Political Olympic Games. The political significance of the Sochi Olympics The Olympic Games as an instrument of international politics

The upcoming Sochi Olympics will not only be an important event in the world of sports. It will also be an important event for President Putin. So to speak, an exam, a test of strength. This Olympics, in many ways, HIS Olympics - this is Putin, before his resignation from the post of President, he went almost to the ends of the world to achieve the Olympics for our country. The venue - Sochi, is also largely determined by Putin's predilections. He invested a lot in her. Therefore, now he is extremely interested in its success. 2013 was a successful year for Putin, who has been called by many one of the most influential and important politicians and people in the world. 2014 is the year when lame duck Barack Obama, who in 2013 suffered a number of significant defeats and lost in the rating, will take revenge. It has already reached the point that in America itself voices began to be heard that, they say, it would not be bad to wave the Presidents of Russia. The positive qualities of the President of Russia were noted, most importantly, by American neocons, who are the most prominent spokesmen for the anti-Russian policy of the United States.

1. "Blue" question.
It all started with the well-known law on the prohibition of homopropaganda (which, by the way, are currently in force in 8 US states, including Utah and Texas), which caused great indignation among the Western public. LGBT activists squealed like cut pigs. Obama supported LGBT people. Same-sex "marriages" are legalized in France, which caused mass protests (millions took to the streets) of supporters of traditional values ​​- and a considerable number of their participants openly spoke out in support of Russia. Marine Le Pen, leader of the French right, expressed her support for Putin's initiative. On the part of LGBT supporters, there were calls to boycott the Olympics in Sochi. Of the world figures, it seems, they said that they would not go to the Olympics for this very reason, very few, and even then of the second tier: Obama, Cameron, Hollande would not go to Sochi at all. but because they don't want to. In any case, they simply do not want to be present at the actual triumph of Russia and the Russian President. President Obama openly included openly homosexuals on the US team and delegation. Putin declared that homosexuals of all countries can freely come to Sochi. However, it is possible that same-sex kisses for cameras await us at the Olympics - I am sure that some Western athletes will do this on purpose and knowingly when they win, declaring that they are "protesting against the homophobic law." However, God is their judge.

2. Terror attacks.
The worst thing that everyone is afraid of. For a terrorist attack on the day the Olympics began is scary, it is a real stain on the country's reputation, it is a clouding of the sports holiday. But the Olympics will be held not far from the hotbeds of tension in the region. And if even further, then there is Syria. In general, such a threat strains many. If you look in the other direction - here you have restless Ukraine next to you, here you have the American fleet that entered the Black Sea. Yes, and much more. The closer to the Olympics, the more tension will grow. The duty of the President is to prevent any excesses that could overshadow this bright sports holiday.

3. The rise of patriotism.
That we are all about the bad, let's also say about the good. I am personally pleased to see that the level of patriotism has noticeably increased in society - Russians confidently declare their love for their Motherland, openly believe in our athletes and are proud of it. It's nice that patriotism today is topical and even comme il faut in contemporary Russian society. Being a patriot today is a good form. And this is good. It was in the 90s that it was customary to pour slop on their homeland and strive to leave for a free and distant America, in which there is only happiness and real dolce vita. Flying the Russian flag, rooting for Russia, being proud of one's history and country - today this is quite naturally perceived by society. This is fine. And it pleases. Each victory of a Russian athlete in Sochi will cause an unreal surge of patriotism. And people also specifically connect digital television - to follow sports events from their homes. Growing interest in sports. The youth join him. All this causes only pride, only the most pleasant feelings.

The Sochi Olympics is an event that is significant not only for the world of sports. It is also an important political event. This is a possible bonus in the piggy bank of Russia and President Putin (no matter what they say, but today he really occupies a significant place in Russian politics and in world politics): the successful holding of the Olympics with virtually no serious incidents, and even with a significant number of medals for our athletes - all this raise the weight and prestige of Russia on the world stage. There is no doubt that Putin will use this success in the 2018 elections as well - the real victories of our athletes may well outshine in the eyes of the people all the costs of the Olympics, all corruption scandals and so on. But failures and failures will only add fuel to the fire of discontent. That is why it is so important for Putin that the Olympics go off without a hitch.

However, Russian citizens can not bother with this and just look at the competitions of athletes, of course, rooting for ours.

