Research Paper Index

Research Paper no. 32 2007–08

The modern Olympics: an overview

Dr Rhonda Jolly
Social Policy Section
3 June 2008

Introduction[1]

The Olympic Games, it is said, represent ‘ideals of humanity's highest callings—a universal quest for peace, moral integrity, and an exalted mix of mind, body, and spirit that transcends culture’.[2]

Since the first modern Games were held in 1896 however, the Olympics have regularly been the subject of controversy and scandal. They have also been used as a tool to promote political agendas, racism and nationalism and, in recent times, they have been criticised for excessive commercialisation and ongoing drug controversies have tarnished their reputation. 

Some Games issues, like those concerning the amateur status of athletes, are less relevant today as the result of changes to the rules of competition. Others, such as accusations relating to the bribery of officials, remain contentious. Blatant nationalist attempts to hijack the Games, which include the Nazi propaganda Games of 1936, have been relegated to the past. But the Games continue as a tool to promote nationalism, albeit of a less virulent type. Since the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles, the opening ceremonies of the Games have increasingly become massive publicity campaigns for each host city’s accomplishments and the cultural significance of host countries. This trend is likely to be underlined at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.  

While the intensity of Cold War politics no longer influences the Games, other political issues, like human rights, endure. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has consistently argued that politics plays no part in Olympic competition and it has banned athletes for so called political protest. Yet despite the IOC’s attempt to disregard politics, it has not been able to operate in a political vacuum. Its responses to incidents which have reflected world circumstances have clearly involved a political dimension or stance, for example, its decision to continue the Games following the massacre of athletes in Munich in 1972.  

Indeed, it can be argued that the vision expounded by Baron de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Games, that the Olympics should be a catalyst for cooperation between nations, has ensured that politics is inseparable from the Games and that IOC attempts to distance the Games from politics or to reconfigure political incidents in other terms are in themselves political statements.                  

At the same time, the IOC has championed an ancient tradition of an Olympic truce under which the cessation of all hostilities and warfare occurs during the period of the Games. Some have suggested that conducting the Olympics on a neutral site may go further towards this aim than the current practice of choosing host cities, as this move may produce more friendly competition and better cooperation between the nations of the world.[3]

But it may mean that that we lose something of the essence of the Olympics. As one commentator muses:

Every four years, as the Olympics approach, or more tragically, disappoint our ideals, they provide us with a dramatic indication of who we are. Perhaps that is the best argument for their continuation.[4]

It is not possible in this brief snapshot of the Olympics to discuss all the highlights (and lowlights) of the Olympics of the modern era. Nor is it possible to discuss all the issues that now preoccupy Olympic officials, or general or particular criticisms of the Games. The paper seeks instead to provide some insight for Australian Parliamentarians into the many dimensions of the Olympics. This in turn may illustrate a conclusion that because in some way the Olympics define humanity, they continue to capture our imagination.

While the paper refers to the Beijing Olympics, it does not attempt to discuss these Games in any depth. Instead, it provides historical context and discussion of issues that have been of significance in the staging of previous Games from which a number of the debates that have emerged since Beijing’s successful candidacy was announced in 2001 may be considered.

The paper is organised into three broad sections: Part 1 provides an overview of the Olympics from ancient times to the present with particular reference to the Melbourne and Sydney Games in 1956 and 2000 respectively. Part 2 looks at aspects of the administration of the Games and the Olympic symbols.  Part 3 considers some of the issues which have been, and some which remain critical in the evolution of the modern Games.

In addition, the paper includes a number of appendices, the first of which provides information on, and links to Australian Olympic statistics as well as a selection of Australian Olympic performances.  Other appendices provide a list of Olympics sites with links to these as well as general information on medal tallies and athletes’ achievements at the Games. 

Part 1: Evolution

The ancient Games

Some historians argue the Olympics may have begun as early as 1200 BC as part of funeral ceremonies held for important Greek citizens, but generally it is agreed that by 776 BC there were regular sporting games held at Olympia, a site on the western part of the Pelopponese.

It is thought the only Olympic event at first was a 200 yard race called the ‘stade’ or stadium and that each Olympiad was named after the winner of this race.[5] In time, other events were added to the ancient Olympics program.  In 708 BC for example, wrestling and the pentathlon, consisting of running, wrestling, leaping, discus throwing and javelin hurling, were included.[6]   There were no team games and no ball games in the ancient Olympics, as the Greeks regarded them as trivial.[7]  

There is some debate about whether women were able to participate in these events or even if they were able to attend the ancient Games.[8] 

While the Games were dedicated to the Greek gods, they were fundamentally secular.[9] The Games were so significant to the Greeks that they based their calendar on the Olympiad, that is, the four years between each of these sporting events.[10] A further indication of the importance of the ancient Games was that they were held despite the occurrence of other events, including wars, and a sacred truce was instituted during their conduct.[11]  This involved cessation of all hostilities between Greek city states and no death penalties were imposed during Olympic competition.  

After the Romans conquered Greece in the second century BC, the Games began to decline in popularity and importance. When the Emperor Constantine (306–337AD) formally adopted Christianity, the Games were labelled amongst pagan religious practices that were discouraged, so this decline was hastened. The Emperor Theodosius I eventually officially abolished the ancient Games in 394 AD.[12]

The modern Games

Pierre de Coubertin

The French educator, Pierre de Coubertin (1863–1937), is considered to be the founder of the modern Olympic Games. De Coubertin believed that participation in sport helped form the character of young people.[14] Consequently, he promoted the principles of what he defined as ‘Olympism’.[15] To follow these principles was to ‘adhere to an ideal of a higher life, to strive for perfection’, to represent an elite ‘whose origins are completely egalitarian’ and at the same time ‘chivalry’ with its moral qualities, to create ‘a four-yearly festival of the springtime of mankind’ and to glorify beauty by the ‘involvement of the philosophic arts in the Games’.[16]

In 1894, de Coubertin founded an International Olympic Committee (IOC) to act as an overall organising body for the Olympic Movement and served as its President from 1896 to 1925. 

