Politics in Sports

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 Olympics are held every four years and are used as a global stage for many thousands of sportsmen and women who come from many different countries around the world to demonstrate their abilities ranging from running to rowing. In theory, the Olympic Games are supposed to be free from any politics and be purely about the athlete’s competition and celebrations. It is supposed to be non-gender, non-religion and non-race biased to show the accomplishment of the athletes that compete. Sporting officials are also supposed to be un-biased offering equal opportunities to all athletes.

The Olympics have not only been a prized achievement for many athletes throughout the years, but have been a huge influence of societies all over the world through producing viewpoints, social roles, and societal hierarchies. Observing the continuities and discontinuities within the Olympic games one can gain clarity on how past events still shape the present. Recently new rules set by the International Associations of Athletics Federations (IAAF) have declared that female athletes with abnormally high rates of testosterone must lower their hormone levels or be forced to compete with men. This rule amendment in women’s sports highlights only a small factor of how women have been segregated and discriminated against by a higher power. Through

Ever since September of last year, the NFL National Anthem Protest has been one of the most controversial topics across social-media, alongside with other protests against police brutality. Many have criticized for such an action for being disrespectful to the National Anthem and Flag. Those, who have supported it, claim to protest against the nationwide police brutalities against the Black people. Looking back to the history of the United States, such sports protests are not a unique incident. During 1968 Olympic game, which are hold in Mexico City, African American Athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black-gloved fists to speak for black civil rights. Yet, back then both the U.S. government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not show support for such an action, though today the IOC claimed that the black American athletes has made names for themselves for doing such protests.

In a nutshell, the Olympics have been massively affected over the time span from 1892 to 2002. Factors that enabled this metamorphosis to take place include: political tensions between countries, economic opportunities that arose, and the social impact through the endorsement of Women’s

Throughout this journey, many factors had an impact on the Olympics. Some of the factors that changed the modern day Olympics are women competitors, women’s suffrage, nationalism, wars, and economic conditions. An increase of women's rights was given, pride for the nations was shown, wars still occurred, and economies have flourished. The longer the Olympic Games have aged, the closer the world’s state is to Pierre’s

There are multiple elements that shaped the modern Olympic movement from 1892 to 2002. The concept of the modern Olympic movement was to create a global brotherhood using a common interest of all the country’s to bring them together. There were three main factors that shaped the modern Olympic movement, women’s suffrage, economy, and intercountry politics. Feminism helped to shape the Olympic movement because feminism brought women into the Olympic movement because they wanted to prove they could do anything. Nationalism helped to shape the Olympic movement because it brought back rivalries between country’s that were once at war, and the feelings of those country’s due to the outcome of the wars they were in. economics helped shape the Olympic

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.

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

"...Sport is prostituted when sport loses its independent and democratic character and becomes a political institution...Nazi Germany is endeavoring to use the Eleventh Olympiad to serve the necessities and interests of the Nazi regime rather than the Olympic ideals."

Sport plays a huge role in today’s society. It contributes to one’s health and fitness, social interaction, social and motor skills, patriotism, fun and entertainment. It also stimulates the economy and tourism leading to interaction between different cultures, for example the Olympics, and sport role models. Sports clearly are an important part of cultures and societies around the world as such events as the Olympics

Sports have been around for centuries, dating back to 776 BC with the first Olympic Games. Ancient civilizations like the Egyptian, Greeks and Mayans all had a sport they enjoyed taking part in. They were created to bring people together and help them settle disputes or conflicts in an organized manner. Great leaders of the ancient world saw a fascination in sports and made it part of their reign to promote the human’s natural competitiveness. Since then, new sports have emerged and also new reasons for one to play. New sports evolve every day all over the world. Everywhere in social media and magazines you will find images of famous athletes and their achievements. Not much history has been left behind by these famous civilizations except for some cave paintings and stories passed down through generations. However, these sports have helped new ones all over the world flourish and the competitive aspect has been kept intact with some modifications to minimize some of its historical brutality.

The continuous victories of Soviet Russia and East Germany were no accident. Their governments took great care to build excellent training facilities and fund sports clubs to train their athletes. The states would pick out promising students and put them under extensive training in state-operated training bases and specialized sports schools. Local schools would have intense rivalry for spots in these training bases. Youths under these programs would then be channeled towards the sports which suited them best. These training programs would be based upon a universal standard for the players that must be achieved. At the same time, they were also trained to be athletic “ambassadors” for their countries, brainwashed to sing praise of the country at their international games. Another reason for this brainwashing is the possibility of them being influenced by their capitalist western opponents. Athletes that ran away were forgotten, erased from the history

A person from the IOC said it was "a deliberate and violent breach of the fundamental principles of the Olympic spirit"(BBC On this Day 1968: Black athletes make silent protest). This was a social and political

"Politics has come to be considered not only inappropriate in the arena of sports, but actually antithetical to it," Zirin says. "We want so much to see sports solely as an arena of play, not seriousness. But here's the thing, this can cheapen not only the greatness and relevance of sports to us as a society, but also the courage of the athletes" . The pursuit of fame, wealth and status can blind the human conscience, which is why it is important for us to encourage athletes to voice their opinions. As a nation, we should not silence our athletes, because it is the truly courageous athletes who have the audacity to stand up when it is socially unacceptable. Sports should be used as a platform for a certain kind of politics such as