Opening ceremony to be held today in Rio de Janeiro summer olympic games. The Olympics is not only a sports event, but also a cultural and political one: by the way the competitions are held, one can judge both the relations between individual countries and the situation in the world as a whole. This year, for the first time, a refugee team will take part in the games - and this is also an important sign of the times. We decided to recall ten more events that changed the modern Olympic Games.

1900

Women took part in the Games for the first time

The Olympic Games in a relatively modern form were revived at the end of the 19th century. Women first took part in them in 1900 and were only eligible to compete in five sports: tennis, croquet, horseback riding, golf and sailing. Among the 997 Olympic athletes, there were 22 women. Over time, there were more athletes at the Olympics: if in the 1928 games women accounted for 10% of the total number of athletes, then by 1960 this figure had increased to 20%.

The first woman joined the IOC Executive Committee only in 1990. After that, in 1991, the IOC made a historic decision: women's competitions should now be held in all sports that are included in the program of the Olympic Games. But it is too early to talk about full gender equality: at the Sochi Olympics, women accounted for 40% of the total number of participants. In some countries it is still difficult for women to participate in the Olympics: for example, in Saudi Arabia, women were only allowed to compete in 2012.

1936

African American Jesse Owens won four gold medals

An African-American athlete won the gold medal for the first time in 1908: John Taylor took first place as part of the team in the mixed relay. But much more famous is the story of Jesse Owens, an African-American track and field athlete who won four gold medals and set a world record in the long jump at the 1936 Olympics. The Olympic Games were held in Nazi Germany, and Owens had to fight for gold in the long jump with the German Lutz Long - Long was the first to congratulate him after the victory, and then they together made a lap of honor around the stadium.

“When I returned to my homeland, after all these stories about Hitler, I still had no right to ride in front of the bus,” the athlete later recalled. - I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted to. I was not invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I was not invited to the White House to shake hands with the President.”

1936

First broadcast of the Olympic Games

The Berlin Olympics of 1936 was broadcast on television for the first time: 25 special rooms were opened in Berlin, in which it was possible to watch the Olympic Games for free. The 1960 Olympic Games were broadcast in Europe and the United States: every evening, after the end of the competition, the recording of the games was sent to New York, and then it was shown on CBS.

Television broadcasts have changed the Olympic Games: now it is not just a sporting event, but also an expensive show - the opening and closing ceremonies of the games are of interest to the audience almost more than the competitions themselves, and famous brands and designers provide the teams with uniforms.

1948

The birth of the Paralympic movement

1964 Tokyo Paralympic Games

On July 29, 1948, the opening day of the London Olympics, neurosurgeon Ludwig Guttmann, at the request of the British government, organized sports competitions for World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries on the grounds of the Stoke Mandeville hospital. Since then, the Stoke Mandeville Games began to be held annually, and in 1952 they became international: former soldiers from Holland took part in them. Eight years later, in 1960, the Stoke Mandeville Games were first held in the same city where the Olympics were held - in Rome; The competition was called the First Paralympic Games.

Now the Paralympic Games are held in the same year and on the same sports grounds as the Olympics. 4237 athletes from 164 countries took part in the Paralympic Games in London in 2012.

1968

Protest against racism

Although the Olympic Games are considered a politically free event, political statements at the competitions are not uncommon. At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, track and field athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos, who set the world record in the 200m, staged a protest. Athletes entered the awards ceremony wearing the badges of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. They took the podium, taking off their shoes, in black socks, to show how poor the African American population is. As the national anthem played, the athletes lowered their heads and raised their black-gloved fists in protest against racism in the United States. Who exactly owned this idea is unknown: both athletes later claimed that they offered to raise their fists up.

The IOC criticized the actions of Smith and Carlos, calling their actions "a deliberate and flagrant violation of the fundamental principles of the Olympic spirit." The press was also outraged, and the athletes were expelled from the team. At home, Smith and Carlos also faced harsh condemnation. But, despite all the warnings and bans, the protests at the Olympics continued: the winners of the 400-meter race entered the awards ceremony in black berets, and the winners of the women's 4 x 100 relay dedicated their medals to Carlos and Smith.

Recognition of the act of athletes came much later, in the eighties. In 2005, the California State University at San Jose, where Tommy Smith and John Carlos studied, had a statue of them with their fists raised.

1972

Munich terrorist attack

German President Heinemann speaks at a mourning rally dedicated to the memory of Israeli athletes

The 1972 Munich Olympics were overshadowed by a terrorist attack. On September 5, eight Palestinian terrorists made their way to the Olympic Village, killed two members of the Israeli team, and took nine more members of the team hostage. The operation to free the hostages was unsuccessful - all nine were subsequently killed; in addition, five terrorists and a policeman were killed. The competitions were suspended, but after 34 hours the IOC decided to resume them - in protest against terrorism.