In recognition of the ideals upon which he founded the modern Olympic Movement and his contribution to the Games, since 1964 the Pierre de Coubertin International Trophy for Fair Play has been awarded to individuals or teams who defend and promote sportsmanship in the Olympics.[17]

Athletic achievements

Since 1896, nearly 100 000 athletes have competed in the Olympics. Mostly these athletes have sought to perform to their utmost ability and in so doing they have produced outstanding feats of endurance, strength, speed, grace and coordination. Great individual international champions who have excelled at their individual sports have included runners Paavo Nurmi,[18] Emil Zatopek[19] and Carl Lewis;[20] swimmers Mark Spitz[21] and Michael Phelps[22] and gymnasts, Nadia Comaneci,[23] Larysa Latynina[24] and Aleksandr Dityatin.[25] Legendary team performances include those of the Indian field hockey team, which won Olympic gold from 1928 to 1956.[26] Inspiring achievements by Paralympians complement these feats, with the performances of Australians Louise Sauvage, Bart Bunting, Kieran Modra and Michael Milton among them.[27]         

Australian achievements

Indeed, many Australians have excelled in many sports since the first Olympics in 1896. 

Australia has participated at every Summer Olympics.[28] It has also competed in every Winter Olympics since 1936 with the exception of the 1948 Winter Games.[29] Australians have won 405 Olympic medals at both the Summer and Winter Games. One hundred and twenty four of these have been gold medals.[30]. Many of Australia's medals have been won in swimming and a number of Australian swimmers rank amongst that sport’s all time greatest athletes but Australians have excelled in other sports including athletics, cycling, rowing, field hockey and equestrian.[31]

Australia’s Olympic success record is in fact disproportionate to its population in Summer Olympics, but this record is not matched in Winter Games.[32] Harry Gordon, the official historian of the Australian Olympic Committee, considers that this is ‘to some degree an understandable consequence of all those clichés about a sunburnt country, a place of endless summers and beaches, and a very parched outback’.[33]   But despite this perception, as Gordon points out, there is a rich tradition of winter sports in Australia which the Olympic Winter Institute (OWI) of Australia is determined to develop in partnership with the Australian Institute of Sport with the aim of improving Australia’s success at future Winter Games.[34]  

Brief historical synopsis of the Games  

The IOC chose Athens as the site of the first modern Olympics, which were held in 1896. Around 300 male athletes from 15 countries competed in 43 events in nine sports.[35]

Prior to World War I, the fledgling Olympic Movement struggled. Attendances at Games which were held every four years were low. Events were poorly organised with athletes sometimes having to prepare their own competition space or to ‘make do’ with the inadequate facilities supplied.[36] An extra Olympics (known as the inculcated Games, an event not officially recognised by the IOC) was even held to improve the profile of the Games.   Ironically, however, it was controversies like those which surrounded the 1904 and 1908 marathon races that first helped to increase the Games’ popularity.[37]

The reputation of the Games grew in the period between the world wars, with the 1932 Games providing a successful respite during the Great Depression from the otherwise dire circumstances many people faced.[38] During this period, many of the now traditional Games symbols, such as the Olympic village and the Olympic oath appeared.

Spectators at the many Games between the Wars witnessed what have become legendary performances. These include the achievements of Johnny Weissmuller[41] and Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell[42] at the 1924 Games in Paris and the feats of Jesse Owens in Berlin in 1936 when the African American defied the theories of white racial superiority propounded by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.[43]

An International Winter Sports Week held in Chamonix in France in 1924, was recognised retrospectively as the first Winter Olympics.  Men and women from 16 countries competed in the Games and the Scandinavian countries dominated the early winter competitions.[44] The performances of Norway’s Sonja Henie in the 1932 Winter Games in Lake Placid in America were also to become the stuff of Olympic legend.[45]      

Games were scheduled during the First and Second World Wars but were cancelled because of these conflicts—that an Olympic truce for the duration of the Games, as had occurred during the ancient Games was not considered is no doubt an indication of the ferocity and all encompassing nature of these conflicts. The first Games held after the 1939–1945 conflict in particular reflected the austerity of the times.[46]

Games from the 1950s through to the beginning of the 1990s often mirrored Cold War conflicts and world political tensions. The 1972 Summer Games in Munich, in what was then West Germany, are particularly remembered for the massacre of athletes which was linked to   conflicts in the Middle East.[47] The Moscow Games in 1980 and the Los Angeles Games in 1984 are also notable for the boycotts that accompanied them.[48] 

The Games have been subject to much criticism in recent times as the result of various scandals and accusations of extreme commercialism (see discussion in Part 3). One of the most controversial incidents surrounded the Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City in America in 2002 when allegations were levelled that IOC members had earlier been bribed in the city selection vote.[49] As a result, some IOC members were forced to resign and others were severely censured.[50]  In the aftermath of the controversy however, attempts were made to create greater accountability in the Games bid process. Guidelines were put in place and greater scrutiny introduced.

In 2004, the Games returned to Athens where, in contrast to their humble beginnings in 1896, they were regarded by many as the most important global sporting event. More than 10 000 athletes, both men and women, from 202 countries competed in 28 sports at the Athens Olympics.[51]      

The Olympic Games in Australia

Australia has hosted the only two Olympics to be held in the Southern Hemisphere. Both the 1956 Games in Melbourne and the Sydney 2000 Games were successful events in terms of competition outcomes for Australian athletes and as vehicles promoting Australia to the world.         

Melbourne 1956 

Nine cities, including six American cities, bid for the 1956 Games. In presenting its Games’ bid, Melbourne stressed that Australia had participated in every summer Olympics since 1896 and that despite the Olympic Movement supposedly representing ‘the five continents’, the Games had been held only in Europe and North America.  In the final ballot these arguments proved convincing and Melbourne won from Buenos Aires — but only by one vote.

While eventually the main venue for the Games was the Melbourne Cricket Ground, initially the Melbourne Cricket Club was reluctant to make the ground available for Olympic competition. After some persuasion, the cricket club agreed, the ground was upgraded to accommodate 110 000 people and a new Olympic Stand erected.

Melbourne introduced a new concept for Olympic village accommodation, replacing dormitories with separate houses that were later used as public housing. The Commonwealth Government provided an interest-free loan to enable this construction.[52]

Because of Australian quarantine laws concerning horses, the equestrian events for the Melbourne Games were staged separately in Stockholm. This is the only time in the history of the modern Games that unity of time and place for competition, as stipulated in the Olympic Charter, has not been observed.[53]

The simple Opening Ceremony of the Melbourne Games was in contrast to the more elaborate events of recent times. The highlight of the ceremony was the lighting of the Olympic cauldron by Ron Clarke, whose identity had been a well-kept secret.

