Why Did The United States Hold The Nazi Olympics?

The Olympic games originated in Athens in 776 B.C. The more popular modern day Olympic games began nearly 2300 years later in 1896. The games no longer represented a religious festival, but a sports competition instead. The games can be studied via multiple aspects such as political, social, and economic, but this paper will concentrate on the economic aspect of the games and more specifically, the macroeconomic impacts the games possess.

“Our nation does not know us as Olympians. Our sublime moments of exertion and triumph do not exist. We have no memories and you have no memories of us” (DeFranz, qtd. in Caraccioli 17). In 1980, the United States led a 61 nation boycott of the Moscow Summer Olympics. President Jimmy Carter called for the boycott to protest the Soviet Union Invasion of Afghanistan. Many people have debated whether the United States should have boycotted the games, which impacted President Jimmy Carter’s diplomatic relations and had serious consequences for athletes around the world. The boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics was problematic for both cultural and political reasons. The United States should not have participated in or led the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics because the US government was blending the spheres of athletics and politics, government officials were solely concerned with the international reputation of the US and its relations with other nations, and the athletes preparing to participate in the games to represent the US were treated unfairly.

Finally, the Olympic games are altered by the diverse and changing social structures in the world. For instance, in 1908 a photograph of British competitor Sybil Newall shooting her bow was found on newspapers across England(2). Whether this photograph was staged to sell newspapers or not, it cannot be denied that this photograph indicates the beginning of women’s movement, which was obviously an important issue during this time in the world. With more leniency being given to women during this time, they were eventually being allowed to compete in the competitive events, though only 2% of the athletes were women. This factor also continues to show during the 1992 games held in Spain, where by then 29% of women were competing. Hassiba Boulmerka was an Algerian competitor during this time and spoke in an interview about her critics, and how being the first Algerian to win an Olympic title did not depend on her gender, but simply on her strength in her mind and in body. Boulmerka was heavily criticized by Muslim groups in Algeria for wearing shorts as she ran in the events. Despite this, the games illustrated the decreasing requirements for dresses and increasing requests for

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

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.

The 1980 Moscow Olympics became known for the controversy and political statements that occurred at the Games. The split between the Communist countries and the rest of the world became evident in the lead up to the event. The world split into two groups, those that would support the Soviet Games and those who would not. In total, 60 different non-communist countries boycotted the Games following the United States boycott. The United States withdrew on the basis that the Soviet Union’s presence in Afghanistan. The Soviets doubted that reason and claimed that the real reason the United States withdrew as due to their status as a communist nation, the first to host the Games. In response to the boycott, the USSR launched a counter campaign

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.

“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

Adolph Hitler wanted the 1936 Berlin Olympics to be a large scale national spectacle. So that the rest of the world could see the glory of Nazi Germany, he hired film producer Leni

The overall concept will be a redevelopment of landscape. The idea of the inner city will be a concept that the Olympic games will change. They will focus on cleaning up pollution and making New York a better place.

After an inspection on how the Jewish athletes were being treated, and the sports facilities in Germany, Avery Brundage, president of the American Olympic Committee, was against a boycott of the Olympics (Hoadley ’36 Olympic Hopefuls Remember Nazi Past 3). He stated that the Jews were being treated fairly at the time, and the games had to go on as planned. His rival, Judge Jeremiah Mahoney, president of the Amateur Athletic Union, pointed out that Germany had broken Olympic rules forbidding discrimination based on race and religion. In his view, participation would mean an endorsement of Hitler's Reich (Bachrach The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 23).

Discuss the role that West-German authorities played during the 1972 Munich Olympic crisis, specifically addressing their preparation prior to Black September’s terrorist, as well as their consequent actions and decisions made during the crisis. Primarily, assess whether criticisms of the West-German authorities’ handling and preparation of the 1972 Munich Massacre are valid, and thus justifiable.

Olympics holds competitive events that people look forward to. This is where men and women athletes get to represent their countries legacy and pride. It contains many competitions such as basketball,soccer,archery,wrestling,swimming,etc. Though, the Olympics games were first instituted by the Greeks. Greece created in honor of the king of gods, Zeus. Every four years, athletes from all over Greece would play in the Olympics .However, after 1986, the Olympic games were held in different venues around the world. For example, some places the Olympics took place in were in Africa, Australia, Asia, and America. They did this because they wanted the games to be an representation of international brotherhood and friendship. In the beginning of the games, the torched would be first lit by the sun rays in Olympia and carried by runners to the site of the games.

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

Despite many incidents of the athletes and the corporate sponsors infringing the core values of the Olympics, the IOC claims that they are working on their part to enforce more significance on the Olympics moral standards. The IOC is the main organizer of the Olympics Games, who is responsible for the total construction of the event, from the venue, athletes, to the judging system; thus, it should be safe to assume that once the IOC determines to put effort into reviving the true spirits of the Olympics, the moral codes of the Games should gradually restore. During the Sochi Olympics event, where five athletes were sent home after being tested positive from the use of performance-boosting drugs, Thomas Bach, an IOC president, commented that