1976

African countries are boycotting the Olympics

Days before the opening of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, more than twenty African countries announced that they were boycotting the competition. Kenya was the last to announce its intention to boycott the games. James Osogo, the country's foreign minister, released an official statement hours before the Games' opening ceremony: "The government and people of Kenya believe that principles are more important than medals."

African countries refused to participate in the games because of the New Zealand team: the New Zealand rugby team, which is not part of the Olympic team, played a match in the summer with the South African team, where the apartheid regime was in effect. The South African team was suspended from the Games back in 1964, but the protesters considered these measures insufficient: they believed that countries or sports teams should not interact with the South African government in any way.

This is far from the only boycott in the history of the Olympic Games: the 1980 Olympics, held in Moscow, were boycotted by 56 countries in protest against the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. The USSR and other countries of the socialist camp in response decided to boycott the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

1992

Derek Redmond Run

At the Olympic Games there is a place not only for significant political events, but also for simple human stories: they do not change the course of the games, but help the audience to look at themselves and their lives in a new way. One of the most dramatic moments in gaming history was Derek Redmond's 400m run at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The British athlete had serious chances for a medal, but during the semi-final race he tore his tendons. Rather than retire from the race, Redmond decided to continue the race, hoping that he would still be able to get around other athletes. His father Jim ran to help the athlete, who asked him to stop. Derek refused - and then his father said that they would finish together: both reached the finish line on foot, and in the video of the race it is seen how hard and painful each step is given to Derek and how upset he is by defeat. Unfortunately, the athlete never managed to succeed: two years after the games in Barcelona, ​​after eleven operations on the Achilles tendon, his sports career ended.

2000

North and South Korea Marched Together at the Opening Ceremony

Since ancient times, one of the main messages of the Olympic Games is that sports competitions should bring peace. At the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, this idea was brought to life by North and South Korea: the delegations of the countries marched together under a common flag, which depicted the Korean Peninsula. The flag was carried by South Korean basketball player Jung Sun Chun and Pak Chong Choi, a judoka from the DPRK. The countries also marched together at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in 2004 in Athens and in 2006 in Turin - but in 2008 they decided to separate again.

2000

Cathy Freeman win

At the 2000 ceremony, track and field athlete Kathy Freeman was honored to light the Olympic flame. This event had a great symbolic meaning: Freeman comes from the Australian Aborigines, and by the fact that she was entrusted with lighting the fire, the organizers wanted to show the desire of the Australians to reunite with the indigenous population of the continent. This is especially important because opponents of the Olympics in Australia have accused the government and the people of the country of racism.

Later, Kathy Freeman won gold in the 400 meters, and the athlete ran the lap of honor with the Australian Aboriginal flag.

2016

The refugee team participates in the Olympics

This year, for the first time, a refugee team will be taking part in the Olympic Games, as organizers hope to draw global attention to the refugee crisis. The team included ten athletes - six men and four women - from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They will compete under the white Olympic flag and will march in front of the Brazilian national team at the opening ceremony. The IOC is committed to supporting athletes after the Games.

“This will be a symbol of hope for all refugees and show the world the extent of the crisis,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “It is also a sign to the entire international community that refugees are people like us and they bring great benefits to our society.”

Work on recent history

Pankova A. S., gr. FI32-05S

OLYMPIC GAMES AND POLITICS

Social history is the history of society or the history of social structures, processes and phenomena. The subject of social history cannot be defined; the range of topics for research in social history either expands indefinitely or becomes extremely narrow. Part of the reason lies in the early manifestation of the desire of representatives of social history to use the methodological tools of other social sciences: demography, economics, anthropology, cultural studies and sociology. The introduction of the methodology of these disciplines into social history occurred at different stages of its development and, of course, changed not only the emphasis, but also the objects of study. Social history sometimes became almost economic, sometimes predominantly cultural, sometimes gravitated toward the study of everyday life.

On the one hand, social history is the history of specific social phenomena: childhood, leisure, family, sports, illness and healing; on the other hand, the reconstruction of small towns, workers' settlements and rural communities; with the third - the study of psychological motivation and mentality. But at the same time it is also the history of vast territorial and temporal spaces, mass social movements and violence in history, social processes of historical transformation (migration, urbanization, industrialization).