Australian athletes had more success at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics than at any previous Games.  A team of 314 athletes won 35 medals—13 gold, eight silver and 14 bronze.[54] This was the third highest medal tally behind the Soviet Union and the United States of America.[55]

The first informal closing ceremony to be staged at an Olympics was held in Melbourne. This ceremony was not planned, but was adopted following a suggestion that the athletes should mingle together as one team at the end of the Games; competitors no longer separated by nation, war or politics. Perhaps the institution of this ceremony could be categorised as one of the greatest of the achievements of the Melbourne Games and one of the great Olympic moments which truly reflects the spirit of Olympism—people united through sport and respect for human achievements.

Because they largely represented an ‘oasis’ of cooperation during a period of intense international tension (see Part 3 for discussion), the Melbourne Games were labelled the ‘Friendly Games’, and they left a number of legacies for Australians.[56] Firstly, they raised Australia’s and Melbourne’s international profiles. They also helped legitimise the introduction of television into a conservative, anglophile Australia. Prior to the Games, many Australians considered ‘the box’ American, and therefore not quite respectable. In addition, sports construction works undertaken for the Games improved access to facilities for both amateur and professional sports participants and for sports fans. Similar legacies have been left by all Olympics since World War II—excellent sporting facilities and venues for the masses.        

Source: Public Record Office of Victoria.[57]

Sydney 2000

In the last few years, environmental sensitivity has become an important aspect of the Games. The response of Sydney to this issue helped to make the 2000 Games what IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch declared were the best Games ever.[58] 

Sydney’s bid for the Games emphasised the success of the Melbourne Games in 1956 and built on the experience gained from unsuccessful bids Brisbane and Melbourne had made for the 1992 and 1996 Games. The Sydney community and media strongly supported the Games and the Games bid emphasised the friendliness of the host city and the safety of the venues for athletes. Promotion material for the bid emphasised providing the right facilities in the context of the environmentally sensitive nature of the Games facilities.         

The largest ever Australian team of 632 athletes was led into the Olympic stadium at Homebush by five-time Olympian and Australian basketball captain, Andrew Gaze. Swimming hero Ian Thorpe carried the flag at the closing ceremony.

The shores of Homebush Bay had variously been the site for the city’s abattoirs, brickworks and the Royal Australian Navy’s armaments depot. Its waterways had been previously used as landfill for chemical and household waste. Over US$80 million was spent on transforming the site to host the 2000 Olympics.

Five key environmental areas were targeted in planning the transformation—water conservation, waste avoidance and minimisation, pollution avoidance and the protection of significant natural and cultural environments. Venues were designed to be energy efficient to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and rainwater was captured for use at locations such as the main stadium. Innovative recycling of waste was also a feature and included the use of biodegradable plates and cutlery.   Electric and solar powered buggies and natural gas buses were used at the Olympic site and a new rail link was created to encourage spectators to opt to travel on public transport as part of their Games experience. The Millennium Parklands, a 420 hectares wetland, was created as part of the transformation of the site.   

Source: Powerhouse Museum.[59]

The athletes’ village (the world’s largest solar ‘suburb’ in 2000), was powered with solar electricity and hot water and solar panels were incorporated in the design of the main Olympic stadium, the International Regatta Centre and the SuperDome. The Federal Government contributed $58 million to rehabilitate the site occupied by the village as well as financial support for numerous community environment projects around Olympic sites. These included $180 000 to help reduce the impact of stormwater pollution on Sydney Harbour for Olympic sailing events.[60]  

The environmental credentials of the 2000 Games were not without their critics. Australian academic Sharon Beder for one considered the Games clean up had merely hidden problems.[61] Beder was convinced in fact that a cocktail of carcinogenic toxins, asbestos, heavy metals and pesticides remained buried under the surface of the Olympic site.[62]

Australian athletes again excelled on their home soil winning 58 medals, 16 of them gold. The outstanding Australian performance was by Ian Thorpe who won three gold medals and one silver medal.[63]  Other notable achievements included those of Michael Diamond who successfully defended the gold he won in shooting at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics;[64] the four member equestrian team, consisting of Andrew Hoy, Matt Ryan, Phillip Dutton and Stewart Tinney, who won gold for the third successive time in the team three-day event;[65] the Australian women's hockey team, the Hockeyroos[66] and Cathy Freeman, whose win in the 400 metre race is seen as the individual achievement of the Games by many Australians.[67] 

Paralympics

The Paralympics grew from competitions that were first held for service veterans who had suffered spinal cord injuries during World War II. The first Summer Paralympics was held in Rome in 1960 and the first Winter Paralympics in Toronto in 1976.

The 1960 Rome Games were initially known as the 9th Annual International Stoke Mandeville Games, the term ‘Paralympics’ was only approved by the IOC in 1984.[70]

The number of athletes participating in Summer Paralympics Games has increased from 400 athletes from 23 countries in Rome in 1960 to 3806 athletes from 136 countries at the most recent Games held in Athens in 2004. Paralympics sports include athletics, swimming, wheelchair rugby and alpine skiing.[71] Athletes from six disability groups have traditionally competed.[72] 

The Paralympics Games are held in the same year as the Olympic Games. Since the 1988 Seoul Summer Paralympics and the 1992 Albertville Winter Paralympics, these Games have taken place at the same venues as the Olympics. From the 2012 bid process onwards, however, it will be compulsory that this occurs and the city chosen to host the Olympic Games will be obliged to host the Paralympics.

The Paralympics has largely been free of controversy. However, in Sydney in 2000, the Spanish intellectually disabled basketball team was stripped of its medals after an investigation proved only two out of the 12 players suffered from a mental disability. There was suggestion also that the Spanish were not the only team to cheat in this manner.[73]   

As a result, the International Paralympics Committee decided to exclude athletes with learning disabilities from the Paralympics until a reliable system to determine eligibility could be introduced.[74] Athletes with learning disabilities continue to compete in the Special Olympics. This event does not emphasise elite competition, but principally promotes sport as a means to improve enjoyment and challenge through participation.[75]

Australian athletes have consistently excelled at the Paralympics.[76] In Sydney in 2000, the Australian Paralympics team topped the medal count with 149 medals including 63 gold. In Athens in 2004, the team won 100 medals and ranked fifth in the medal count. 

