Olympic Games

From 776 B.C.E to 393 C.E. the Olympic Games were held in Greece every four years. At that time, the Olympics was a competition between the Greek city-states.In 1896, the Olympic Games were revived in Athens. The modern Olympics games have effected feminism, politics, economics, and national rivalries, but all of those aspects have helped to shape the Olympics.

There are many political factors that have shaped the modern Olympic Games. As shown in Document 1, the modern Olympics were created in the hope of bringing the world together in peaceful competition. The document is written from the point of view of Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement. From his perspective, the Olympics would have a positive effect on the world and would promote peace in the world. Although his intensions were honorable, the Olympic Games had a very different impact on international relations. Countries that hosted the games would use the opportunity as a chance to show their political superiority, as shown in Document 6. The document is written from the perspective of the Soviet Union and their belief that their hosting of the games was a result of their peaceful foreign policy. This document has a skewed perspective because it sounds like the Soviet Union had good foreign relations and was peaceful at the time, but in the year 1980 when this document was published, the Soviet Union was invading Afghanistan, so they weren’t as peaceful as their propaganda made them sound..

At times, the Olympic Games became about national rivalries, as shown in documents 3 and 4. Arnold Lunn, a member of the British Olympic team at the 1936 games recalls his experience with the games as a competition between Britain and Germany with the mindset that if Germany won the ski race it would prove that Nazism was better than democracy. Those Olympic games took place right before the outbreak of World War II, so there was great tension between England and Germany. The German team was so determined to prove themselves and beat England that they cheated by practicing on the course when it was closed. From Lunn’s perspective the games were more about proving that one political system was better than another through the success of countries’ athletes. This point of view might be slightly inaccurate because the document was written 20 years after he participated in the games, so his memory of the event that happened that year might have been skewed based on the events of World War II. Bob Matthias, who was a competitor for the United States during the 1952 games had a similar experience to Lunn. The 1952 games were during the period known as the Cold War, when there was a lot of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. Matthias explains that American athletes were under extreme pressure because of the presence of the Soviets, and the Soviets were seen as an enemy. In Matthias’ words, “You just loved to beat ‘em. You just had