One of the sub-disciplines of social history is the history of sports, first included in the curriculum of American universities in the late 60s.

At present, it is quite difficult to find works on the history of sports in Russia, both by domestic and foreign authors. Therefore, this topic remains understudied. But, at the same time, its relevance is not in doubt, because the modern world cannot be imagined without mass sports and, of course, without sports of high achievements.

In this paper, we will try to consider the impact of politics on sports on the example of the history of the Olympic Games, as the most striking and significant sporting event of modern times. We will also try to identify the causes and prerequisites for the influence of politics on sports, we will classify examples of political interference in the Olympic Games.

To begin with, let's deal with the prerequisites for the influence of sports on politics.

1) By the 20s of the twentieth century, sport became professional, became a sport of high achievements. Thus, setting world records and simply winning the Olympic Games, especially in the unofficial team event, made it possible for the winning country to show all the advantages of its socio-political system and gain international prestige.

2) in the 20s - 30s there was a popularization of sports as a spectacle and entertainment. Starting in the 1920s, sports broadcasts were broadcast on the radio, sports columns were printed in newspapers, people (especially in the USA) increasingly preferred going to the stadium to going to the theater. The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin were televised for the first time. Sports have become a commercial product. And the Olympic Games, which are held every 4 years and bring together the best athletes from all over the world, have been and remain the most popular and covered sports competitions. Therefore, everything related to the Olympic Games or happening around them immediately becomes the property of the world community and can cause great resonance.

3) The emergence in the mid-30s of regimes interested in using the Olympic Movement in their own interests. Initially, it was the Nazi regime in Germany (it is no coincidence that the first games in which political interference was observed were those in Berlin). Then, after the Second World War, the "cold" war between the countries of the capitalist and socialist systems was reflected in the holding of the Olympic Games.

Thus, by the mid-30s of the twentieth century, all the prerequisites for the intervention of political intrigues in sports and, in particular, in the Olympic Games, had developed.

So, let's try to classify examples of political interference in the Olympic Games.

I. Use of games for propaganda purposes.

The very first and striking example is the Olympic Games in 1936 in Berlin. The American magazine "Christian Century" at the time wrote that "the Nazis use the fact of the Olympics for propaganda purposes to convince the German people of the strength of fascism, and foreigners - of its virtue." The Olympics was supposed to be a triumph for the fair-haired "supermen". To achieve this, all means were used: the inclusion of "German" sports in the Olympic program, pressure on foreign athletes and the creation of a new generation of "Olympic children", for which they needed to organize married couples from found "Aryan" athletes and representatives of the "Union German girls.

II. The use of games for political pressure.

Here we can distinguish several types of political pressure that differ in their manifestations.

a) The use of games for the purpose of political pressure of the participating countries on the host country.

Examples of this type of pressure are:

Boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

Games boycotted: USA, China, Israel, Saudi Arabia. And the teams from Great Britain, France, Greece, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Italy and others performed not under their national flags, but under the Olympic one. The reason for the boycott: the participation of the USSR in the Afghan conflict.

Boycott the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

The Games were boycotted by the USSR and Bulgaria, the GDR, Vietnam, Mongolia, Laos, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, South Yemen, Cuba, and others that joined it. The Iranian team was the only one who did not go to both Olympics. The reason for the boycott: according to the Soviet delegation, the proper safety of the athletes was not ensured.

Boycott the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Games boycotted: North Korea, Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua. Reason for the boycott: North Korea was still formally at war with South Korea and did not recognize it as an independent state.

b) The use of games for the purpose of expressing a political protest that is not associated with the country of the organizer.

Boycott the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

The games were boycotted by three groups of countries.

1) Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon in protest against the Suez crisis.

2) The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland in protest against the suppression of the Hungarian uprising by Soviet troops.

3) PRC in protest against the fact that athletes from Taiwan were allowed to compete under the "Formosa" sign, and the IOC recognized the Taiwan Olympic Committee.

Boycott the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

The games were boycotted by three dozen African countries and Iraq, which joined them. The reason for the boycott: participation in the games of the New Zealand team, which held friendly rugby matches against a team from racist South Africa.

c) The use of games for the purpose of expressing a personal protest against the policy of the country participating in the Olympiad.

