The Winter Olympics: The Rise Of The Modern Olympic Games

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.

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

Some factors that shaped the modern Olympic movement from 1892 to 2002 were the increased participation of women in the games due to women’s suffrage, the rising nationalism and superiority over competitors that took place, and the increase in trade and funding.

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 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.

1. Use sport as an opioid to motivate the country to get behind all sporting representatives to achieve success as a Nation.

During the Cold war, tensions were high between the US and the USSR. The two countries always wanted to show that they were the most dominant. One of the ways that the USSR showed dominance was through the Olympics and ice hockey. The hockey game between the US and the USSR during the 1980 Winter Olympics was a turning point in the Cold War. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) was said to be the best of all the teams in Olympic hockey. The 1980 Olympic hockey game between the US and the USSR was a significant turning point in the Cold War and also reflected the tension of it.

We many different types of Olympics; like for example, swimming, hockey, track & field, etc. The Olympics have been going on for a very long time; it started on April 6, 1896. According to Document G, it says, “Soviet weight lifter Vasily Alekseyev and gymnast Olga Korbut were both gold medal winners in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.” They were both Soviets and were international superstars in their events. On the other hand, “ Cold War tensions led the United States to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympic in Moscow and the Soviet Union to boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.” Basically, the Soviets brought the Summer Olympics to us in 1984 ad that’s how everything started in LA. According to the Summer Olympics Medal Count, “The USSR won the most medals than the US.” In my opinion, I think the USSR won because they were the ones that had more athletic people. This should be in the Soviet textbooks, so we all know how the Olympics

After World War II, the United States and the Soviets, considerably the two greatest superpowers of that time went from allies to enemies as we entered the era of the Cold war. During this period of time, there were critical turning points that proved vital in the revitalization of the American vitality. One of these pivotal moments derived from the outcome of the 1980 Winter Olympic games. The USA hockey teams defeat over the Soviets boosted the spirits of the American soldiers, as well as the American people. On the contrary, the Soviet Union saw their power dwindle after their major defeat in the Winter Olympic games. This critical shift made way for the downfall of the Soviets reign as a major superpower. To further recognize the Winter Olympic games as an imperative turning point in the Cold War, one must educate oneself on previous history.

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 influence of every nation has a lasting impression on the Olympics. The Ancient Olympics received its influence on the games through the gods, the modern Olympics receives its influence from the nations competing. Every year the Olympics changes it location, and every year a few nations seem to have a problem with that location. In 1980 the U.S., Japan, and Germany all boycotted the games in Moscow due to a Russian attack on Afghanistan. This changed the outlook of the 1980 games as three major nations decided not to attend (Hight).

"The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us,” said John Williams, the composer for theme music for the Olympics (8). The Olympic Games are international sports festivals that began in ancient Greece. The first ancient Olympics can be traced back to 776 BC when people held this religious festival to honour Zeus, the father of all the Greek gods and goddesses. The participants were male citizens from Greece, and these athletes participated in only one event — foot race. Unfortunately, this ancient Olympics did not last forever. The first olympic in 776 BC in Olympia was an significant event

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.

"...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."

The purpose of this study is to analyze extensively the role that Cold War tensions played in the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. The analysis seeks to understand the effect that politics, have on the organization, implementation and eventually success of sporting events such as the Olympics. In order to do so, the analysis will address the events leading up to, during and after the Moscow Olympic Games of 1980. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 will be addressed to help place the games into perspective. Also, exchanges between the two nations before, during and after the games will be analyzed to understand if and to what extent they affected the games. To investigate the issue, the study will address the