Political Influence on the Olympic Games

Chloe Wisdom
May 16, 2016
Period 2
Honors World History
Mr. Estanislao

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The Olympics are considered one of the world's most widely anticipated cultural events.
For centuries the Olympics have been used as an outlet for advocating political agendas. Due to
global appeal the Olympics have grown into an international competition, entertaining billions of
people worldwide. As Olympic popularity continues to grow, politics and global matters become
more and more present. Throughout history the Olympic games have served as a platform for
nations to prove their worth, and as technology advanced and global broadcasting was made
possible, the Olympics forever transformed from a game of sport, to a game of politics. The
athletic competition among nations has come to mirror the political issues and conflicts their
people face in reality; As a result of this, global politics will forever be a part of the Olympics.
The Olympics are an international competition influenced by the ancient Olympic
Games, held in Olympia, Greece. As the modern games become more accessible, politicians take
advantage and exploit the games for their own political agendas. John Davis book, The Olympic
Games Effect, calls to attention the political risks that transpire when politics become present
within the Olympic sphere. The book touches on the cause and effect politics have on the
Olympics while also providing a brief contextual history of some of the most memorable
Olympic games such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Anrd Krger and William Murrays The
Nazi Olympics: Sport, Politics, and Appeasement in the 1930s goes into detail regarding the
events comprising the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The book explain the tactics used during the Nazi
Olympics to promote Germanys anti-semitic government through propaganda. Dave
Andersons article in the New York Times, Sport of the Times; The Olympics Aren't Worth it,
examines politics and their effect on the Olympics. In the article, he questions whether or not the
games are of value once politics are mixed in. In her article The Bloody Olympics Down Under:

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Sport, Politics and the 1956 Melbourne Games, Kendra Consiglio analyzes political influence
within the Olympic games.
Politics have been present in the Olympics since its inception. In ancient Greece athletes,
citizens, visitors, and dignitaries attending the games were often harassed by people from
rivalling city-states. To help solve this problem and keep politics from intruding in the games the
Olympic Truce was created. The truce helped to maintain control by requiring that all warring
city-states cease their fighting until after the conclusion of the games. This idea of peace among
nations is still a prominent ideal for the Olympics in the twenty-first century. However, this
peace is merely hypothetical as a unity among nations is far from the reality, particularly when
politics become prevalent in the global discussions. One of the major factors that prevent today's
Olympics from obtaining its desired unity is the increasing accessibility of the games for anyone
with a television or computer. Kendra Consiglio explains in her article,The Bloody Olympics
Down Under: Sport, Politics and the 1956 Melbourne Games, that Of all the types of sporting
events that exist, the Olympics serve as one of the most powerful vehicles of influence due to the
worldwide participation and widespread media attention they receive (eBLJ, 2008). The global
advancement in technology while in some ways unifying, has also its had repercussions, often
unintentionally compromising the innocence of the games and often creating conflict among
participating nations. This growing technological access to the games allows for nations to
receive personal gain from a global event by using the Olympics to broadcast propaganda and
other political agendas which, because of widespread media, is easily accessed by the public. As
a consequence of the speed at which world news now travels, an international incident when
presented in the games can make citizens across the world aware in a matter of seconds. In
correlation, controversial ideas often create a greater division between nations as they take sides

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on the matter. These advancements in technology have made conflicts among nations
increasingly harder to ignore as politicians continue to use the Olympics as an opportunity to
support political agendas and to dispense propaganda.
The media coverage of the Olympics has allowed the games to turn into a political
game. Due to international broadcasting and the global attention that orbits the games,
politicians have used the Olympics as a way to make a statement. Once politics are mixed in, the
games become infected. Nations are forced to take sides in political disputes and the attention is
dragged from the athlete to the politician. However the athletes are not the only one in these
matters that are affected. John Davis explains in his book, The Olympic Games Effect, that The
impact for sponsors is potentially devastating if a political message overwhelms the Olympics,
since the sponsors marketing exposure takes on a less visible role compared with the political
agendas (75 Davis). The loss of exposure can cause a lot of harm to companies as they spend a
great deal of money to air a commercial during the Olympics. The cost alone to get a spot in the
commercials stands at roughly around $100,000, not including the cost to produce the actual
commercials. In addition to losing the focus of the audience, sponsors also have to deal with
other repercussions caused from politics. For sponsors, associations with political issues can
tarnish their image. When contentious ideas are brought about, sponsors have to be very
conscious of their actions in order to preserve a good reputation in the eyes of the media.
However, it is extremely challenging for companies to remain neutral on a topic once the media
makes it appear to be a central theme of the games. This is seen in the 2008 Beijing Olympics
when Coca-cola, Samsung, and Lenovo were relay sponsors. After protests in Paris, London,
and San Francisco against Beijings involvement in Sudan the three sponsors were under a lot of
pressure and media scrutiny because they did not speak out against Chinas human rights issues.

