Politics In The Olympics

The Olympic games are seen as one of the most pinnacle events in the current sporting world. The opportunity to host them is strongly contested because of the rewards available from this such as: tourism, merchandising and the opportunity to revitalise cities. However because the Olympic games are such a big “shop window” event it can be used wrongly by people in order to stress their opinion to a wider audience, and one of the main topics for this is politics.

In 1936 Berlin was granted the rights to host the games. The IOC didn’t know then but this would be used by Adolf Hitler as a chance to demonstrate how powerful his country was and who the dominate race were. In the final of the long jump it would be strongly contested by Germany’s Lutz Lang and an African-American called Jesse Owens. In front of Hitler, this was and ideal chance for Hitlers vision to be demonstrated worldwide. however Lang gave Owen’s a tip to help him jump further. Of course he went on to win the games and Hitler refused to place the gold medal around his neck.

The Infamous Black Power Salute At The Olympics

Why The Winter Olympics Haven’t Been Given A Fair Chance

It’s that time of the year, when we are all glued to the television sets in anticipation to see a new world record be made in the skeleton event. Not quite.

The Winter Olympics is a tournament, which can’t live up to the expectation that its big brother has set. It is estimated that 4.7 billion people tuned in to watch the 2008 Beijing Olympics; it would be a surprise if half that figure watched the athletes competing in the chilly conditions of Vancouver.

But why?

Amy Williams With Her Gold Medal