Controversies Of The 1936 Olympics Compics

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

the time, and the Nazis were in power. Before the Olympics, German Jews had been segregated and

Boycotting has been used throughout history as an instrument for foreign policy. “For any Olympics to be a true Olympics, all the world’s nations should be represented,” said Anderson. “Not … those … on one side or the other of political barbed wire.” As a result of boycott, the essence of the games—competition—diminished. At the 1980 Olympics where the United States decided to stay home, the Soviet Union swept 195 medals—the largest won in history—followed by the United States in 1984 with 174 medals, when, by no surprise, the Soviets decided to miss. Ironically, the spirit of the Olympics turned cold alongside the Cold War. “[The domination as a result of boycott] diminished any accomplishments in working hard,” said Al Oerter, a four-time Olympic gold-medal winner. The Olympic Games quickly turned into a game for politicians, not the athletes. James Montague, the 2009 Best New Writer, wrote in CNN that Carter’s idea of a “good, non-military way of protesting the invasion” was not effective, with the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan lasting another eight years. The 1976 boycott was not effective either; the South African apartheid regime survived another eighteen years. Boycotting did more damage at home than it did away: it proved horrible for the Olympic movement and for athletes like Don Paige, a renowned track runner, who was left to watch the race he knew he could win.

On February 4th, 1932, the third winters Olympics were held, but it was the first time it happened

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).

The 1972 Olympics were supposed to show that Germany had changed as a country. They were supposed to be “The Happy Games” but instead are remembered for the massacre of the Israeli athletes. The Munich Massacre has changed how terrorism is dealt with in different countries and in the Olympics as a whole.

The olympics were shaped due to social reasons. Document 1’s author, Pierre de Coubertin, who is the founder of the modern Olympics, is a reliable asset to pursuing ideal peace with many other countries. The reason why he wants peace is because he wants to have the “disappearance of war” to be “utopians” which shows that he believes that the olympics one of the best answers to his goal. Similarly, in document 6, the Soviet Union’s Olympic organizing Committee also want to take part with “peace, democracy, and social progress.” This shows how more and more countries, even those with bad ties with others,

Initially, the Nazi’s propaganda minister convinced Hitler it was a great opportunity to warp people’s minds with their propaganda. Hitler also thought it was a great chance to prove his theory of Aryan racial superiority. But, he was proven wrong when the African American Jesse Owens won four gold medals (Gabi Mezger) . Finally, Berlin was actually the decided host before Hitler came to power but they still supported them just as much. The Nazi’s didn’t host an Olympics just for fun, there were actually many political reasons behind the event.

Most people would classify the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936 as just another Olympics, and they would be right because the Games did have the classic triumphs and upsets that occur at all Olympic Games. What most people did not see, behind the spectacle of the proceedings, was the effect the Nazi party had on every aspect of the Games including the results. Despite Nazi Germany’s determination to come off as the superior nation in the 1936 Olympics, their efforts were almost crushed by the very people they were trying to exclude.

The Nazi Olympics in Berlin in 1936 destroyed Hitler’s master race history. "There was very definitely a special feeling in winning the gold medal and being a black man," Woodruff said. "We destroyed [Hitler's] master race theory whenever we started winning those gold medals,” said runner John Woodruff (7). John Woodruff was a black man who won a gold medal. Another African American Jesse Owens won four track and field gold medals. These two people defied the Aryan ideal that Hitler believed that Aryan dominated the world. Another important impact the Olympic brought happened in 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. In that Olympics, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon refused to participate because of a dispute over the Suez Canal; Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands boycotted the Games in protest over the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary; China boycotted the Games because a flag of Taiwan was raised in the Olympic Village. The original purpose of the Olympics was to make the countries collaborate, however, it also brought negative impacts. Another example is that Olympics in Mexico city in 1968. Americans politicised the Games by letting two African Americans, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, represent the United States. Tommie Smith and John Carlos placed first and third in the track and field. During their medal ceremony, they raised a clenched fist above their

“No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas” (Advertising, Demonstrations, Propaganda* 98). This rule shows just what the Germans were hoping for, a peaceful, passive, war-free environment in which countries can get together and compete. Although we all know that quite the antithesis was upon the 1972 Olympics in Munich between September the fifth and September the sixth. The Munich Massacre, one of the worst massacres of all time, was driven by the vengefulness of the Palestinian group known as Black September, towards the people of Israel, or more relevantly, towards their Olympic team (Rosenberg). Since this confrontation between Palestine and

Hitler employed artists to create beautiful posters and magazine spreads to advertise and promote the Games. When they included athletes in their artwork, the artists portrayed them as representatives of the Nazi myth of the "Aryan" race -- blue eyed blondes with strong, chiseled features. In this way, Hitler wanted to draw a link between Nazi Germany and Ancient Greece. (16).

The 1936 Olympics in Berlin, also known as the “Nazi Olympics”, was a milestone in the history of the world. All of the attention of the Olympics that year was focused on Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. In 1933, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler became leader of Germany and quickly turned the nation's democracy into a one-party dictatorship. He took thousands of political opponents, holding them without trial in concentration camps. The Nazis also set up a program to strengthen the Germanic Aryan population. They began to exclude all one-half million Jews from the population, and German life. As part of the drive to "purify" and strengthen the German population, a 1933 law permitted physicians to perform forced

Most Germans hoped that the 1972 Olympics would help to heal the racial damage caused by the 1936 Olympics. It was the first time the games had returned to the state since Nazism

The Olympics, an event where the most physically fit push themselves to the extreme to win against other nations. In 1936, Adolph Hitler and the Nazis held the Olympics in Berlin, Germany. American athletes had a hard time deciding if they should travel to Berlin and take part in the Nazi Olympics. The Berlin Olympics was a personal issue for the American team, which included Jesse Owens. He wasn't sure that he should join the team because of the views that were expressed by the Nazis. Despite this, he had a lot to show the world.