The Olympics: Politics, Scandal, and Corruption

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ABSTRACT: The purity of the Olympics has been smeared by scandal, corruption, boycotts, political disputes and even acts of terrorism. Sadly, politics have taken control of the Olympics and turned it into a political and money-making extravaganza. Olympic boycotts became a way for countries to protest each other. Hitler tried to use the Games to prove his belief of racial superiority. Wars interfered with the Olympics. Bloodshed even covered the Olympics, in the 1972 Munich Games where terrorists killed eleven Israeli Olympic members. Unfortunately, throughout Olympic history, politics have overshadowed the true focus of the Games. They were "intended to unite the countries of the world through friendly competition" not segregate them through politics (Siggers 1).

Politics have obscured the true meaning of the Olympic Games. Sadly, the intervention of politicians has caused the destruction of the Olympics' golden halo. The purity of the Olympics has, since their resurrection in 1896, been politically led. Scandal, corruption, boycotts, and political disputes have smeared the Olympic innocence.

The Games have always been an easy target for political protests, bitter disputes, and even acts of terrorism. The Games are no longer about sportsmanship and athletic competition, they are now about nationalism and whose country is the better country. The Olympics were "intended to unite the countries of the world through friendly competition. Unfortunately, since its founding, international feuds and disputes have found their way in to the Olympics" (Siggers 1).

Early Greek Olympics were not immune to the political virus. They used the Olympics to show off their prominent cities and to gain support from their communities. Durin...

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...net.se/~hatikva/munich/english.html, October, 1999.

History of Politics in Olympics: With Focus on U.S. Involvement in the 1980 Summer Games Controversy, http://www.ncs.pvt.k12.va.us/ryerbury/hmmm/hmmm.htm, October, 1999

Olympic Facts , Australian Sports Commission, http://www.ausport.gov.au/anc.html, October, 1999.

Roston, Aram and the Associated Press, Atlanta Olympics Officials Concede 'Excess Inherent' in Bid, September 16, 1999, , wysiwyg://22/http://cnn.com/US.9989/16/atlanta.olympics/index.html, October, 1999.

Siggers, Alexis, Nationalism and the Olympics in the Eighties, http://www.engl.virginia.edu/~enwr1016/aws6c/olympics.html, October, 1999.

The Foundation of the Hellenic World ( Lazaros Efraimoglou and Dimitiros Efraimoglou) and Dartmouth College, The Ancient Olympic Games Virtual Museum, http://devlab.dartmouth.edu/olympic, October, 1999.

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