Boycott of Jewish athletes at the 1936 Berlin Olympics in protest against the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, which discriminated against German Jews

There were several instances of protest at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. American sprinters Tommy Smith and John Carlos, on the podium, raised their black-gloved fists in salute during the American anthem in protest against racial segregation. The athletes also wore emblems of the civil rights movement. Both athletes, under the pretext that political actions have no place at the Olympics, were removed from the American Olympic team. And the Czechoslovakian gymnast Vera Chaslavska, in protest against the Soviet invasion of her country, defiantly turned away during the performance of the USSR anthem. For this, she became banned from traveling abroad for many years.

d) The use of games for the purpose of political blackmail by an international terrorist organization.

An example is the tragedy at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, when 8 terrorists from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Black September militant group took 11 members of the Israeli sports delegation hostage. In response to the belated and ill-considered actions of the Bavarian police, the terrorists opened fire and killed all 11 hostages. For the first time, the blood shed at the Olympics shocked the whole world.

Thus, it can be concluded that the trend that originated in the 30s of the twentieth century and continues throughout its entire duration, the trend of the influence of politics on sports in general and the Olympic movement in particular, has its relevance at the present time and is likely to continue in the future. This is evidenced by the speeches in support of the Tibetan independence movement at the Olympic Games in Beijing, and the efforts that the Russian government made to obtain the right to host the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, and many other examples of our time.

So, we have identified 3 prerequisites that made possible the impact of politics on sports, carried out a classification of the impact of sports on the Olympic Movement, and at the end concluded that the trend of the impact of politics on sports will continue in the future. The set goals of the work have been achieved.

Bibliography.

1) History of the Olympic Games [electronic resource]: database. – Access mode: http://www.olympiad.good-cinema.ru

2) Toward a new understanding of man in history: Essays on the development of modern historical thought / under. ed. B.G. Mogilnitsky. - Tomsk: Publishing house Tom un-ta. 1994. - 226 p.

3) Yashlavsky A. O sport, you boycott!/A. Yashlavsky//Moskovsky Komsomolets. - 2008. - April 14. - P.14-15.

Many Olympic historians believe that politics has always been a part of the Olympics. Among the potential threats that the Athens Olympics may face is the danger of a terrorist attack. The Greek government has asked seven countries to provide security assistance. In this sense, the greatest global sports festival of the 20th and 21st centuries continues to reflect the key political issues of our time.

At the first modern Games, held in Athens in 1896, athletes were divided along national lines. Both the athletes themselves and the fans considered the participants of the competition primarily as representatives of individual countries. Nationalism has been an integral part of the Games since the beginning. With him, political opposition penetrated the Olympic movement.

The national component was best manifested in the award ceremonies, when the flag of the victorious country was hoisted at the stadium. The choice of the flag was a political act in itself. At the 1912 Games in Stockholm, for example, the Finns competed under their own flag, despite the fact that Finland was part of the Russian Empire. The Irish national team first competed under its own flag in 1928.

Another acute political issue was the problem of women's participation in the Olympics. Women first became Olympians in 1900, but they only competed in tennis and golf. In 1912 they were allowed to compete for awards in swimming.

There was no consensus among the members of the International Olympic Committee regarding the participation of women in athletics. Coubertin, the founder of the Olympic movement, was in the conservative camp. He thought it would be "impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic and wrong". By 1928, the principle of gender equality was proclaimed at the Amsterdam Olympics, but this did not apply to all sports.

The racial issue was also acute. Coubertin, shocked by the discrimination he saw in America in the 1880s, advocated general equality and equal opportunities. In 1912, athletes of African descent and representatives of the indigenous population appeared on the American team.

In the 1960s, the apartheid regime in South Africa was a sore point for the Olympic movement. In 1970, South Africa was expelled from the IOC. However, even after this step, passions did not subside: a large group of African countries declared a boycott of the Games in Montreal in 1976 after the New Zealand national rugby team went to matches in South Africa.

The Olympic Games in a number of cases were an instrument of political propaganda and state ideology. The best example of this is the 1936 Berlin Olympics, with which Hitler wanted to show the world the superiority of Nazi Germany. Ironically, the Berlin Games were filled with the symbolism of ancient Hellas: that year, the solemn delivery of the Olympic flame from Greek Olympia to the stadium in Berlin was included in the program for the first time.

Hitler's persecution of the Jews split the IOC, but the Games were still held, as it was decided that their cancellation would primarily harm the athletes themselves. In response to a compromise by the IOC, Germany included several Jews in its national team.

And the triumph of the black athlete Jesse Owen, who won four gold medals and became a folk hero of the Berlin Olympics, demonstrated the absurdity of Hitler's theory of Aryan superiority.