Part 2: Administration and symbols[77] 

The Summer Games are held during the summer season of the host city, usually between July and October, and competition can last for no more than 16 days. Since 1924, the International Olympic Committee has decided which sports are eligible for inclusion in Summer and Winter Olympic competitions.  The Centennial Olympic Congress, held in Paris in 1994, recommended that the principal criteria for inclusion in the Olympic Program should be the universality and popularity of a sport.[78]

A sport must be played in at least 75 countries on four continents before it can be considered for men's competition and in 40 countries on three continents to be eligible for the women’s competition.[79] Only sports that do not depend primarily on mechanical propulsion are eligible as Olympic sports.[80]

The Winter Games are usually held in February. Sports must be played in 25 countries on three continents to be considered eligible for the Winter Games. The term Olympiad does not apply to the Winter Games.

Since 1992, the Winter and Summer Games are no longer held in the same calendar year. Winter Games were scheduled for 1994, after only a two-year interval, and have been held every four years thereafter. The Summer Games scheduled for 1996 were held in that year and have continued every four years thereafter.[81]

The IOC originally planned that the same country would host both the Summer and Winter Games of each Olympiad. However, almost immediately it was recognised that this would be impossible to realise in many cases. For example, there were no skiing facilities in the Netherlands, the host country for the 1928 Summer Olympics, so the Winter Olympics were held in St. Moritz in Switzerland.  

The United States has hosted the most number of Summer and Winter Olympics. London is the city that will have hosted the most number of Games when the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony takes place. Russia will host the Winter Games for the first time in 2014.[82] The United States has won the most Summer Olympic medals and the Soviet Union the most Winter medals. Australia ranks tenth on the list of medal winning countries overall.[83]    

The International Olympic Committee

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the governing body of the Olympic Games. It approves the sports and events to be included in the Games and also selects the host cities for the Summer and Winter Games.

Membership

The original IOC consisted of 14 members. Currently, there are 111 members who were elected at the Turin Winter Games in 2006. Membership of the IOC is limited to resident citizens of countries which have National Olympic Committees. Members must speak either French or English. New members are elected by the existing membership and originally they were elected for life, but a retirement age was imposed in 1995. Members elected in 1999 or later must now retire the year they turn 70. Presidents of the IOC are initially elected for an eight year term and then for succeeding four year terms.[84]

Members represent the IOC in their home countries, but they are not the delegates of particular countries to the IOC. There are no rules setting the size of the IOC or what countries should be represented.

Role 

Although the IOC oversees the Olympics, it does not actually organise individual Games. The responsibility for operating the competitions themselves lies with the international federations for each sport. For example, the Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) conducts swimming events. Host cities are responsible for security, housing of athletes and the creation and operation of sports facilities.

Members of the IOC are prohibited from accepting instructions on voting from any government or other group or individual. Prior to the Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2002 it was discovered that certain IOC members had violated this code and traded their votes for money and favours from potential host cities.[85] The IOC responded to these findings with a series of reforms, including restrictions on IOC members’ visits to host cities and the addition of active athletes to the Committee.[86]

Following the election of a Games host city, an IOC Coordination Commission provides financial and other support to the city. 

The IOC is also responsible for inviting National Olympic Committees to participate in the Games.

IOC Commissions

There are a number of specialised IOC Commissions which are established by the IOC President. These include the Athletes’ Commission and the Program Commission.

The Athletes’ Commission is composed of active and retired athletes. It meets annually to make recommendations to the IOC and works in liaison with the Organising Committees of Olympic Games to ensure that the needs of athletes are met at each event.

The Olympic Programme Commission is responsible for reviewing and analysing the programme of sports, disciplines and events and also the number of athletes to be allowed to compete in each sport for the Summer and Winter Games.[87] 

National Olympic Committees

Every country or territory competing in the Olympic Games is represented by a National Olympic Committee. There are currently 205 national Olympic committees. This is more than the 192 nation membership of the United Nations as the IOC recognises certain independent territories, commonwealths, protectorates and geographical areas.[88]   

National Olympic Committees are responsible for selecting teams to participate in the Olympics, in many cases through selection trials, for providing uniforms and equipment and for transporting teams to the Games.

As potential hosts of the Games, National Olympic Committees submit the names of cities to the IOC for consideration.

Australian Olympic Committee

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) is a non profit, non government organisation that  comprises 41 member organisations, each of which represents sports on the Summer and Winter Olympic Programs. The AOC receives funding support from sponsors and from the Australian Olympic Foundation.[89] 

Direct government funding for the AOC comes from donations to the Olympic team appeal.[90]  The AOC is also the beneficiary of indirect government funding support, which the Australian Government provides to the Australian Sport Commission (ASC) for elite athlete development programs. Prior to the Montreal Games in Canada in 1976, Australian government funding for sports had traditionally been minimal.[91] Australia’s dismal performance in Canada however, led to changed approaches to the funding for sports and the establishment of a statutory body, the Australian Institute of Sport, (AIS) in 1981. The AIS is managed by the ASC.[92] One of the aims of the AIS has been to provide resources, services and facilities to enable Australians to pursue and achieve excellence in sport.[93]   Successful Olympians such as Michael Klim, Alisa Camplin and Lauren Jackson were graduates of AIS programs.[94] In 2006–07 the Institute received over $193 million in funding.[95]

Athletes eligibility

To be eligible for participation in the Olympic Games, athletes need to comply with the Olympic Charter and the rules of the International Sports Federation as approved by the IOC. Competitors have to be entered into the Olympics by National Olympic Committees, but the regulatory bodies of sports set eligibility criteria for Olympic qualification.[96]

Competitors are expected to respect the spirit of fair play and non violence and to behave accordingly on the sports field. They are also expected to refrain from using prohibited substances and procedures.[97]

Wildcard provisions

There are "wildcard" entry provisions for Olympic competition for countries that do not meet the Games eligibility criteria. In addition, nations that fail to qualify in any sport are allowed to enter up to two men and two women in track and field or swimming events. However, if a nation receives a wildcard entry in another sport, that entry is subtracted from its quota.

As Olympic team sports are limited to between eight and sixteen teams per sport, national teams must win or place high in qualifying tournaments to make the final competition. The host country is automatically entitled to enter a team in every team event.

World Olympians Association

The World Olympians Association (WOA) is an independent body set up by the IOC President in 1994 following the Centennial Olympic Congress. Australian Peter Montgomery was the inaugural President of the Association.[100] 

The WOA aims to promote the development of better relations between Olympic athletes in order to spread Olympic ideals and encourage the establishment of national associations of Olympic athletes.

The mission of the World Olympians Association is to unite the nearly 100 000 Olympians around the world and involve them in the activities of the Olympic Movement.[101] There are Olympians clubs in all states in Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. In 2000, an Australian Olympians club was also formed.

