The Politics of the Olympics Games
Among the Greeks, fitness competitions and games were nationalistic in spirit; states were said to have been prouder of Olympic victories than of battles won. Women, foreigners, slaves, and dishonoured persons were forbidden to compete. Contestants were required to train devotedly for 10 months before the event and had to an pledge that they had fulfilled the training requirements ahead of participating. Initially, the Olympic Games were restricted to running, however over time new events were added. The winners of the Olympics were crowned with chaplets of wild olive, and in their area of origin, male champions were additionally awarded valuable gifts and rights.
As a visible focal point of world energies, the Olympic Games have been prey to many factors that have thwarted their ideals of world co-operation and athletic excellence. Like in ancient Greece, nationalistic fervour has fostered intense rivalries that have at times threatened the survival of the games. Although officially only individuals are able to win Olympic medals, nations routinely allocate political meaning to the feats of their citizens and teams. For instance, between 1952 and 1988 competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, deep-seated in mutual political rivalry, resulted in each boycotting games hosted by the other (Moscow, 1980; Los Angeles, 1984).
Politics has influenced the Olympic Games in other ways, from the misinformation of the Nazis in Berlin (1936) to pressures leading to the exclusion of white-ruled Rhodesia from the Munich games (1972). At Munich, nine Israeli competitors were kidnapped and murdered by Palestinian terrorists.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which determines and enforces Olympic policy, has struggled with the licensing and commercialisation of the games, the requirement to schedule events to provide for television networks, and the monitoring of athletes who seek out illegitimate competitive advantage, often through the use of performance-enhancing drugs. In 1998 a scandal erupted with revelations that inducement and favouritism had played a part in the awarding of the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City, Utah, and in the selection of some earlier venues.
Nevertheless, in spite of of the Olympic Games tensions, it is historically proven that sports have acted as a link amongst nations and have significantly contributed to their growth. Beginning with the sociological, psychological and physiological aspects of the human nature, competitive sports have won the approval of people worldwide, as they have contributed to their well being. Group-oriented, since in order to be a winner one has to compete, sport brings people closer together and generates team-spirit together with mind and physical awareness. But, whether or not the contemporary Olympic Games act as an opportunity for nations to learn from one another and cooperate or are just another opportunity for people to engage in competitive and hostile rivalries, only historians of the future will be able to judge with some degree of conviction.
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