Olympics Watch is a transnational archive of content and ideas that challenge official and mainstream narratives about the Olympics. While the Olympics has faced growing resistance from host cities and bidding cities in recent years, the emergence of a sustained movement has been complicated by the challenges of overcoming space, time, and language barriers. Olympics Watch aims to facilitate a powerful transnational critique of the Olympic model by archiving materials that a) challenge the notoriously corrupt IOC (International Olympic Committee) and its global network of corporate and political partners, and b) assert ‘right to the city’ demands and visions that value people and community over profit.
Heavily inspired by RioOnWatch, a favela-focused news site in Rio de Janeiro that emerged in the context of the 2016 Olympics, Olympics Watch also draws on the work of a number of platforms that have challenged mega-events around the globe, including Games Monitor from London, NOlympics LA, and the call for a Planetary No Olympics Network from Tokyo, among others.