Symbols of the Games

The Olympic Rings

The Olympic rings, designed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1913, are the official symbol of the Olympic Movement. The five interlacing rings of blue, yellow, black, green, and red set on a white background represent the meeting of athletes from the Americas, Africa, Asia, Oceania and Europe at the Olympic Games. 

While there is general agreement that the rings represent different continents, there is some dispute about whether any of the continents are in turn represented by one of the five ring colours.  It is mostly thought that the colours of the symbol were chosen because at least one is found in the flag of every nation.[102]

The original flag depicting the rings first flew over an Olympic stadium at the 1920 Antwerp Games in Belgium. The Antwerp Flag is now on display at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.[103]

Olympic Medals

The top three finishers in each Olympic event receive a medal and a diploma. The next five finishers receive a diploma. Each first place winner receives a ‘gold’ medal, second place a medal made of silver and third place a medal made of bronze. 

Olympic gold medals were only made of gold until 1912. Currently, ‘gold’ medals are actually made of silver, which must be coated in at least six grams of pure gold. The silver used must be at least 92.5 per cent pure.

Medals carry the name of the sport contested.

All members of a winning relay team receive a medal, including those who participated only in qualifying rounds. In team sports, all the members of a winning team who have played in at least one competition game receive a medal.

The front side of medals awarded at the Summer Games feature an image of an Hellenic goddess holding a laurel wreath with the Athens Colosseum in the background. Since 1972, local Olympic organising committees have been allowed to create a design for the back of the medals. The medals given at the Winter Games are designed by the organizing committee of the Games, but must be approved by the IOC. 

The IOC awards commemorative pins to each athlete who participates in the Olympic Games.[104] 

Olympic mascots

Olympic mascots promote the history and culture of Olympic host cities. They help to communicate the Olympic spirit to the public, especially to children.[105] The first Olympic mascot, Waldi, the dachshund, appeared at the 1972 Games in Munich.

Source: International Paralympic Committee website. [106]

The Olympic Flame and Torch 

During all ancient Olympics, a sacred flame burned continually on the altar of the goddess Hera, but a modern Olympic flame was not introduced until the 1928 Amsterdam Games in the Netherlands.[107] A Torch Relay which culminates in the lighting of the cauldron from the Olympic flame at the Opening Ceremony of each Games was introduced to symbolise a link between the ancient and modern Games. The Relay was first run at the 1936 Games when the flame was carried from Olympia to Berlin. The first relay of the Olympic Winter Games was organised for the 1952 Oslo Games.[108]

Part 3: Olympic Issues

Amateurism

In the past, Olympic rules about amateurism were responsible for many controversies, some minor, some more influential; some which involved individual athletes and some which raised the ire of whole countries.

Most commentators conclude that athletes competed at the ancient Olympics principally for honour because the only prizes awarded were olive wreaths. But there is some disagreement on this point, with an opposing argument that:

… the prestige attending victory in [the ancient Games] often produced more practical benefits, such as free meals for life at public expense, gifts from the city, and exemptions from taxes and civic duties: rewards as profitable as today's endorsement contracts for Olympic victors.[110]    

This ‘professional’ aspect of ancient competition was ignored however, when the Games were revived by Baron de Coubertin. Most likely because the idea of an amateur athlete, who competed for honour, not remuneration, fitted better with late nineteenth century thinking about appropriate roles for the social classes. This notion contended that only the wealthy could (and should) afford to devote their lives to the pursuit of sport. In addition, it was thought that professional athletes who sought financial gain from sport would not adhere to ideals of fair play. More critical commentators argue that the idea of amateurism ‘worked for many years to the disadvantage of people who were not white men and members of well-to-do social classes in Western societies’.[111] In other words, that amateurism was a synonym for racism, sexism and class discrimination.    

There was less enthusiasm for the enforcement of amateurism in sport generally, however, as social classes became less defined (at least in Western countries) and leisure time increasingly more available to all people. At the same time, the development of commercialism, which increasingly became attached to sporting events, further undermined amateurism, as did the development of state sponsored scholarships and training.[112] Combined with payments for endorsements this meant that athletes in fact became de facto professionals as the twentieth century progressed.[113]

Amateur status was a contentious issue during the Cold War (1945–1991). State sponsored athletes from the Soviet Union and its allies who trained full time, but were not officially employed as athletes, were eligible to compete as amateurs. On the other hand, many American athletes were labelled professionals, and consequently, ineligible to compete because their acknowledged work was playing sport. The United States argued consistently that such anomalies made status eligibility requirements for Olympic competition unfair. 

Recognition that this type of situation was becoming increasingly the norm led to gradual removal of the amateur status criterion for Olympic competition. Actual reference to the word amateur was deleted from the Olympic Charter by the 1970s. International federations governing individual Olympic sports were given responsibility for determining Olympic eligibility following the 1981 IOC Congress. Since then, federations have modified their rules to allow professionals to compete in the Games.

The initial entry of ‘professionals’ into Olympic competition generated some concern and much publicity in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona when the United States’ professional basketball ‘Dream Team’, which included Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, easily won the gold medal. But the protest was short lived and professionals now compete in almost every Olympic sport.[118] Boxing is one of the few sports where professionals are restricted or ineligible for competition.[119] This restriction is more likely the result of debate about differing objectives of amateur and professional boxing, rather than about the issue of competitor status.[120]  

Nevertheless, debate continues about amateurism in sport generally, with some believing that professionalism per ses compromises an athlete’s love for sport.[121] It can be argued that admitting professional athletes simply compounds the advantage richer nations have in developing athletes, or the commercial nature of Olympic competition. Perhaps it also denies young, developing athletes the chance to compete and it deprives spectators of some inspiring victories.[122] On the other hand, if the Olympics are to remain a venue for the world’s best athletes to compete, it is difficult to see how professional athletes could be excluded from at least some sports; and inspiring performances are not solely the prerogative of amateurs.

Commercialism 

Pierre de Coubertin envisioned that the Olympic Games would always remain an international gathering of amateur athletes who competed only for the love of sport. However, while this continues to be one of the reasons most athletes who participate in the Olympics continue to compete, sport now also represents a career choice. The Games also involve large amounts of money and an intimate association with commercial enterprise.

