Olympic Politics

Written: 04/18/2008
Publication: Edinboro University's Spectator
Publish Date: April 25, 2008

After leafing through the previous issue of the Spectator, I became worried about America's mindset. Perhaps it is ignorant for me to think that the Olympics have always been fueled by political rhetoric or that Americans gloss over international problems concerning human rights. Human rights, which I might add, that have a direct impact over international unity. Looking back, I began to think about the first Olympic boycott. It happened in 1956, when the Olympic Games were held Melbourne. The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland, supported the boycott, because of the repression of the Hungarian Uprising by the Soviet Union. In a nutshell, the uprising in Hungary involved a spur-of-the-moment national revolt against their Soviet-imposed government policies. If Soviet repression of a nations uprising will cause an acceptable Olympic boycott, why is the Tibetan protest any different?

Let's take a look at another example. The 1980 Moscow Olympic Games were protested by 65 nations, due to cold war tensions and the soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Though Afghani freedom may be hard concept for many Americans to swallow, America and many other countries were angered by the Soviet Union and their blatant disregard for human rights. This boycott lowered the number of competing nations to 81, lower than that of the 1956 games. My last example shows how politics is directly involved with the Olympic Games.

The Olympic Games did not become a mega event until 1932 when they were hosted in Los Angeles California. The games, believe it or not were politically driven and intended to bring the economically hard pressed Los Angeles area out of depression. The 1932 games were witnessed by German ambassadors, who in turn brought the games to Berlin in 1936. It is hard not to associate the 1936 Olympics with a runner named Jesse Owens. However the 1936 games were more than just an American underdog and a tale of patriotism. The games brought economic prosperity and credibility to Berlin. Hitler even sought to create the largest Olympic stadium in the world, but as we all know World War II put a stop to that.

Sure the Olympics call for a "fun" evening, where people can sit inside and watch athletes play tennis for hours. Heck, I myself am a huge fan of the Modern Pentathlon, but please America open your eyes. Stop living in some ethnocentric fantasy and learn more about what is going on in the world. Human rights are being taken from people and all we do is sit on our hands and wonder what time the table tennis event will start. I am not a liberal person and I am not a conservative person - I am a practical person. People should be allowed to protest for something they believe in, even if it is during a torch run. As Malcolm X once said: "You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it."

With The Utmost Respect,
Mr. Madison

And by the way the cartoon captioned above the article on page 10 was a total contradiction to the ethos of the editorial. It obviously showed Chinese Olympiad killing a Tibetan monk. Why would anyone use that picture and expect people not to protest? Perhaps next time a picture of an American flag wrapped around a baby, wearing a cowboy hat and eating a hotdog would be more suitable. However that is just a suggestion.