Thursday, March 26, 2015

Politics and the Olympics

The Olympic Games, a supposedly apolitical celebration of nations coming together in friendly competition, have often provided an ideological playing field upon which much more than athletic prowess is contested. Since 1936, when the Olympics were held in Hitler's Nazi Germany, the Games have been inextricably linked to politics.

Countries have boycotted the games on several occasions. Middle Eastern states boycotted the 1956 Melbourne Games to show their disapproval of Britain's and France's invasion of the Suez Canal. In 1960, South Africa was excluded from the Games because of its racist apartheid system. And in USHAP, we learned about President Carter's boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games in response to the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan. Carter's boycott was the most successful in Olympic history (despite its ineffectiveness in actually changing Soviet foreign policy) with 62 countries refusing to attend.

But there have been demonstrations from individual athletes as well. One such instance was seen in Mexico in the summer of 1968. African American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood shoeless on the medal podium, their gloved fists raised in a silent salute of black power and unity.


The "Black Power Salute" was not only a display of racial pride, but a protest against civil rights violations and black poverty that still plagued the United States. "Black America will understand what we did tonight," Smith said.

But the International Olympic Committee did not understand. Smith and Carlos were suspended from the national team and sent home, condemned for their "deliberate and violent breach of the fundamental principles of the Olympic spirit." However, more than thirty years later, many regard Smith and Carlos as heroes for their role in the civil rights movement.

I think it's interesting that the Olympics are still considered to be apolitical when they are so clearly tied to politics. We saw it at the Sochi games, we saw it in Beijing, and we will likely see it at future Games—it's impossible for politics not to work its way onto the Olympic scene. Even the newly elected IOC president announced that "the IOC cannot be apolitical."

So what do you all think? Can the Games be neutral and completely free of politics? Should political demonstrations be allowed, or are the Games a time to put aside differences between nations? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

http://mic.com/articles/59431/olympic-boycotts-have-a-long-history-and-they-almost-never-work
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/politicspast/page/0,9067,892902,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_3535000/3535348.stm
http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/9658153/germany-thomas-bach-elected-international-olympic-committee-president

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for your interesting analysis of this relevant topic! I believe that boycotting the Olympics is a very strong sociopolitical weapon that has been and should continue to be used in extreme cases of civil and human rights violations. While I don't think that it should be used in cases of international conflict regarding two nations, I do believe that it should be used when there are flagrant violations of rights present in the host country, as we should not be supporting a foreign economy that abuses human rights. An example of this could have been the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia. Russia has been known to suppress social social rights, such as that of freedom of love and sexual orientation. I'm not saying that Russia should legalize gay marriage, they do however need to stop imprisoning and deporting people with homosexual or differing sexual orientations. This oppression of freedom had been highlighted prior to the olympics and a boycott of Russian Olympics could have been an effective and peaceful way to instigate change.
    Bottom line: The Olympics is a powerful political tool on the global stage and can and should be used to push for international equality and the maintenance of basic human rights across the world. This message would come from athletes, extraordinary humans that will have an impact on millions of people, rather than politicians that are often ignored.

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  2. I think the suspension of Smith and Carlos was not just at all, but is simply another part of America's switch to giving blacks rights during Civil Rights Movement.
    Next, I don't think countries should let politics influence their involvement in the Olympics because athletes work very hard preparing for the Olympics and I think it would be unjust to tell them after four years or so of hard work that they were not going to attend. I think the countries should realize that the Olympics was created for athletes and while countries do play a part in the Olympics, the main focus is for athletes to be able to compete against the world. With this ideal in mind, countries shouldn't involve politics into the Olympics and should view it as the athletes' moment to shine, not America's moment to beat Russia or boycott Russia.

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