During the Cold War, the Olympic Games turned into an arena of political confrontation between the communist East and the capitalist West. Sports victories have become political victories. Political problems were the reason for the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics in protest against the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan.

In recent years, the most acute problem of the Olympics has become the issue of terrorism. In 1972 in Munich, the vulnerability of the Games became apparent. The Palestinian group "Black September" broke into the Olympic village and took Israeli athletes hostage, 11 of whom died as a result of the operation to free them.

There is no doubt that political issues will be just as acute in 2008, when the Summer Games come to Beijing, as in the choice of host for the 2012 Olympics.

The international Olympic movement now faces three main challenges: doping, safety, and ever-increasing costs. At the same time, it is increasingly difficult for small countries to fulfill all the conditions for hosting the Olympics at home. In the 70s, Greece offered to hold the Games permanently in their homeland, but this idea was rejected.

As Avery Brundage, then head of the IOC, said after the tragedy in Munich, "Unfortunately, in this imperfect world, the bigger and more important the Olympic Games become, the more they are subject to commercial, political and criminal pressure."

Michael Llewelyn Smith,

former British Ambassador to Poland and Greece,

and Athens: A Cultural and Literary History (2004).

President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach .

“The participation of Russian athletes in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 is very dependent on the results of the WADA investigation. If there is evidence of an organized and comprehensive doping system that affects most of the sport, the international federations and the IOC will have to make a difficult decision about collective or individual responsibility, ”Bach wrote in an article published in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

A new wave of talk about the suspension of Russian athletes began after the publication of revelations in the New York Times ex-head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov, who claimed that at least 15 Russian athletes who won medals at the Sochi Winter Olympics were part of Russia's "doping program" aimed at dominating the 2014 home Games.

Previously informed sources reported that the decision on the participation of Russian athletes, previously suspended from international competitions, in the 2016 Olympics would be negative. Also, due to doping scandals, Russia faces the annulment of Olympic licenses in athletics.

In the United States, it has been officially announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has joined the investigation into the use of doping in Russian sports.

No one seems to hear the remarks that in all the revealing materials about doping in Russia there are a minimum of facts and a maximum of outright “cranberry”.

Olympic principles and harsh reality

The removal of the Russian team from the 2016 Olympics, the possibility of which Thomas Bach spoke about, will be the loudest political scandal in the history of the Olympic movement. The decision to suspend both those who were really convicted, and those against whom the accusations against whom nothing was substantiated, and those who were not even accused of violating anti-doping rules, will mean only one thing - it is a kind of new version of sanctions, a method of exerting political pressure on the country.

Founder of the modern Olympic movement Baron Pierre de Coubertin, formulating the principles of Olympism, especially defended two positions - the amateur status of athletes and the complete separation of politics from the Olympic movement.

In the year of the 120th anniversary of the first modern Olympic Games, it must be admitted that Baron de Coubertin suffered a crushing defeat. Today, the Olympics are a battle of professional athletes, where states satisfy their political ambitions and settle personal scores.

Political scandals began to shake the Olympics even during the life of the baron himself, despite all his efforts.

Racist St. Louis Olympics

The very first Olympic Games, which were held in the United States, were overshadowed by a disgusting example of a racist approach. The organizers of the 1904 Games in St. Louis held within their framework the so-called "anthropological days" for the Eskimos, Filipinos, Indians to compare their sports skills with representatives of the Caucasian race. They competed in running, high jump, archery and javelin throwing. The winners were presented with the American flag instead of gold medals.

Baron de Coubertin, who personally introduced the provision in the Olympic Charter that “no discrimination is allowed against countries and individuals on racial, religious or political grounds”, managed to ensure that such “competitions” within the framework of the Olympics will never again were carried out.

Baron de Coubertin applies sanctions

Political sanctions against entire countries were first applied by the International Olympic Committee almost a hundred years ago.

The 1916 Olympic Games did not take place due to the outbreak of the First World War. Baron de Coubertin himself, having temporarily resigned as head of the IOC, joined the French army.

After the end of the war, Pierre de Coubertin again became the head of the IOC and, in this capacity, carried out the decision to remove athletes from Germany and the allies of this country in the First World War from the 1920 Olympics with the wording "for starting a war." The German team for the same reasons was not invited to the 1924 Games.

Hitler opens the Olympics

The last Games before World War II were held in 1936 in Berlin. The right to host the Olympics in the capital of Germany was granted back in 1931, but two years later the Nazis came to power.

