Olympics

“Why did I restore the Olympic Games? To ennoble and strengthen sports, to ensure their independence and duration, and thus to enable them better to fulfil the educational roll incumbent upon them in the modern world. For the glorification of the individual athlete, whose muscular activity is necessary for the community, and whose prowess is necessary for the maintenance of the general spirit of competition.”

Baron Pierre De Coubertin, (1894) founder of the Olympic Movement.

Without the efforts of De Coubertin it is possible that modern sport would not be recognisable and would not be a form of entertainment for so many people.

One of the main roles of the International Olympic Committee is to oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport or athletes.

Sport has long been used as a means of trying to prove that one political system is better than another. Peter Ueberroth recognised this stating ‘History has proven that the use and abuse of athletes for political purposes only hurts young athletes rather than achieving any political gain. Sports organisations and events should not be involved in disputes between governments.’

De Coubertin always stated his belief that politics had no place in sport; he released white doves at the opening ceremony of the 1896 Olympics to symbolise his ideal of international peace. The Olympic Charter states that there should be no political influence in sport and that athletes represent themselves, not their country. However, with the opportunity to make a worldwide statement to other countries, many use the Olympics as a political tool

Barcelona, 1992

Germany competed as one country again and South Africa returned to the Games after abolishing apartheid. The Soviet Union was in the process of disintegration and Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia fielded separate teams, while the rest of the former Soviet Union competed as the "Unified Team".

Atlanta, 1996

Greece threatened to boycott the Games after they were not chosen to host the Centennial Games (100yrs on from the original modern Games of Athens in 1986), raising the debate that awarding of the 2004 games was predetermined.12 former Soviet Republics competed as independent nations for the first time. A bomb exploded in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park killing two people and injuring more; no motive for this act of terrorism or group responsible was determined.

Sydney, 2000

Indigenous Aborigines held protests against their government’s unashamed and long-term disregard over Aboriginal political issues. Organisers appointed Kathy Freeman to light the Olympic flame. There were some environmental protests of the transformation of Bondi Beach, to the beach volleyball venue. The Games were held under an Olympic Truce supported by the United Nations.

Athens, 2004

Security problems in the light of 9/11 attacks, with security costs of £815m.

IOC concerns over speed of construction and some problems with empty seats at the games. IOC made a great show of its required random and mandatory drugs testing of competitors, with controversy surrounding two Greek sprinters who withdrew from the Games, after a mysterious motorcycle crash resulted in a missed drugs test.

An Iranian Judo team member refused to compete against his assigned Israeli opponent based on national status, unusually resolved by the IOC with a new weigh-in, resulting with the Iranian being switched to a different category.

Beijing, 2008

Protests throughout the torch relay, aimed at the human rights of mainland China and violence in Tibet. The Chinese supported the regime in Sudan which, accused of committing genocide in the Darfur region, led to Steven Spielberg pulling out as artistic director of the games. Ultimately, no nations boycotted the games; however, several prominent world leaders refused to attend the opening ceremony.

London, 2012

The games awakened the tensions between Britain and Argentina, with the Argentine governments TV advertisement showing the Argentine men's hockey captain, Fernando Zylberberg running through the streets of Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands; with the slogan "To compete on English soil; we are first training on Argentine soil". Insinuating the Faulklands are Argentine territory, highlighting the 1984 74-day war over this piece of land.

One of the most controversial examples of match fixing took place in the women's badminton doubles competition, with teams deliberately playing to lose to ensure a more favourable draw in the quarter-finals. 8 athletes from China, South Korea and Indonesia were ejected from the tournament by the Badminton World Federation for "not using best efforts" and "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport".

Rio, 2016

Systematic doping resulted in 312 Russian athletes failing drug tests across 28 Olympic Sports.Accusations of Russian cover ups led to the banning of the entire track and field team. The IOC decided against banning all Russian athletes and left it up to individual sport federations to decide whether to ban their athletes from competing in Rio.

Issues with building standards of the athletes village where highlighted by many countries, with Australia sending over 700 athletes to stay in hotels why repairs were made. Severe water pollution was documented in most of the water sports venues, incuding raw sewage and waste.

This was the first Olympics to host the Refugee Olympic Team, with 10 athletes from war-torn countries including Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The IOC developed a set of ideals regarding the Olympic Movement and these are referred to as Olympism “...a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole, the quality of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles”

The main goals of the Olympic movement are:

• Personal excellence
• Sport as Education
• Cultural exchange
• Mass Participation
• Fair Play
• International understanding

Olympic symbolism

The Olympic Flame is a key feature of the Opening Ceremony, remaining lit during the games and then extinguished during the Closing Ceremony.

The flame is historically lit by the rays of the sun in Olympia, Greece and carried in a torch, by a series of runners in the ‘torch relay’, to the Opening Ceremony of the Games. Occasionally there is a need to transport the flame by air; this is done by keeping the flame in a specially designed lamp. The flame symbolises the endeavour for perfection, the struggle for victory, peace and friendship.