For most of the twentieth century, the IOC was a small, volunteer organisation that reflected its commitment to amateurism. But following World War II and rapid development of the mass media and communications technology, the philosophy of the IOC began to change. It seized the opportunity to avail itself of these advances with the stated intention of subsidising expenses associated with hosting the Games and its other activities.

The Summer Games held in Rome in 1960 were the first to be covered on broadcast television. Many of the events were shown throughout Europe and the American broadcast company CBS paid US$394 000 for the American broadcast rights. At the time there was no way to broadcast across the Atlantic, so CBS took the innovative step of flying tapes of events to New York City daily.[123] 

In 1960, the IOC sold the broadcasting rights to the Squaw Valley Winter Games in the United States to several companies. These included the European Broadcasting Union, which paid US$660 000 to broadcast the Games to Europe. Since 1960, broadcasting fees have escalated, with the American network NBC paying US$2.2 billion for the rights to broadcast the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and the 2012 Summer Games in London.[124]

By the 1970s, most of the IOC’s revenue was derived from American broadcasting rights. At that time, the Committee sought to diversify marketing of the Games to attract international organisations in addition to broadcasters. To this end, in 1985, it established The Olympic Partner Program (TOP). Under this program, corporations pay millions of dollars for exclusive worldwide marketing rights to both the Summer and Winter Games over a four-year period.

BBC view: A clash between the Olympic ideal and sponsorship   

Source: BBC News.[125]

By 1992, TOP contracts had produced revenue of more than US$120 million for the IOC. Everything appeared to be ‘sponsorable’, with the 1984 Los Angeles Games even selling rights for one company to advertise itself as the Official Olympic Specimen Carrier, because it transported the urine samples of athletes to laboratories.[126]

Between 2001 and 2004, TOP was supported by Coca-Cola, Atos Origin, John Hancock, Kodak, McDonald’s, Panasonic, Samsung, Sports Illustrated, Swatch, Visa International, and Xerox. The program was worth US$604 million to the IOC.

While TOP revenue continues to increase, it is yet to equal the income the IOC derives from the sale of broadcasting rights to the Games, as the diagram below and a later table on broadcasting revenue included in this section, show.   The Athens 2004 broadcast generated more than US$1492 million. More than 300 television channels provided a total of 44 000 hours of dedicated Olympics coverage, accessible to 4.2 billion viewers in 220 countries and territories.[127]

Source: IOC Final Report 2001-2004.[128]

Such close association of the Olympic Games with commercial entities has brought criticism of the IOC. It is argued that the embrace of commercialism by the Olympic Movement has seriously compromised its principles and left it susceptible to the wishes of commercial enterprises. From this perspective one critic notes that:

Companies and products benefit from association with the Olympics, which have an aura of both virtue and excellence. The [G]ames are one of the greatest media events on earth, with television broadcasting to billions of people, a marketeer's dream. As a result, companies line up for Olympic sponsorship.[129]

The same critic argues that the IOC:

… has abdicated any moral role in relation to corporate sponsorship. Whether running shoes are made by Third World workers in horrible conditions at low pay or whether a drink is of nutritional value is of little concern to the IOC, except for possible bad publicity.[130]

Source: IOC Marketing Report.[131]  

Another critic adds that the numbers attending the Turin Games illustrate the influence of commercialism—2500 athletes, 10 000 sponsor’s guests, 2300 Olympic officials and 2700 NBC staff, as well as other media, volunteers and other officials. In all, a ratio of 20 to one credentialed officials to athletes.[132]

On the other hand, it can be argued that the increased wealth the IOC has achieved through sponsorship has given the Olympic Movement opportunity to expand the nature and reach of its activities for the benefit of athletes as the table on revenue contributions to NOCs in this section would suggest. For example, it has introduced Olympic Solidarity, a program to spread the ideals of the Olympic Movement throughout the world. Olympic Solidarity offers scholarships, sports education programs, and direct financial aid to various national Olympic committees, especially those in developing countries.[133]

Source: Global Marketing Revenue, IOC website.[134]

The IOC notes:

The money that the IOC receives from broadcast and marketing rights is distributed throughout the Olympic Family. It goes to aid cities hosting the Olympic Games, to assist sportsmen and women to prepare for those Games through the 202 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and to help the International Federations (IFs) promote and develop the activities for which they have responsibility. Less than 10 per cent of the revenue remains with the IOC for the costs of administration.[135] 

Even critics agree that: 

It's naive and soreheaded [sic] to decry all commercialism, or the television networks that carry the Games. Sponsors help fund the athletes' training, and make it possible for the Games to be held, and NBC's love affair with the event is genuine.[136]

While IOC marketing reports corroborate the conclusion that there are more positive outcomes for athletes to be gained from encouraging sponsorship of the Games, there are examples that illustrate there is a constant need to balance the interests of athletes with those of commercial interests.[137] One recent illustration of this point is the changing of swimming finals times for the Beijing Olympics from evening to morning to ensure the best possible broadcasting ratings in the United States.

The European Broadcasting Union protested that European audiences will be watching swimming finals ‘in the wee hours of the morning’ and a number of leading swimmers requested re consideration of the finals schedule noting: 

We understand that there are certain commercial advantages to the American market … But we appeal to the integrity of our sport and the integrity of the Olympic spirit to hold the Games as is, in the best interest of the athletes.[138]  

To no avail, for as one commentator realistically observed:

Protest if you must about the selling out of the Olympics, but the process began long ago. The truth is that $5.7 billion [referring to the fee reportedly paid to American broadcaster NBC for the right to broadcast seven Olympics] really should buy you a little clout and a little [broadcast] time.

Drugs

The use of substances to improve athletic performance is not new.  Historic writings refer to competitors ingesting various potions, such as ground horse hooves or sheep testicles, to improve their performances at the ancient Olympic Games and other sporting events.[139] Athletes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries also used caffeine and strychnine to enhance their sporting prowess.[140]

The first official ban on substances to stimulate performance by a sporting organisation was introduced by the International Amateur Athletic Federation in 1928.[141] Drugs did not become an Olympic issue, however, until a Danish cyclist died of drug-related complications during the 1960 Olympic Games.[142] This incident prompted the IOC set up a medical commission and to issue its first list of prohibited drugs.[143]

Since 1968, the IOC has tested athletes for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.[144] But rapid advances in medical technology in recent decades have produced a wide variety of new drugs and procedures that athletes can use to gain a performance advantage. Consequently, many athletes disregard warnings and the growing body of evidence that confirms the serious health risks associated with drug taking. 