At the initiative of the American Athletic Union, the question of postponing the Olympics began to be seriously discussed. The Americans pointed out that racism and anti-Semitism are actively cultivated in the Third Reich, as well as the persecution of citizens for political reasons.

The German authorities took countermeasures, trying to remove conspicuous racist agitation from the streets. The IOC Commission, which came to Berlin to check the state of affairs, was quite satisfied. Pierre de Coubertin, who by that time had already become honorary president of the IOC, spoke on the German state radio, calling Hitler"one of the finest creative spirits of our era."

As a result, attempts to postpone and boycott the Berlin Olympics failed. US NOC President Avery Brundage made a public statement that the boycott was "an idea alien to the American spirit, a conspiracy to politicize the Olympic Games" and "Jews must understand that they cannot use the Games as a weapon in their fight against the Nazis."

The Olympic Games in Berlin took place, they were personally opened by Adolf Hitler, and the delegations of a number of countries at the parade of participants saluted the head of the Third Reich with a Nazi salute.

The Games themselves were held without excesses. After the war, the International Olympic Committee issued a public apology for the actions of its functionaries, which made the Olympics in the Third Reich possible.

Olympic Games in Berlin 1936. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Melbourne announces Olympic boycott

Together with the entry of the USSR national team into the Olympic arena and the transfer of rivalry between the West and the East into sports, the Olympic Games became fully acquainted with such a phenomenon as a political boycott.

For the first time on a mass scale, it was recorded at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.

Due to the Suez crisis, Egypt, which was subjected to Franco-British-Israeli aggression, as well as Iraq, Lebanon and Cambodia, which supported it, officially announced a boycott of the Olympics.

Due to the intervention of the USSR in the events in Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland boycotted the Olympics. China boycotted the Olympics over Taiwan's invitation.

IOC vs. Indonesia and South Africa

In 1964, the International Olympic Committee applied sanctions for political reasons against South Africa and Indonesia. South Africa was banned from the Olympics due to the country's policy of apartheid. In 1970, South Africa was completely excluded from the IOC membership, and this sanction was in effect for 22 years, until the start of political changes in the country.

The Indonesian Olympic Committee was stripped of its powers due to the fact that during the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, the country's authorities suspended the national teams of Israel and Taiwan from competing.

In reply President Sukarno announced that Indonesia is leaving the International Olympic Movement and organizing alternative games - Games For The New Emerging Forces (GANEFO) - "Games of developing forces". The IOC ruled that any participant in GANEFO automatically becomes an "undesirable person" at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.

As a result, 11 Indonesian athletes and 6 representatives of the DPRK, who were not allowed into the Olympic village, fell under the sanctions. Indonesia decided on an organized protest non-participation of its entire team, the North Korean team decided to support Indonesia and also left the Games.

Protest on the Olympic podium

At the 1968 Olympics, for the first time in the history of the Games, such a method of political protest was used as a deliberate violation of the provisions of the Olympic Charter: black American athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medalists in athletics, without boycotting the competition as a whole, at the awards ceremony during performers of the US national anthem defiantly lowered their heads and raised clenched fists in black gloves.

This demarche was one of the actions of the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR), which opposed racism and racial segregation.

The action was supported by the silver medalist of the Games, the white Australian Peter Norman, who stood on a pedestal with the OPHR emblem on his chest.

Both African American athletes were expelled from the US team and expelled from the Games, and Peter Norman was attacked by the conservative press and the public upon his return to Australia.

Another incident at the Games in Mexico City was the political protest of the absolute champion of the Games in 1964 and 1968, the Czechoslovak gymnast Vera Chaslavskaya. Being dissatisfied with the doubtful, in her opinion, decisions of the Olympic judging panel in favor of competitors from the USSR Larisa Petrik and Natalia Kuchinskaya, Chaslavska at the award ceremony during the performance of the anthem of the USSR lowered her head and turned away.

This gesture was met with great enthusiasm by the anti-communist opposition of Czechoslovakia, but as a result, Chaslavska, by decision of the country's authorities, was banned from traveling abroad for many years and could no longer represent Czechoslovakia in international competitions.

Munich: Shooting of Athletes and Political Voting in Basketball

The 1972 Olympics in Munich was the first in history where a terrorist act was committed. Palestinian terrorists from the Black September organization took hostage and then killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team.

