The Olympic Games and Political Games

Growing up in the 1980s, my olympic heroes were Coe, Ovett and Cram, Carl Lewis, Daley Thompson and Torvill and Dean. I loved the story of Jesse Owens versus the Nazies and even our feeble Eddie the Eagle pulled at the heartstrings. Repression of political activists, detention without trial featuring the scary Re-education Through Labour scheme and censorship in China are unfortunately overshadowing the competition for me and many others at the moment. Politics have been prominent in the Olympic Games snce 1936 when Hitler hijacked them as a piece of Nazi propaganda. The 1956 Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia were boycotted by various nations for numerous reasons and 1968 saw the volatile Mexico City games. More than 200 protesters by government forces in October 1968 and the US government had supported the Mexican authorities eith weapons, ammunition, radios and riot control training in an attempt to prevent disruption to the olympic Games. The Munich Games in 1972 were hijacked by Palestinian terrorist with eleven Israeli athletes being kidnapped and eventually killed. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted Beijing the games in July 2001 under the proviso that human rights in China would improve. Many people believe that the Olympic can be used as a positive political force, citing the banning of South Africa between 1964 and 1992. Over the last twenty years or so, scandals involving performance enhancing drugs have probably eclipsed the political Olympic storms. The majority of the athletes participating in the Olympic have legimately reached the pinnacle of their sport and deserve our respect. Accept that politics are part and parcel of any event involving the nations of the world and ignore it.

Sources : www.discoveryarticles.com/151911/1/The Olympics-and-Political- Games
Date : 10 August 2008