The modern Olympic Games

Question 1

background

Answer 1

• Pierre De Coubertin founded the modern OLY in 1896 in Athens, Greece

Took inspo from:
- The Ancient Olympics
- Much Wenlock Games - idea of Dr William Penny Brookes
- 19th Century Public schools after he visited Rugby

• Set up the IOC (International Olympic Committee) in 1894 in Paris who still organise the games today

Question 2

aims

Answer 2

• Amateurism - taking part being more important than winning or financial gain
• Develop equality - no discrimination of any kind
• Create international friendships and peace between nations
• Role modelling
• Promote the development of physical and moral qualities
• Educate - better understanding between each other
• Teach fair play/sportsmanship - human harmony

Question 3

values

Answer 3

• Respect - shaking hand with opponents after 100m race
• Excellence - striving to achieve a personal best time in 200m
• Friendship - making friends with athletes from different countries
• Determination (para) - perseverance to succeed despite injuries whilst training for the olympics
• Inspiration (para) - highly successful athletes such as usain bolt inspiring generation
• Courage (para) - athletes finishing a long distance race even though they are out of medal contention
• Equality (para) - every individual has a chance to be selected for the athletics team

Question 4

Key Olympic Organisations

Answer 4

• IOC (International Olympic Committee)
• BOA (British Olympic Association)

Question 5

IOC (International Olympic Committee)

Answer 5

• Oversee the organisation of the Olympics i.e. rules, event, timetable etc
• Select host city
• Manages commercialisation of the games

Question 6

BOA (British Olympic Association)

Answer 6

• Select team GB
• Liaise with other elite sport organisations i.e. UK Sport, IOC
• Completed Olympic bid to host
• Allocate sponsors to athletes
• Prepares and supports team GB i.e. training camps, workshops etc

Question 7

Olympics as a ‘Political Tool’

Answer 7

Utilising the international events to make a political point. Done because of the extensive global publicity of the games

Question 8

Olympic games you need to know

Answer 8

• Berlin (1936)
• Mexico City (1968)
• Munich (1972)
• Moscow (1980)
• Los Angeles (1984)

Question 9

Berlin (1936): Third Reich Ideology

Answer 9

• Political Exploitation =
  promote an ideology
• Prior to WW2 and used by Hitler to make himself known
  worldwide through propaganda (biased info that influences people towards a certain cause)
• Used to promote Aryan as the superior race
• Used to show efficiency of Germany under Nazi control e.g. completing
  stadium on time, big Olympic village etc.
• German athletes trained full time prior to the games = better chance of winning medals - tried to prove aryan race was superior - trying to present himself in a +ve light
• Lutz Lang (German torch bearer) was intended to show their superiority as a race
• African-American athletes won 13 medals. Jesse Owens won 100m Gold medal; Hitler wouldn’t place medals on his neck or shake his hand

Question 10

Mexico City (1968): ‘Black Power’ demonstration

Answer 10

• Political Exploitation =
  raise awareness of
  discrimination (racial
  inequality)
• Countries threatened to boycott (not ppt) the games if South Africa were allowed to attend (the apartheid)
• African american athletes (Tommie Smith and John Carlow) used 200m medal ceremony to protest about lack of civil rights in the USA
• Athletes wore black gloves/raised hand (black power salute) to symbolise black power, wore black scarf around neck - deaths, wore black socks + no shoes to represent black poverty
• Tommie and John suspended from the games and expelled from the Olympic village
• Peter Norman (Australian 2nd place) wore a human right badge, it was also his gloves he gave to Tommie and John - he didn’t get selected for the following olympic games

Question 11

Munich (1972): Palestinian terrorism

Answer 11

• Political Exploitation =
  generate media coverage
  of terrorism
• A day before the games, 8 members of the Black September group (Palestinian terrorist organisation) stormed the Olympic village and seized 11 members of the Israeli team
• They requested the release of 234 Palestinians that were being held in Israel
• Attempts to rescue the hostages failed, and they were all murdered along with 5 of the terrorists and a German police officer. This was mostly the result of a botched police capture attempt (Machine gun fire and a grenade which blew up a helicopter)
• IOC decided to continue with the games, only postponing the
  opening ceremony by a day = controversial at the time
• Led to the development of the anti-terrorism movement

Question 12

Moscow (1980): Boycott led by the USA

Answer 12

• Political Exploitation = Boycotts in protest of actions/beliefs/regimes
• Moscow was part of the Soviet Union (Communist federation occupying northern Asia and part of Eastern Europe)
• Just prior to hosting the games, Soviet Union forces invaded Afghanistan = created conflict that lasted 10 years
• Jimmy Carter (US president at the time) suggested a boycott of the games if Soviet troops didn’t withdraw
• Led to 60 countries not attending.
• British hockey (represented on a neutral flag, didn’t represent GB as they chose to boycott), fencing and equestrian all chose to boycott the Olympics.
• Despite this, some athletes went against their governments, and competed anyway under the Olympic flag
• Led to the creation of the ‘Liberty Bell Classic’ event for the non-attendees to compete in

Question 13

Los Angeles (1984): Boycott by the Soviet Union

Answer 13

• Political Exploitation = Boycotts in protest at actions / regimes
• The Olympics were in financial difficulty (Montreal (1976) ended up in debt). IOC therefore reluctantly accepted commercialisation
• 12 weeks before, the Soviet Union announced their boycott along with 13 other Eastern bloc countries (in response/retaliation to other countries boycotting the previous olympics)
• They believed the USA would use the commercialisation to promote ‘anti-Soviet propaganda’ - anti-soviet atmosphere and blamed lack of security measures (usa weren’t taking it security seriously for the soviets - so they would be at risk) for their boycott.
• In response to the boycott of their 1980 Games- ‘tit for tat’
• The boycotters organised the ‘friendship games’