The top three placing performers in each event receive medals which must be at least 60mm in diameter and 3mm in thickness. The first and second place medals must be made of silver of a specific quality. The first place medal must be decorated with fine metallic leaf containing at least 9g of pure gold; the host city being responsible for the design and production these medals.

The symbol of the Olympics are the five Olympic Rings that are interconnected; each is a different colour: blue, black, red, yellow and green on a white background. The significance of this is that at least one of these six colours appears in all of the flags of the competing nations. The five rings are representative of the five continents involved in the Olympic Games: Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The Olympic rings are the main feature on the Olympic Flag that flies above each venue during the Olympic Games.

The Olympic Oath is repeated by the competitors at the opening ceremony in an attempt to reinforce the values and ideals of the Olympics. “In the name of all competitors, I promise that we will take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and honour of our teams”.

At all the Olympic games the score board displays the Olympic Message; “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” Again this reinforces the values and ideals De Coubertin was striving for when he started the Olympic Movement.

“Citius, Altius, Fortius” is the Olympic Motto. It means “swifter, higher, stronger” This motto is used to describe the goals of the Olympic athletes.

Olympic ideal – is this still applicable in modern day sport?

The Olympic Ideal proposes that ‘the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part’ and as seen in the Olympic Oath and Message, there is a lot of emphasis on competing fairly with respect for others and succeeding as a result of one’s own efforts and ability.

Related to the Olympic Ideal is the ‘Contract to compete’ which is an unwritten code or mutual agreement with opponents, to strive against each other to win. The contract to compete involves an expectation of how the opponents will play; within the rules, following ethics and displaying sportsmanship.

Sportsmanship is competing within the rules and conforming to the unwritten rules of the sport, such as etiquette and respect for opposition. One would also expect the performers to put in maximum effort and respect the officials and their decisions. Over the last few decades, there has been a move away from the concept of sportsmanship towards a more driven ethic of gamesmanship.

Gamesmanship is breaking the unwritten rules or ‘bending the written rules’; winning generally relies on fractions of time or distance and any advantage can be crucial. This concept breaks the contract to compete and contradicts De Coubertin’s original ideal.

It has been suggested that ‘Olympic Ideal’ has little relevance in the modern sporting arena the notion of amateur competitors has been replaced with highly paid Olympic athletes. Due to sponsorship deals and contracts to satisfy, many athletes earn bonuses that are dependent on the competition results. Olympics have had to reflect the general trends in sport and move towards a more professional approach; since the 1990’s the Olympic Games have moved towards an open policy and became open to both amateurs and professional athletes. An increase in commercialism of sport had led to a rise in the amount of money available, due to the influence of the media and other systems such as state and college scholarships offered by the US and the former USSR which has created an uneven playing field.

Top athletes have now become household names and attractive to sponsors and advertisers. All these factors may encourage the athletes to break the rules, commit fouls and in some cases resort to extreme measures, such as blood doping and drug taking. This gamesmanship behaviour disregards the ‘Olympic Ideal’ and may not allow opposition to play to the best of their ability.

Olympic Charter states that sport is precious and should not be abused by commercial interests; the Olympic Ideal is based on amateurism and Avery Brundage, a former IOC president, was a firm believer in this ideal “That’s the difference, as soon as you take money for sport, it isn’t sport … it’s work”. This meant that when the cost of hosting the Olympic Games became too high, there was little the IOC could do to support the host country. With increasing costs of hosting the Games there became increasing pressure to succumb to the commercial world.

Montreal Games in 1976 was a financial disaster, following this; cities did not want to bid for the next games, Los Angeles were the only city to bid for the 1984 games. This put the IOC at risk of collapsing, as hosting the Olympics had to be funded from a ‘public purse’, the IOC had no means of making money. An American businessman called Peter Ueberroth was appointed as the chairman of the Olympic Organising Committee and developed the money making ‘The Olympic Partner’ (TOP) programme, which is now the basis of Olympic Commercialism and Americanisation, using sponsorship to fund the Olympic Games.

Peter Ueberroth aimed to have 10 sponsors for the 1984 Olympic Games, sponsors included Kodak, Coca-Cola and McDonalds, earning the games the title ‘Hamburger Games’. It was estimated that to market one advertising campaign cost the companies $30 – 40 million; they paid because Olympic advertising reached a global audience of 1.3 billion for up to three weeks.

The Olympic Partner programme (TOP) was established by the IOC after success of Peter Ueberroth and the 1984 LA Games. It consisted of exclusive deals with a small number of major multi-national companies, to become the Official Sponsors of the Olympic Games. In return sponsors have unchallenged rights to use the five rings on their merchandise; TOP sponsors also get hospitality opportunities at the Games with the programme being supported by worldwide advertising and public relations.

The Olympic Partner programme deals, run for the 4 year period of the Olympiad and can then be renegotiated; only multinational corporations have the power to bid.

TOP now provides a significant amount of the IOC’s revenue helping the IOC financially support any Games. Sponsors have included Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Visa, Panasonic, Swatch, IBM and Barclays.