In February 1999, the IOC convened a World Conference on Doping in Sport. One outcome of the conference was the creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which is co-funded by the IOC and member governments.[145]

In March 2003, at the Second World Conference on Doping in Sport, delegates from 80 governments, the IOC, the International Paralympics Committee, all Olympic sports, national Olympic and Paralympics committees, athletes, national anti-doping organisations, and international agencies unanimously agreed to adopt the World Anti-Doping Code. The Code applies to all athletes and all those who work with them in their preparation for, or participation in Olympic competition. All National Olympic Committees and International Sports Federations are obliged to sign the World Anti-Doping Code.[147] WADA reviews and publishes a list of prohibited drugs annually.[148] 

A zero tolerance anti doping policy adopted by WADA has involved an increase in the number of tests conducted during the Games, as well as an extension of the associated period in which athletes can be tested for drugs. Consequently, during the course of each Games, hundreds of athletes now undergo drug testing for performance-enhancing substances. Usually, the top four place getters in each event as well as a number of other randomly-selected athletes are required to provide post-competition urine samples for testing. In some sports, blood samples are also tested. Athletes found guilty of doping in a post-event test forfeit any Olympic medals or diplomas they have won in that event.

In the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, there were seven violations of anti-doping rules, which is more than the five cases detected at all previous Winter Games. At the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, 2926 urine and 741 blood tests were conducted. This was 25 per cent more tests conducted than in Sydney. Testing found 26 violations of anti-doping rules, compared to 11 found in Sydney.[149]

One critic of WADA claims that despite the rhetoric about solving the problems of drugs in sport ‘about 85 per cent of all competing nations at the Olympics do not even bother with drug testing, thus offering plenty of places for the cheats to hide’.[150] Therefore, in this critic’s view, WADA needs to develop and oversee a more comprehensive and stringent regime and to be funded better, not only to counter existing drugs, but also to address new issues such as genetic doping.[151]  

It may be possible that former New South Wales Premier and former federal Minister for Finance, John Fahey, who was confirmed as President of WADA in November 2007, what some consider as ‘the highest level international sporting appointment ever occupied by an Australian’, will make some progress in dealing with these problems.[152] But it is unlikely that Fahey’s job will be easy, or that drug taking will cease to be a problem in Olympic competition in the near future.

Contradictory views of performance enhancing drugs

There is, however, a view of the use of drugs in sport that contradicts accepted thinking. This view holds that athletes should be allowed to take non-harmful performance enhancing drugs, as this action fully complies with the perception of sport as a ‘celebration of the human spirit, body, and mind’.[153] The argument continues that athletes already take a variety of nutritional and dietary substances and use a variety of equipment to improve performance and so performance enhancing drugs should be similarly accepted. 

One proponent of this perspective maintains that:

Ian Thorpe has enormous feet which give him an advantage that no other swimmer can get, no matter how much they exercise. Some gymnasts are more flexible, and some basketball players are seven feet tall. By allowing everyone to take performance enhancing drugs, we level the playing field. We remove the effects of genetic inequality. Far from being unfair, allowing performance enhancement promotes equality.[157]  

There are countervailing arguments to this controversial view. It is difficult to draw lines between legitimate and illegitimate performance enhancement for example. It is also unfair to those athletes who do not wish to enhance their performance with drugs, particularly younger athletes who may not be allowed to make fully informed choices about drug taking.[158]     

Gender

Women first competed at the Olympics which were held as part of the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1900. They were only allowed to compete in two sports – tennis and croquet. The first woman gold medallist at these Olympics was British tennis player, Charlotte Cooper.

Women were admitted to the swimming competition by the 1912 Games, but it was not until 1928 that they were permitted to compete in track and field events.[164] This concession was won despite objections from Pierre de Coubertin and the Pope that it was not fitting for women to participate in such competitions. As a result of their admission to athletics events, however, the numbers of women competitors at the Games doubled.[165] 

In fighting to gain entry to athletics in the Olympics women had to contend with cultural perceptions about the limitations of the female body and what was appropriate conduct for their gender. Implicit in these arguments was the idea that elite sport could only reflect masculinity; there was no room for female athletic prowess.

Notwithstanding that this and other ideas that sport makes women less attractive and that physical exertion may affect childbearing have been discredited, some residual of the argument that women were too fragile to become athletes, continues to surface occasionally. At times it is couched in accusations that female athleticism equates with so called ‘perverse’ behaviours, such as the practice of lesbianism.[166]

In 1900, around two per cent of Games competitors were women (22 athletes).  In contrast, women competed in 26 of the 28 sports at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and in 135 events or 45 per cent of all events. They represented 40.7 per cent of all participating athletes.

Women remain underrepresented, however, in Olympic sports organisations.  It was only in 1981 that the first women were elected as members of the IOC.[167] In 1997, the first woman was elected as an IOC vice-president.[168] In an attempt to combat the problem of under representation, the IOC passed a resolution in 1996 requiring that women made up ten per cent of ‘the decision-making structures’ of all national Olympic committees by the year 2000 and 20 per cent by the year 2005.

A report on the progress of this strategy released in 2004 noted that the introduction of minimum standards of representation had had a positive impact on the proportion of women on national Olympic committees and had brought a skilled, educated and committed workforce into the Olympic Movement. Despite this situation, it was noted that more work needed to be done at ‘lower’ sports administration levels to encourage the nomination of women candidates. Additionally, it was conceded that the IOC targets do not take into account variations in society and culture which adversely affect the status of women in some countries.[169] 

Race and the Games

Race and racism have played their part in a number of incidents at the Olympics. Some of the manifestations of racism have been obvious, as illustrated by the Berlin Games of 1936, while others have been more subtle.

It has been suggested for instance that Jim Thorpe, who was deprived of his medals for professionalism in 1912, would not have been so treated if he were not an American Indian (see box below).[170]

The Olympics have been used also as a vehicle to protest racist attitudes and behaviours.  Sometimes, as in the case of the exclusion of South Africa from the Games for its policy of apartheid, this has been with the sanction of the IOC. At other times, protests have taken place without IOC knowledge or approval, as illustrated by the case of the ‘Black Power’ protest of two black athletes at the Mexico Games in 1968.    