Despite the demands of the media and the public to stop the Olympics as a sign of mourning for the victims of the terrorist attack, sporting events were suspended for just one day. The IOC, meeting the next morning, decided that the termination of the Games would mean a victory for the terrorists and would be a sign that they had succeeded in disrupting the Games. The surviving Israeli athletes left for their homeland.

Against this background, the incident during the final basketball match between the national teams of the USSR and the USA seems small. In the last three seconds of the game, the USSR national team managed to score the decisive goal, winning with a score of 51:50. However, the American delegation filed a protest, believing that the timekeeper had made a mistake. The protest was considered by a commission of five members representing Italy, Puerto Rico, Hungary, Poland and Cuba. The vote turned out to be political - pro-American Italy and Puerto Rico voted in favor of accepting the protest, pro-Soviet Poland, Hungary and Cuba - against. As a result, the protest was rejected, the USSR team received gold medals, and the Americans refused to receive silver.

USA and USSR: boycott on boycott

The beginning of the 1980s was marked by events that many considered the collapse of the world Olympic movement. In early 1980, the United States announced a boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow due to the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. The United States managed to attract more than 60 countries to the boycott, but it was not possible to completely disrupt the Games. A number of Western countries, having officially supported the boycott, granted their athletes the right to compete at the Games not under the national, but under the Olympic flag.

The 29 boycotting countries took part in a US-sponsored alternative Liberty Bell Games in Philadelphia.

Since the 1984 Summer Olympics were to be held in Los Angeles, there was a suspicion that the US action would not go unanswered.

And so it happened - in May 1984, the NOC of the USSR announced a boycott of the 1984 Olympics. The countries of the socialist camp joined him.

Simultaneously with the announcement of the decision of the USSR to boycott the Games, it was announced that international competitions "Friendship-84" would be held in nine countries of the social bloc, and it was officially emphasized that "Friendship-84" was not an alternative to the Olympic Games. Competitions were held in all Olympic sports, except for football and synchronized swimming, as well as in three non-Olympic sports - sambo, tennis and table tennis. Athletes from more than 50 countries, both those who boycotted the Games in Los Angeles and not, took part in Friendship-84.

Olympic wars of the 21st century

After the end of the Cold War and the disappearance of the socialist camp, for some time there was an illusion that the political component would leave the Olympics. Such hopes were quickly dashed. A new word in sports politics was the “fight against doping”, under the flag of which it turned out to be extremely convenient not only to neutralize dangerous competitors in sports, but also to strike political blows at opponents.

At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Russian women's cross-country skiing team was unable to compete in the relay, as two of its participants were accused of doping immediately before the start, when substitutions were no longer possible.

Russian biathlete Pavel Rostovtsev, one of the favorites of the Olympics, blood sampling for doping was carried out immediately before the start. As a result, the athlete failed the race, and later held the competition extremely faded.

Figure skating Canadian couple Sale / Peletier, losing to a Russian couple Berezhnaya / Sikharulidze, accused the judges of rigging the results. After an unprecedented scale of hysteria in the Canadian and American media, Canadians were awarded the second set of gold medals.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Iranian judoka Arash Miresmaeli, the flag bearer of the Iranian national team and a two-time world champion, for political reasons, refused to meet with an athlete from Israel. Miresmaeli, disqualified for his demarche, was greeted at home as a national hero and awarded in the same way as Iranian Olympic champions.

In 2008 and 2014, attempts were made to organize a political boycott of the Summer Olympics in Beijing and the Winter Games in Sochi. Despite the serious pressure exerted on the representatives of the IOC, proposals to postpone the Olympics were rejected. As for attempts to boycott competitions by individual countries, athletes and coaches spoke out sharply against such proposals, as a result of which all these attempts failed.

Russia outside the Olympics: political violence

The removal of Russia from the 2016 Olympics, if it becomes a reality, is fundamentally no different from the political sanctions that the IOC imposed on countries in the 20th century. The difference is that today this is done under the pretext of “fighting doping”. WADA, an organization operating on the principle of “presumption of guilt” and actually not under the control of any international sports structures, has become a new “inquisition”, an ideal machine for settling scores with objectionable athletes, and now for political reprisals against entire states.

The removal of Russia will be only the first step, and other objectionable ones who do not fit into the concept of the “new political order” will go further along the beaten track.

Once upon a time, Pierre de Coubertin, the creator of the Olympic principles, was one of the first to make it possible to violate them for political reasons.

In the 21st century, politics finally wins the Olympic sport on its field.