Modern olympic games Flashcards
What are the aims of the olympic games?
-to promote the development of those physical and moral quantities that are the basis of sport
-to spread the olympic principles throughout the world, thereby creating international goodwill
-to bring together athletes of the world in the great four-yearly sports festival
-to educate young people through sport in a spirit of better understanding between each other, and of friendship, thereby helping to build a better and more peaceful world
What is the background of the modern Olympic Games?
-established in 1896 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a french educator and historian
-he visited Britain in late 19th century and liked features of amateur sport
-philosophy was to bring different countries together and to provide competition that would be healthy and devoid of politics, taking part being more important than winning
-the international Olympic committee was set up
What are the Olympic values?
- encourage effort - striving for excellence
- preserve human dignity - demonstrating respect
- develop harmony - celebrating friendship
What is the British Olympic Association (BOA)?
-formed in 1905
-responsible for planning and execution of British Olympic team participation in summer and winter olympics
-provides support for team GB’s athletes before and after olympic games
-lead and prepare nations best athletes
-developing olympic movement throughout UK
-not funded or controlled by government, no political interests
-dependent upon commercial sponsorship + fundraising income
-help educate public and provide resources for schools to use
What is the International Olympic Committee (IOC)?
-created by Paris Congress in 1894
-owns all rights to the olympic symbol and the games themselves
-headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland
-members are appointed to IOC and responsible for selecting host cities of the games
What is the Paralympics?
-originated as a sports competition involving WW11 veterans with serious back issues in Stoke Mandeville in UK
-first official games for athletes with disability were in Rome in 1960
-Toronto 1976 other disability groups were added along with different sports
-first paralympic winter games was in Sweden in the same year
What are the paralympic values?
-determination - the drive and motivation to overcome both physical and mental barriers in order to achieve your goals
-courage - having self-belief and confidence to overcome adversity and face difficulty
-equality - showing respect and humanity towards all those around you in the spirit of fair play
-inspiration - to be motivated by the achievements and actions of others and to be positive example to others
What happened at the Berlin 1936 games - the third reich ideology?
-the games were used by Hitler + Nazi party as a stage for political propaganda
-Hitler wanted to show off how efficient and effective the Nazi party was, opportunity to prove to world the superiority of ‘Master Race’
-trained athletes full time, stretching the idea that Olympics was an amateur competition
-German long jumper Lutz Lang was a model of ‘Aryan Racial Superiority”
-Jesse Owen’s was a African-American long jumper who was the most famous athlete at the time who under Nazi ideology ‘Inferior’
-Jesse Owen’s won four gold medals
-10 African-American members of USA athletics team who won 7 gold medals, 3 silvers and 3 bronze
-Hitlee refused to place gold medal over Owens’ neck
What happened at the Mexico City 1968 games - ‘Black Power’ demonstration?
-South Africa invitation to games was withdrawn because of its Apartheid regime
-African-Americans protested to world when 2 black athletes used a medal ceremony to protest about the lack of civil rights in USA
-At time black Americans lacked opportunity, forced to be segregated in many aspects of society, many lived in extreme poverty
-During run up to games , all African-Americans were urged to boycott games
-In 200m final, Smith won gold medal and Carlos took bronze, as they took podium they wore a black glove
Left hand demonstration of Carlos represented unity in American, right hand for Smith represented black power in America
-Black socks and no shoes represented black poverty
-Archway of arms represented black power and unity in America
-gesture was called ‘Black Power’ salute and watched by millions around the world
-both athletes today to leave games as they brought in politics
-nevertheless made an impact and were treated by many as heroes but others saw them as an embarrassment
What happened at the Munich 1972 games - Palestinian Terrorism?
-a day before the games 8 Palestinian terrorists entered the Olympic village and seized 11 members of the Israeli team
-terrorists made a political request to release 234 Palestinians that were imprisoned in Isreal
-German authorities attempted to rescue hostages but this failed
-all hostages and 5 terrorists were killed with 3 other terrorists injured
-Terrorists known as the Black September Group
-IOC made controversial decision that games should still go on
-following day there was a memorial service for victims and olympic flag flown at half-mast
-opening of Olympics postponed by one day
What happened at the Moscow 1980 games - boycott led by USA?
-December 1979 Soviet Union forces invaded Afghanistan which created conflict that would last 10 years and extended cold war
-Marget Thatcher stated ‘ one way to bring home to the Russian people that enormity of what had happened… is to boycott the Olympic games’
-President of USA, Jimmy Carter stated USA would boycott games if soviet troops did not withdraw within a month
-many protests in Britain against and for the boycott
-British hockey, fencing and equestrian teams all chose to boycott
-6000 competitors from 82 countries attended compared to expected 10,000
What happened at the Los Angeles 1984 games -boycott by the Soviet Union?
-after terrorist attacks in 1972 + financial disaster of 1976 in Montreal only Los Angeles in the USA bid for right to host 1984 games
-12weeks before opening ceremony, Soviet Union announced they would be boycotting them along with East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and Cuba
-in all 14 nations refused to take part in the games as a response to the events in 1980
-Soviet union authorities blame the commercialisation of the games and lack of security measures in their view, amounted to a violation of the Olympic charter
-Soviet union accused USA of using games for political purposes and ‘stirring up anti-Soviet propaganda’ and ‘ Cavalier attitude to security of Russian athletes’
-Many commentators at the time, saw this boycott as a ‘tit-for-tat’
