The Olympics that Never Happened

This book deftly excavates a singular moment in Olympic history when, after the International Olympic Committee allocated the games to Denver, locals rose up and just said no. Adam Berg’s engaging narrative spotlights how wealthy businesspeople attempted to use the Olympics as a trampoline for their own pro-growth interests and how concerned denizens forged a spirited, strategic coalition to stop them. Berg meticulously demonstrates how the private interests that drove the Olympic bid process not only pilfered the public purse but also issued fantastical fabrications about the glories the games would bring. But Coloradans were not fooled. In a moment when fewer and fewer cities are game to host the Olympic Games, this book is timely and essential reading. Jules Boykoff, Pacific University, author of Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics

The Olympics That Never Happened highlights the disingenuousness surrounding mega–sport events. In the leadup to the 1976 Denver Winter Games, pro-Olympic supporters and anti-Olympic advocates alike used the event to advance different ideas about the future of Colorado. Adam Berg deftly illustrates the false promises of growth used to deliver the games, as well as the over-aggrandized claims for social justice deployed to halt them. Although those opposed to the Olympics forced their removal from Denver, Berg shows that the campaign was the zenith, not the genesis, of resistance to mega–sporting events. The Olympics may not have happened in Denver, but the power remained in the hands of state and Olympic power brokers. Lindsay Parks Pieper, University of Lynchburg, author of Sex Testing: Gender Policing in Women’s Sports

Adam Berg offers a highly engaging and deeply thoughtful telling of Colorado voters' rejection of the 1976 Winter Olympic Games. Tracing the confluence of middle-class environmentalism, state taxpayers' revolts, and the civil rights movement, he explores how opposition to Denver’s Olympic dreams merged the powerful social and economic forces redefining the state. It is a must read for those concerned about the all too often hollow promises of the Olympic Games, environmental justice, and the future of urban growth. Michael W. Childers, Colorado State University, author of Colorado Powder Keg: Ski Resorts and the Environmental Movement