Newswise — WASHINGTON (July 26, 2024) – Over 10,000 athletes representing 206 countries will float down the Seine River in the middle of Paris today as part of the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. Historically, athletes have marched on foot into a stadium for the opening ceremony. This time, they’ll be traveling by boat down the Seine, which has never been done before. U.S. Open tennis champion Coco Gauff and NBA legend Lebron James will be the flag bearers for Team USA.
Some events have already gotten underway, including men's and women's football (soccer), rugby sevens, handball, and archery.
Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to offer insight, analysis and commentary on a number of topics related to the Olympics, including sports management, athlete performance and injury, wellness and nutrition, extreme heat and mental health. If you would like to speak with an expert, please contact GW Media Relations at [email protected].
Sports Law
Ellen M. Zavian, professorial lecturer in law at the George Washington University Law School. Zavian is an expert in sports compliance, sports law, sponsorship contracts, IOC, USOPC rules and regulations. Zavian became the first female attorney/agent in the NFL. She has represented the US Women’s Soccer and Softball gold medalists and extreme athletes, collectively, and held the title of Commissioner for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.
Sports Management, Marketing, Events & Tourism
Lisa Delpy Neirotti, the director of the MS in Sport Management Program and an associate professor of sport management, has been a professor of sport, event, and tourism management at GW for more than 30 years. Delpy Neirotti works with a number of sport event organizations, sponsors, and professional teams to conduct economic and market research studies including the Olympic Games, World Cup, Citi Bank Tennis Tournament, College Football Bowl Games, among others. This will be the 22nd consecutive Olympics she has attended as a consultant, volunteer or researcher, in addition to 5 World Cups, and hundreds of other major sport events since 1984.
Meredith Geisler, assistant professor of sport management, comes to GW with over 30 years of experience in sports public relations. Prior to her appointment at GW, Meredith was senior vice president of communications for Tandem Sports + Entertainment, a full-service sports and entertainment agency with expertise in athlete management, talent representation, marketing, communications and publicity services. Tandem represents some of the biggest stars in professional sports and broadcasting, including elite NBA and WNBA athletes, broadcasters, coaches, industry executives and sports organizations including Ja Morant, Grant Hill, Tim Duncan, Ray Allen, Jeremy Lin, and Tamika Catchings.
Athletic Performance & Sports Injuries
Mary Barron is an associate professor of exercise and nutrition sciences at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health and is an expert on sport-related injuries.
Loretta DiPietro is a professor of exercise and nutrition sciences at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health. She can talk about how athletes prepare their bodies for the olympics.
Todd Miller is an associate professor of exercise and nutrition sciences at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health and the former director of the GW Weight Management and Human Performance Lab.
Extreme Heat
Adriana Glenn is an assistant professor in the GW School of Nursing. She can discuss how extreme heat can impact people – directly and indirectly – and how it can aggravate conditions in those individuals who are very young, older, and with chronic illnesses.
Neelu Tummala is a clinical assistant professor of surgery at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She is also the co-director for the Climate Health Institute at GW with a special interest in the effects of climate change on population health.
Mental Health
Daniel Lieberman, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is an expert on depression and anxiety. He is the author of “The Molecule of More,” which explains how the brain chemical dopamine influences the expectations and disappointments. He can talk about the mental toll competition can have on athletes.
Lorenzo Norris is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and chief wellness officer at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He can discuss the mental stress athletes endure especially under the spotlight during the olympics.
Fallon Goodman is an assistant professor of clinical/community psychology. Goodman's research examines how people foster social connection and resilience to adversity. Her work explores daily patterns of coping and barriers to social connection (e.g., social anxiety; rejection), with a focus on people who are vulnerable to social stress.
Sports Diplomacy
William Youmanns is an associate professor of media and public affairs and the director of the GW Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication. Broadly interested in questions of transnationalism, power and communication, his primary research interests include global news, law and politics. He can discuss the idea of sports diplomacy and how these Olympic Games bring people together from all over the world.
Pop Culture & Representation
Imani M. Cheers is an associate professor of digital story-telling media and the Interim Senior Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education at the George Washington University. Cheers is an award-winning digital storyteller, director, producer, and filmmaker. As a professor of practice, she uses a variety of mediums including video, photography, television, and film to document and discuss issues impacting and involving people of the African Diaspora. Her scholarly focus is on the intersection of women/girls, technology, health, conflict, agriculture, and the effects of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa. Cheers is also an expert on diversity in Hollywood, specifically the representation of Black women in television and film.
Soccer
Peter Loge is the director of the GW School of Media & Public Affairs. His book, “Soccer Thinking for Management Success: Lessons for Organizations from the World's Game,” was published in 2018. It draws parallels of organizational success and soccer as well as dives into the lessons that can be learned from the game from a management and leadership perspective.
Scott Rezendes, adjunct professor, teaches the Management of Global Soccer course at the GW School of Business. The course takes an in-depth look into the world's most popular sport, engaging current topics with industry experts from across the globe. It integrates real live experiences with behind the scenes views of professional club management and national team match day engagement opportunities. Rezendes is also the CEO and co-founder of the Soccer Syndicate, a professional soccer scouting network.
Russian Participation & Russia Doping Scandals
Robert Orttung, research professor of international affairs, is an expert on comparative politics, democracy, energy security, federalism, Russia, Ukraine and sustainability. Orttung co-authored the book, Putin's Olympics: The Sochi Games and the Evolution of Twenty-First Century Russia, which examines the political, security, business, ethnic, societal, and international ramifications of Vladimir Putin’s system when understanding how the Sochi Games fit into the larger Olympic history. He can discuss the Olympics broadly and the political aspects of the Russia doping case as well as how Russian and Belarusian athletes are playing under neutral identities at the Games.
-GW-
RSS