Politics in the Olympics

There are numerous examples of politics in the Olympic Games. This was not the original intent. The Olympic Games were created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin for two reasons:

1) A way for the countries of the globe to become more connected.
2) It was a reason for men to become more "vigoureux" or vigorous. (This was in answer to the Franco-Prussian War in which Germany defeated France)

However in the years to come this began to change. In 1900, the Olympics became a great honor for countries who took part.

1936

The 1936 Summer Olympics, held in Berlin, were the first games in which politics had a major role. They were Hitler's Olympics and he took them as a chance to show off the post-First World War Germany. Hitler also wanted to put forward his view of the Aryan race as being the best in every aspect, although non-Aryan athletes like Jesse Owens won many of the games.

1956

The 1956 Summer Olympics, held in Melbourne, were affected by numerous boycotts. Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon boycotted in protest of the Israeli invasion of Egypt. The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland boycotted in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary during the Hungarian Uprising.

The political frustrations between the Soviet Union and Hungary boiled over at the games themselves when the two mens water polo teams met for the semi-final. The players became increasingly violent towards each other as the game progressed, while many Hungarian-Australian spectators were prevented from rioting only with the sudden appearance of the police [cite news
url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/175-years/cold-war-violence-erupts-at-melbourne-olympics/2006/04/17/1145126047088.html |title = Cold War violence erupts at Melbourne Olympics
date = 1956-12-07
publisher = "Sydney Morning Herald"
accessdate = 2008-08-10] .The match became known as the Blood in the Water match [cite web
url =http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/blood-in-the-water.html
title = Blood in the Water at the 1956 Olympics
date = 2008-08-01
publisher = "Smithsonian.com"
author = Miles Corwin
accessdate = 2008-08-10] .

1968

The 1968 Summer Olympics were held in Mexico City. At these games Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medalists, gave the black power salute during the Star Spangled Banner. The action was deemed to be against the principles of the Olympic Games and the two athletes were expelled from the Olympics.

Students in Mexico City tried to make use of the media attention for their country to protest against the authoritarian character of the Mexican government. The Mexican government reacted with violence, culminating in the Tlatelolco Massacre of October 2 in which more than two hundred protesters were gunned down by government forces.

1972

The 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich Germany were probably the most negatively affected games. Eleven Israeli athletes were kidnapped and ultimately killed by Palestinian terrorists. The terrorists demanded the release of 234 Palestinians.

1976

Held in Montreal, the 1976 Summer Olympics were marred with more boycotts as well as drug allegations against the East Germans. The boycotts were held out by 26 African countries because New Zealand's rugby team toured South Africa.Fact|date=July 2008

Neither the Republic of China(Taiwan) or the People's Republic of China (mainland) competed.Fact|date=July 2008

Canada incurred $1.5 Billion in debt, which they finished paying off in 19 December 2006. Montreal became the last publicly funded games.Fact|date=July 2008

1980

Moscow's 1980 Summer Olympics was the year of the largest boycott in Olympic history. The boycott included the USA and 61 other countries in response to the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan. The 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York stirred controversy because of plans to convert the Olympic athletes' dormitory facilities into a state prison afterwards. This made legal history when the National Moratorium on Prison Construction won a court ruling allowing its use of the Olympic symbol on a poster as protected speech.

1984

Allegedly in retaliation of the 1980 boycott, the USSR, East Germany, Cuba and 14 other countries boycotted the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics.

This was also the first time the People's Republic of China participated, having protested the Republic of China's presence in previous Olympics.

2008

Since the beginning of 2008, especially during the protests of the torch relay of 2008 Summer Olympics, the prospect of boycotting the 2008 games in Beijing grew. The protesters' aims are not only the human rights of Mainland China, but also the independent campaign and violence of Tibet. Another major factor was the Chinese support for the regime in Sudan, which is accused of committing genocide in the Darfur region; this issue led to Steven Spielberg pulling out as artistic director of the games.Fact|date=August 2008 U.S. president George W. Bush committed to attending the opening ceremonies. Ultimately, no nations boycotted the games; however, several prominent world leaders such as Angela Merkel and Gordon Brown did not attend the opening ceremony.

The political issues in 2008 were not simply limited to issues involving China. Russia was embroiled in controversy as the Second South Ossetian War started around the same time as the the games. This lent extra weight to the victory of the Georgia Women's Beach Volleyball Team over their Russian opponents (although the two players, Cristine Santanna and Andrezza Martins, were originally from Brazil). [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/13/AR2008081302734.html?hpid=artslot]

References

See also

*Olympic Games

External links

* [http://www.cfr.org/publication/16366/ Multimedia timeline on the history of politics and the olympics from the Council on Foreign Relations.]