Abstract
Last decades have been marked, assuredly, by the growing internationalization of cities and this increased autonomy of local actions, beyond the national scale, is a particularly relevant frame to study the Olympic phenomenon. As a matter of fact, several scales are represented and interacting in the Olympic Games :on the one hand, with athletes competing under different banners, the competition stands out as an example of nationalism' struggle, but for the host city, local dynamics and local development are also at stake. A competition between cities interest in the Games is obvious and the main evidence of that is the fact that every four year, dozens of city councils are bitterly fighting all over the globe to win this jackpot, namely the honor of staging the Olympics.
