Power politics olympic games

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Since the first modern day Olympics in , politics have been a part of the international competition. National rivalries, social causes, and individual protests have taken place at a great number of Olympic Games. Read More: The Sewer Games. Here are some of the highlights of large-scale politics that impacted the Games over the last years. The Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Image: Albert Meyer. The first Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece, to connect to the ancient heritage of the event.

The small and relatively unimpressive by modern standards Games were not a sure-fire hit. The risky event did manage to capture public attention in parts of Western Europe and the United States. The humble beginnings launched a global tradition, complete with political intrigue.

Germany and France needed a lot of convincing to send teams to this friendly competition. More than 20 years after the Franco-Prussian war, the two geo-political rivals were still not on good terms. The two nations eventually did send teams and helped give rise to one of the most international, secular celebrations in human history.

Charlotte Cooper Sterry , English tennis player. Image: Arthur Wallis Myers. Despite the attention given to the first summer Olympics, the second version was basically a side event at the World Expo in Paris, France.

S Unknown. More options. Find it at other libraries via WorldCat Limited preview. Bibliography Includes bibliographical references p. Summary Obscured by a mixture of pseudo-religious ritual and showbusiness, Alfred Senn reveals the Olympic games that have served as a global forum for ideological issues, the enactment of surrogate war among international rivals, and a vehicle for nationalism.

Subjects Brundage, Avery. Bibliographic information. Publication date ISBN Browse related items Start at call number: GV S In , U. Under this policy, athlete activists are suspended between the past and the future while being denied their right to exist in the present. That reinforces the politics of the status quo, which benefits those in power.

It allowed an all-white apartheid South African team to compete until it grudgingly banned the country in the s in the face of worldwide pressure. The list goes on. The new policy also clangs clumsily against one of the most iconic moments in Olympic history, when American sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith thrust their black-gloved fists into the Mexico City sky at the Summer Games , while Australian Peter Norman stood in solidarity wearing an Olympic Project for Human Rights button.

Olympic officials ejected Carlos and Smith from the Olympic Village, and all three men paid a steep price for their activism on the medal stand. Yet today, they are celebrated as heroes who stood up for what was right. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame.