How the Olympics Have Been Hijacked by Nationalism and Commercialism

It is evident that hosting the Olympics games is no walk in the park. The countries trusted with this task have to spend billions to make the games a reality. Some people believe that the countries, even after spending billions of dollars benefit from the games, while others believe that the money can be spent elsewhere more efficiently. To reach a conclusion, one must study all of the different impacts in all of the different sectors the games have.

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

“Although the ancient Games were staged … from 776 BC through 393 AD, it took 1503 years for the Olympics to return” (The Games). The Olympic Games were very important to the Greeks just like the Games are a huge spectacle for the world now. The Games were always important to the Greeks because the Olympics tied into their religion. The Greeks used the Olympics to worship their gods by showing their strength and gifts that the gods had given them. Once the Greeks lost their empire, the Olympics died off. Modern day people did not warm up to the idea of the Olympics until the 1900s. Once they warmed up to the idea of the Olympics, they took off with it, and it is now a global spectacle. The Olympics has a rich history, significant purpose,

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.

The Ancient Olympic Games took place during a time of prosperity for the nation of Greece. In fact, they contributed to the success of the Greek Empire. The Olympic Games reinforced the power of ancient rulers, brought peace with the surrounding nations, and created a reliable way to track time. These ancient games have had such an influence, that they are still continued in our modern society.

The modern Olympic movement was shaped by the friendly and peaceful competition going on around the world since countries did not want to invoke more war than had already happened. In document #1 the founder of the modern Olympic movement talked about how they were going to let their athletes speak for their country instead of battling and war. Meaning he wanted to be able to settle rivalries

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).

There are many factors in every country that transform the impact of the Olympic Games, but in general, the economic costs outweigh the benefits, while the social impacts are mostly positive. As such, countries in general should not host the Olympic Games for their own national interest, but they should first understand the impacts of the Olympics in relation to their own country before making a final

During these Olympic Games the U.S. and the Soviet Union were engaged in the cold war. Tensions between the two countries were extremely high since the Soviet Union had just invaded Afghanistan. There were even talks to ban the Soviet Union from the games because of their invasion. President Jimmy Carter wanted

These two olympics were filled with more controversy than all others. The 1980 Olympic Games were held in Moscow, but back then it was a part of the Soviet Union and we were in the middle of the Cold War. Many people around the world were awestruck by the fact that the IOC had even given Moscow the opportunity to be the host city. Due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, 8 months prior to the Olympics, the United States of America and 64 other nations chose to boycott the 1980 Olympics and did not participate in them, leaving only 81 other countries to participate. Oddly enough the United States had gotten the bid to host the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. The Soviet Union then returned the favor and boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles

Swimming, running, gymnastics any sport you can think of, that’s all in the Olympics. But people are starting to think that they should stay in one place, I think not. They should move around because it gives a little more pride to that country then they had before.

The games had an abundant amount of controversial events and boycotts before the games started and during the games. With several boycotts being developed in countries like Canada, France and the United States with the majority of these boycotts being run by Communist base parties. Adolf Hitler used the Olympic Games to showcase his idea of white superiority and although Hitler’s Germany was seen as successful as well as powerful nation, there was a major obstacle. Hitler received a “Severe setback to Nazi strategies on demonstrating white, Aryan superiority to the world were the four gold medals won by American black track and field athlete, Jesse Owens.” (Morrow, Sport in Canada, 275) Jesse Owens success at the games went against Hitler’s idea of white race superiority. The most significant problem in Nazi Germany was the anti-Semitic views towards the Jewish people in Germany and caused American to threaten a boycott. If the Americans did not attend the Olympics Hitler could not have showcased Nazi power through sports because the United States had the overall best athletes as a country in the world. Instead, American only gave Hitler one stipulation to them attending the games and that was to put a Jewish athlete on the German team. (Morrow, Sport in Canada, 275) The Olympics began with not one country boycotting the games “…and Hitler was able to parade Nazi youth before the world.” (C.E.S. Franks, Sport and Canadian diplomacy, 665) This is why the 1936 Olympics went down in history to be known as the Nazi

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

While there are clear contrasts between the ancient and the modern Olympics there is still the respect for the athlete striving to perform at the highest level. Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest carnival of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are displays of nationalism, commerce, and politics. These important elements of the Olympics are not a modern invention, as the first Olympics was in 776 BC in Ancient Greece. After 1503 years, in 1896 the Olympic Games were recreated as what we know today. The Ancient Games were once dedicated to the Olympian God, Zeus Olympios and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia, which is also how the word ‘Olympics’ originated from. The modern Olympics is the largest international sporting event, which feature both summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of respectable athletes from over 200 different nations compete against one another. There are clear contrast between the modern and ancient forms of the Olympic Games regarding uniforms, participants, religion, events, politics and the concept of amateurism. However both the Ancient Greeks and the people in the modern world still respect and admire the athletics achievements of the participants making the Olympics the most highly regarded contest in sport.

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.