When it comes to Beijing 2008, China’s human rights record is not the only thing worth talking about. At Play the Game 2005, the debate broadens its scope from human rights to including the Chinese concept of humanistic Olympics and how China might change our idea of Olympism.

A floating Olympic Stadium is not only a technical possibility but also a necessity if the world wants to live up to the ethos embodied in the Olympic Charter, argues a team of researchers from Technion at Israel Institute of Technology.

The coexistence of sport and politics dates from the 9th century BC, when the institution of the truce, or "Ekecheiria", was established in Ancient Greece by the signing of an "international" treaty by three kings: Iphitos of Elis, Cleosthenes of Pisa and Lycurgus of Sparta.

The Norwegian professor, Hans B. Skaset, identifies 11 trends in the development of sport and predicts that in the future sport will be privatised, disengaged from its values and anti-doping has been made obsolete by gene technology.