1960 Torch Relay

The Olympics have shown over the decades that they can be affected by political conflict. However, it seems that this is the point of the Olympics, to illustrate national pride, by competition. Bloodshed should not be the way for pride of one’s country to be shown, but it should be shown through competition, in the words of the founder of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de

As we mourned the recent loss of Muhammad Ali, boxing champion of the world to many, continued the ancient Greece's tradition of carrying the torch to light the cauldron during the 1996 Summer Olympics games in Atlanta, GA. The torch remains lit until the conclusion of competition today as it did in ancient

As a sporting mega-event, the Olympic Games have numerous social impacts on the people, not only on those from the host country, but on individuals all over the globe.

People with the greatest honor are remembered in the Olympics. The Olympics had started a revolution that is still on today; it has brought the most talented people together to compete in events to show each others’ great ability. The olympics is the new age of competitive sports that will lead people to unlock their full potential, and start a story that will never be forgotten. The Ancient greece olympic games go back to 776 bc in a little village called Olympia. The games were a religious event that was performed to honor the ancient Greek God Zeus. The games were held every four years. The Greeks had four national sports festivals, where athletes from near cities come to compete. Which included boxing, chariot racing, riding, pankration,

The Olympic Games are a set of friendly competitions that bring countries from all around the world together, but many social, political, and economic problems in the past and present including racial and sexual discrimination and apartheid have prevented the Olympic Games from fulfilling their promise to bring countries together.

There are quite a few factors that shaped the modern-day Olympics from 1892 to 2002. Pierre de Coubertin states that he wanted to create the Olympics to spread world peace. He does this by substituting war for friendly sports competitions (doc 1). Of course, there were some bumps in the road while trying to achieve this utopia. Some factors that have changed the Olympics are the allowing of women being able to compete in the Olympics, women’s suffrage, nationalism, wars, and economic conditions (doc 2-7).

These example show how while the Panhellenic Games did create some unintentional unity amongst the Greeks, the unity was in no way finite or stable as many athletes and spectators retained their sense of city-state patriotism and superiority. The Panhellenic Games even seems to have encouraged these de-unifying

Most people think of the Olympics as just a way for the world to join together and athletically compete but hidden behind the curtain of glory and valor, natives suffer through poverty from the unbalanced economy that is correlated with the hosting of the Olympic games. CNN and other news channels manage to capture the fantastics of the games, but always seem to avoid the discrepancies within the host nation. Why should the innocent suffer at the expense of international entertainment and competition? The Olympic games not only harms the economic stability of its host nations, but also demoralize the natives of the country by weighing pointless entertainment

Before the 1968 Olympics, the world was in chaos. Countries had internal and external problems that were carried on to the Olympic stage. Issues like the Cold War, South Africa apartheid, and the Civil Rights movement took part in forming the games and taking the stage. However, the host of the Olympics, Mexico, was in for a rude awakening. First, they had to prove to the world that they were capable of hosting the games. Second, they had to handle the worlds issues and their own too. Mexico’s problems consisted of the effect of high altitude on athlete’s performance and student protests. These concerns are all discussed in Kevin Witherspoon’s book, Before the Eyes of the World: Mexico and the 1968 Olympic Games. Witherspoon argues how global and internal disputes were able to impact Mexico in how they handled the most watched event.

The present-day Olympics are more focused on individual athletes than nations. The media focuses more on the athletes’ achievements in terms of records broken, while the athletes’ focus on the monetary prizes to be won

As mentioned in Protests of the 1960s, the 60s were a prime time for groups to start movements. We had the Civil Rights movement, the Gay Rights movement, the Women’s movement, and the anti-Vietnam War Movement. Each of these group wanted equality and started protesting to get attention. They decided to use a more direct democracy to win and change public policies at the local, state, and federal levels. They gave up their time, energy, and passion with hopes to make society more just for all. (Protests) “In ancient days, nation's stopped wars to compete in the Games. Nowadays, we stop the Olympics to continue our wars” (Politics). This quote from the Chicago Tribune speaks the truth about what Olympics have turned into. This news article goes on about the various protests that have been brought up in the Olympics such as the Republic of China team in 1960, the Finnish athletes in 1908, the Mexico City Black Power Salute in 1968, as well as others.

He argued that the Olympic ideal was to be a time-out from war and above politics” (Smith 4).

Ever since its inception in 1896, the Modern Olympics has hosted an invisible sport: politics. The Olympics calls for “a halt to all conflicts … [and to] strive towards a more peaceful world,” but politics soon spoiled its biennial message. “As the Olympics continue to dissolve into … a political competition … they no longer … justify the time and trouble,” Dave Anderson, Pulitzer Prize winner for his sports column, wrote in the New York Times in 1984. The Olympic spirit has routinely been used as an outlet for political agendas. With political and Olympic ambitions intersected, the great international sports festivity negatively affects all nations involved.

First of all, the first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. The man responsible for its rebirth was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit.