945.
Governments think organizing major international sporting events is attractive because of the public diplomacy benefits the host country will gain, such as positive publicity around the world or increased tourism. Global politics, however, have often derailed those efforts. When the reality of politics significantly impact a sport mega-event, through a boycott and/or negative media coverage, the result is the backfiring of soft power.
Heather L. Dichter is an associate professor of sport history and sport management in the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK. She has published extensively on the Olympics and international sport (especially the Winter Olympic sports), and diplomacy, usually with a focus on Germany. Her book Bidding for the 1968 Olympic Games: International Sport’s Cold War Battle with NATO won the 2022 Lord Aberdare Literary Prize from the British Society of Sports History. She also serves as the managing editor of The International Journal of the History of Sport.
Part of our winter 2026 lecture series, "Sport and Society."