Olympics Expert Jeffrey Segrave Honored with McMurrin Fellowship

Saratoga Springs, N.Y. -- Jeffrey O. Segrave, professor of exercise science and chair of the Department of Exercise Science, Dance, and Athletics, has received a prestigious McMurrin Fellowship for a residency at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City this month.

Sharing the honor with Segrave is renowned anthropologist Jane Goodall.

The McMurrin Fellowship, named after the late Sterling A. McMurrin, professor of philosophy and dean of the graduate school at the University of Utah, is designed to complement and enhance the undergraduate program by bringing scholars to the university's campus for up to two weeks. A McMurrin professor's specialty must be of interest to students and faculty in his or her discipline, as well as to the broader university community. McMurrin professors are selected following a national search.

Segrave, who is at the university from Jan. 11 to 22, is teaching classes in a variety of disciplines and giving two special lectures -- one to the university community and a second to the Salt Lake City community. While the precise nature of his talks will vary, they will focus broadly on SegraveÕs ongoing research topic -- what he calls "the massive spectatorial appeal of the Olympic games."

Segrave characterizes the Olympics as 'secular religion' -- a manifestation of society's overwhelming interest in sports. "I consider the Olympics to be a mirror of our culture and when we watch, we validate and vindicate ourselves and our culture," he explained.

As proof of his thesis, Segrave notes that there is no other global event that regularly draws the attention of half the worldÕs population. "Nothing attracts our attention in quite the same way," he asserted. Interest in the Olympics has remained high and consistent, despite changing political and cultural conditions, he added. He attributes some of this continuing fascination in the Olympics to the success of the games as a technological/theatrical commodity.

Segrave's presence in Salt Lake City -- home of the Winter Olympics of 2002 -- will give him a chance to visit sites of sporting events planned for the upcoming games and an opportunity to continue his research in a new Olympic venue. Of the current controversy involving charges of bribery in connection with the selection of Olympic sites, Segrave said, "If the allegations hold up, this will be one of the bleakest moments in modern Olympic games history. It will give ammunition to those who have always denigrated the idealistic inclinations of the Olympics. The Olympics have always stood for something better than sordid political machinations. This will tarnish the reputation and credibility of the entire Olympic movement."

For more than 15 years, Segrave has studied, lectured, and written about the athletic, political, and sociological aspects of the modern Olympic movement. He is an editor of two books, The Olympic Games in Transition (1988) and Olympism (1981), and the author of a number of book chapters, articles, and essays in mainstream and professional media on the Olympics. He has lectured widely on the topic at educational institutions in the United States and abroad.

A Skidmore faculty member since 1978 who was named chair of the department in 1997, Segrave has combined his career in the classroom with a second career on the tennis courts. For 20 years, he has coached Skidmore's Women's Varsity Tennis Team, which last year won the NCAA Division III national championship.