The book deals with the Sociological Aspects of Modern Sports and features articles on social change and sports development (e. g. the problem of doping and responsibility of science, talent identification and promotion), on the Olympics (e. g. the Olympic Idea and Reality, the Athletes’ Village) and on athletics (e. g. on the development of world athletics, what makes athletics valuable).

After his career as a professional handball player Helmut Digel became president of the German Athletics Federation in 1993. From 1993 to 2002 he was Vice president of the National Olympic Committee for Germany. He was elected “Sports Official of the Year” twice (in 1994 and 1998). Until 2007 he served as Vice president of the International Association of Athletics Federations. In August 2007 he joined the IAAF Council. Following professorships in Frankfurt and Darmstadt, Helmut Digel was Professor for Sport Science with a focus on Sociology of Sport at the Eberhard-Karls-University in Tübingen from 2002 until 2010. He was also Head of the Department for Sport Science at the University of Tübingen. Digel’s main research area lies in the field of sport sociology. He is author of several articles on elite sport.