Rec and Sports

The Politics Behind The Olympics Games

Among the Greeks, fitness competitions and games were nationalistic in spirit; states were said to have been more proud of Olympic victories than of battles won. Women, foreigners, slaves, and dishonored persons were not allowed to compete. Contestants were required to train devotedly for ten months prior to the games and had to take an oath that they had satisfied the training requirements before participating. At first, the Olympic Games were confined to running, however over time new events were added. The winners of the Olympics were crowned with chaplets of wild olive, and in their area of origin, male champions were additionally given valuable gifts and rights.

As a visible focus of world energies, the Olympic Games have been prey to many factors that have thwarted their ideals of world co-operation and athletic excellence. Like in ancient Greece, nationalistic fervour has intensified rivalries that have at times threatened the survival of the games. Although officially only individuals are able to win Olympic medals, nations characteristically allocate political significance to the feats of their citizens and teams. For instance, between 1952 and 1988 rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, deep-seated in mutual political antagonism, resulted in both sides boycotting games hosted by the other (Moscow, 1980; Los Angeles, 1984).

Politics has influenced the Olympic Games in other ways, from the propaganda of the Nazis in Berlin (1936) to pressures leading to the exclusion of white-ruled Rhodesia from the Munich games (1972). At Munich, nine Israeli athletes were kidnapped and killed by Palestinian terrorists.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which determines and enforces Olympic guidelines, has struggled with the licensing and commercialisation of the event, the necessity to schedule events to provide for television networks, and the monitoring of athletes who seek illegitimate competitive advantage, often through the assistance of performance-enhancing drugs. In 1998 a scandal erupted with revelations that bribery and favouritism had played a role in the awarding of the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City, Utah, and in the selection of some prior venues.

Nevertheless, in spite of of the Olympic Games tensions, it is historically established that sports have acted as a link amongst nations and have significantly contributed to their evolution. Starting with the sociological, psychological and physiological aspects of the human nature, competitive sports have won the approval of people worldwide, as they have contributed to their well being. Group-oriented, since in order to be a winner one has to compete, sport brings people closer together and generates team-spirit together with mind and physical awareness. But, whether or not the contemporary Olympic Games act as an opportunity for nations to learn from one another and cooperate or are just another opportunity for people to engage in competitive and hostile rivalries, only historians of the future will be able to judge with some degree of conviction.