Lyon '68: The Games that Weren't, or the Intermediate Event-zone of a Non-Olympics.

The article discusses the failure of France to win its bid for the city of Lyon to host the 1968 Summer Olympic Games, held instead in Mexico City. The French political and social context for the 1968 host city competition is discussed, including the relationship of the government of the Fifth Republic to sports and French nationalism, the rivalry between the cities of Lyon and Paris, and the infrastructure development issues of the Rhône-Alpes region around Lyon, and economic modernization in France generally.