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Media coverage during the Olympics can pull focus from the games and add pressure to the
competing nations as well as the fiscal sponsors.
The Olympics, although striving to be unifying, have previously allowed for politics to
flourish resulting in conflicts between nations. Politics have used nationalism as a way to blend
in and become a permanent part of the Olympics. Nationalism in the Olympics is most present
when nations promote their culture and beliefs in order to declare supremacy on a global
standard. Due to the political involvement in the games, nations are prompted to prove their
worth though the Olympic competitions. We have seen nations use the Olympics to demonstrate
superiority on countless occasions. The most famous example of this is the 1936 Olympics in
Berlin. During these games the Nazi Party used the Olympics as a stage for their propaganda
promoting anti-semitic ideals as well as establishing the Aryan Race and Germanys dominance
over other countries. Arnd Krger and William Murray explain in their book, The Nazi
Olympics: Sport, Politics, and Appeasement in the 1930s, that From the start the Nazis
developed two main strategies in conjunction with the Olympic Games: to assure propaganda
within Germany and to break the cultural isolation of the Reichs government by propaganda
abroad (Krger and Murray 37). The Nazi Party used the Olympic games as a platform for
demonstrating Germanys new and united state. By doing this Germany changed the meaning of
the games by altering it with its own political agenda.
Political matters occurring during the games frequently fuel a countrys competitiveness
against specific nations creating a greater dispute between countries often parallel with the issue
those countries face outside the games. Kendra Consiglio writes in her article,The Bloody
Olympics Down Under: Sport, Politics and the 1956 Melbourne Games, that The intensified
patriotism and quest for prestige present during Olympic competition only further upholds the

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divisions existing between nations that are fueled and established through sport (eBLJ, 2008).
This was seen in the rivalry between the United States and Russia during the Cold War. While it
may seem like the reason that these countries were often seen head to head in competitions is
merely because they were top competitors, in reality the feud ran much deeper. During the 1980
Olympics in Moscow and the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles the United States the Soviet Union
took turns boycotting each others Olympics. This conflict arose as a result of the Soviet invasion
in Afghanistan as well as United States and the Soviet Unions fight to expand their sphere of
influence during the Cold War. The dissension between the two countries is one of the major
reasons that the two nations stood under great pressure to beat one another. The nation's
perceived winning as a verification of their superiority over each other. Even today the countries
that are commonly considered world powers, such as the United States, Russia, France, Japan,
India, Germany, Great Britain, and China, are the the ones that are viewed as top competitors in
the games. This parallels the world powers dominance in global affairs.
As time passes, the Olympics continue to lose their original significance. Dave Anderson
writes his article in the New York Times, Sport of the Times; The Olympics Aren't Worth it, As
the Olympics continue to dissolve into more of a political competition than an athletic
competition, they no longer seem to justify the time and trouble. (Dave Anderson). The
political takeover of the games has cause it to compromise its values and become a game for
politician rather than athletes. As a result of the political situations at hand boycotting has often
occurred. However, there are consequences for not attending the Olympics; when not all nations
are present the games lose their meaning. Athletes might question the validity of medals won
during an Olympics that their rivals chose not to attend. As boycotting becomes a common

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reaction to a nations displeasement with events occurring, the Olympics become devalued as
their ideals of creating peace and unity among nations is lost.
However, the mix of politics with the Olympics and the consequential problems that arise
have not gone unnoticed. There have been efforts to try to correct these concerns. Choosing the
location for the next games has always been a hotly debated subject filled with political intrigues
and debates. On June 18, 1984 the United States lobbied to have the Olympic games on a
permanent site. The New York Times article, Permanent Site for Olympics Is Recommended by
Senate, stated The Senate recommended today that future Olympic Games be held at a
permanent site ''suitable for insulating the Games'' from what it called ''unwarranted and
disruptive international politics'(The New York Times). The United States argued that finding a
permanent site would prevent international politics from continuing to upstage the important
aspects of the Olympics. After choosing a permanent location, public attention would not be
wasted discussing the location and cost of each years competition and focus could return to the
games themselves. A permanent site would eliminate the ''moving target'' that the games
currently are for politicians. It would be in a neutral territory, free from political disputes and not
associated with any one country. Although this idea shows promise as a potential solution, the
plan is perceived as unrealistic by members of the public and lacks the support of the Olympic
committee required to make it actionable. As the Olympics continue on their current path,
politics will only grow to be a greater and more permanent part of the international games. With
politics and the resulting conflicts continuing to influence the games, some wonder if the cons
are beginning to outweigh the pros. Are the games truly important enough to undergo the
political consequences that sometimes come with them? Where the Olympics once served as a

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uniting event among nations, now they are criticized for their inability to unify and their
tendency to divide.
Politics have become an inescapable part of the Olympics. Media and global coverage
have prevented political agendas from being ignored or avoided. Once politics are present all
nations are dragged in and forced to take sides. Medals and athletes become irrelevant to the
bigger picture. Political influence on the games has deepened division among nations as they
continue to turn on each other over small differences. Due to many factors, politics have inserted
themselves into every aspect of the Olympics. Sports and politics have come to a point in which
they are intertwined. At times they rely on each other to the point that one cannot exist without
the other. As politics infiltrate the core values of the Olympics, the unity between nations are
often tested and overshadowed as tensions among feuding countries are highlighted.

Work Cited
Anderson, Dave. "THE OLYMPICS AREN'T WORTH IT." The New York Times. The New York
Times, 1984. Web. 16 May 2016.

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Davis, John. The Olympic Games Effect: How Sports Marketing Builds Strong Brands.
Singapore: John Wiley, 2008. Print.
Krger, Arnd, and W. J. Murray. The Nazi Olympics: Sport, Politics, and Appeasement in the
1930s. Urbana: U of Illinois, 2003. Print.
K. Consiglio, The Bloody Olympics Down Under: Sport, Politics and the 1956 Melbourne
Games, Electronic British Library Journal, pp. 1-11,
http://www.bl.uk/sportandsociety/exploresocsci/politics/articles/melbourne.pdf