Berlin 1936 

Possibly the most blatant example of the use of the Olympics as a vehicle to promote racist propaganda was the 1936 Games held in Berlin in Germany.[172]

These Games were awarded to Berlin in 1931 before the Nazis came to power in Germany. However, soon after Adolf Hitler became German Chancellor in 1933, questions were raised about restrictions the new regime placed on Jewish athletes. A number of athletes and organisations argued that the Berlin Games should be boycotted because they would be the cause of discrimination on grounds of race. An organised international boycott failed to eventuate, however.[173] The Games went ahead as scheduled after the IOC declared that not only should internal politics of nations not affect Olympic competition, but that in the Berlin instance it was convinced there was no discrimination against Jews in Germany.[174]   

Carl Ludwig ‘Lutz’ Long: A true Olympian

Source: Official Website of the Olympic Movement.[175]                         

Initially, it appeared that the Games would indeed provide Hitler with an opportunity to advance his theory of the racial superiority of the Aryan race to the world when in June 1936, prior to the Olympics competition, undefeated African American professional boxer Joe Louis was knocked out by Germany's Max Schmeling. The German press proclaimed Schmeling's victory as a triumph for Germany and the Aryan race.[176]

But by the end of the Olympics Nazi claims of racial superiority had been seriously diminished by African American Jesse Owens and his African American team mates who had been dubbed the ‘Black Auxiliaries’ by the Nazi press, to imply they were not fully fledged members of the American team.   Owens alone won four medals in athletics and became ‘an instant superstar’.[177]    

Tokyo 1964

There is some argument that the concept of the Games in itself is racist. This view alleges that because the Games were established by European elites, they are dominated by western sports and western perspectives on sports and so disregard the indigenous sports of non-western countries.[178]   A similar perspective of the Games could have been one factor in prompting President Sukarno of Indonesia in February 1962 to announce that his country would withdraw from the IOC and initiate a new world Games in direct competition to the Olympics. Sukarno considered that the new games would combat old imperialistic forces that had discriminated against Asian and African nations in previous sporting competition.

More than 2000 athletes, from countries including France, Italy, the Netherlands and the Soviet Union, took part in Sukarno’s first New Emerging Forces Games (GANEFO) in Jakarta in 1963. Most of these athletes were not of Olympic calibre, however, and countries did not send official teams.[179] 

Competition by nations other than Indonesia at GANEFO was not sanctioned by the IOC because of a technicality with regards to recognition of the People’s Republic of China by some international sporting bodies. So, as a result, athletes from Indonesia and North Korea, who had officially competed at GANEFO, were banned from the Tokyo Games.[180]   

Mexico 1968

There are a number of Games issues that have been defined from both a political and race perspective. How such incidents are defined is sometimes dependent on the circumstances in which they take place, as one incident at the Mexico Summer Olympics in 1968 reveals. 

Only days before the opening of the Mexico Games a student protest demanding democratic reforms was brutally suppressed by the Mexican Government. The IOC declared that the Games would not be affected as the protest was political action and not a matter to concern the Olympic Movement.[185] These events and the IOC’s stance therefore affected an individual protest against racism made by two American athletes during the Games.

The gold and bronze medals in the 200 metre race at the Mexico Games were won by African American sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Smith and Carlos, inspired by ideals articulated by the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) which strove to eliminate injustices faced by African Americans in the United States, resolved to draw attention to the racial inequalities in their country.

They chose the Olympic medal presentation ceremony to do so.[186] During the playing of the American national anthem at the ceremony, both athletes bowed their heads and gave the Black Power salute.[187]

Source: Fairfax Digital[188]

The protest was met with outrage. The IOC declared that the act contravened a basic principle of the Olympics—that politics should play no role in them—and ordered the United States Olympic Committee to suspend both men from their Olympic team.  It is ironic that the IOC took this stand against Smith and Carlos, given its actions in relation to institutionalised racial discrimination in South Africa. But given its declaration in response to the protest by Mexican students prior to the Games, it was probably unable to respond in any other way in this instance.

Some organisations consider that the Olympics continue to be used as a vehicle for the racist treatment of citizens in host cities and countries.   Following terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. in America in September 2001, for instance, it has been argued that the organisers of the 2004 Athens Olympics unnecessarily subjected a small marginalised Islamic community in Greece to state surveillance of places of worship and unnecessary mass document-checks and inspections on the pretext of combating potential terrorism.[189] It is difficult to evaluate the extent to which this action was racially motivated, however, given that an opposing view of the surveillance is that as a result of the 2001 attacks, security for the Olympics needed to be increased. As such, many people, regardless of their race, were subject to inconveniences to ensure the safety of athletes and spectators alike

Politics and the Games

Despite the IOC’s insistence that political considerations play no part in the Games, it can be argued that politics is actually fundamental to the Olympics. An important impetus for the ancient Games was to offset the political machinations of competing and sometimes war-like Greek city states, and in reality, it is difficult to find any modern Games that have not been in some way influenced by politics—by wars, protests, terrorist attacks or boycotts. Indeed, as one commentator notes generally: ‘Politics and sport might be uncomfortable bedfellows, but on past experience at least it seems they are inseparable’.[190]         

One Olympic commentator has noted that the intended focus of the modern Olympics was individual athletes. But the inevitable identification of those athletes with their respective states meant that the feats of individuals are inevitably associated with, and subordinated to the state and politics have become integral to the conduct of the Games.[191]

What this means effectively is that world events are often played out in miniature in the Games’ arena and that the Games are used as a tool to promote or emphasise particular agendas. 

1956: a tale of two invasions  

Suez Crisis

In July 1956, Egypt's President Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal which had been owned and operated by a French/British company since 1869 as a neutral waterway and major maritime passage for the global oil trade. After Israel invaded Egypt in response, Britain and France intervened to restore the neutrality of the Canal. In the face of international pressure Britain and France later withdrew and a United Nations peacekeeping force was sent to the area.[192]

As a consequence of this incident, President Nasser called for countries that initiated war to be banned from the Olympics. When the IOC did not comply with Nasser’s demands, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq withdrew from the 1956 Games in protest.[193]  

Soviet invasion of Hungary

A revolt against Soviet rule in Hungary coincided with the Suez Crisis. The Soviet Union responded to demands for reform of the political system in Hungary by ruthlessly crushing the uprising.[194]

The events in Hungary led to the withdrawal from the Melbourne Olympics of the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. Some nations called for the Games to be cancelled in protest at the Soviet Union’s actions, but IOC President Avery Brundage rejected these calls, arguing again the IOC public view that the Games were contests between people, not nations.

Pictured at left: Hungarian Water Polo Forward Ervin Zador with a gashed eye leaving the Olympic pool at the