The role of the CEO-UAB as an engine for sports documentation and research through the eyes of UAB Journalism students
A group of fourth-year Bachelor's Degree in Journalism students at UAB analyzes in depth the documentary management, the value of open access, and the scientific activity of the CEO-UAB within the framework of the Journalistic Documentation course
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The research highlights the role of the CEO-UAB not only as a custodian of the Barcelona '92 historical archive but also as an active institution in the generation of knowledge, outreach, and scientific transfer.
Adrián Lorenz, Jesús Martín, Sergi Martín, Lidia Castillo, and Arnau Muñoz have produced the report CEO-UAB: over three decades generating and sharing Olympic knowledge, which analyzes the trajectory of the Olympic Studies Centre (CEO-UAB) for the Journalistic Documentation course. The project examines how this research and documentation unit has evolved since its foundation in 1989—driven by the city's designation as the host of the Barcelona '92 Olympic Games—to respond to contemporary challenges in sports, ranging from digitalization to gender equality and new news consumption habits.
From the perspective of Journalism students, the transmission of knowledge at the CEO-UAB transcends the traditional model of a passive document repository. As noted by the center's director, Emilio Fernández Peña, this dissemination is articulated through open access and the university's digital tools. Through its portal and the UAB Digital Document Repository (DDD), the institution makes theses, reports, and historical archives on sports and the Olympic Movement publicly available, guaranteeing direct and free consultation of primary sources for researchers and journalists. Furthermore, the deputy director, Iliana Ferrer, highlights that the unit's activity is sustained through competitive projects and institutional collaborations, leveraging its integration within the Sport Research Institute (IRE-UAB) to share management and communication structures.
The analysis conducted by the students concludes that the integration of the CEO-UAB into the IRE-UAB fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and connects the center's trajectory with other areas of sports research. Beyond document conservation and dissemination, the unit promotes international outreach projects such as the MOOC course The Olympic Games and the Media on Coursera, the co-editing of the open-access scientific journal Diagoras: Journal of Olympic Studies, participation in the Master of Arts in Olympic Studies, and has driven the creation of the Ibero-American Network of Olympic Studies Centres.