Political Exploitation of the Olympic Games Flashcards
What year was the Berlin olympics?
1936
What year was the Mexico City olympics?
What year was the Munich olympics?
1972
What year was the Moscow olympics?
1980
What year was the Los Angeles olympics?
1984
What is propaganda?
A type of communication that seeks to influence people towards a certain cause. This information is biased towards a certain belief or set of values
What happened at the Berlin olympics?
-1936, Third Reich ideology
-Hitler and the Nazi party used the olympics as a stage for political propaganda for the ideology that viewers Germany as superior, prove to the world the superiority of the ‘Master race’
-African-American Jesse Owen’s won four gold medals, hitler refused to place the medal over Owen’s neck as he was seen as ‘inferior’ towards hitler as he wasn’t of the ‘Aryan racial superiority’ which was blond hair and blue eyes
What happened at the Mexico City olympics?
-1968, ‘Black Power’ demonstration
-At the time America lacked equality, segregation in many aspects of society
-African-Americans were urged to boycott the games but this was never materialised
-In the 200m final USA’s Smith won gold and Carlos took Bronze
-When presented with medals they both wore a black glove, no shoes and black socks and showed the black power salute
-Both athletes were told to leave the games for brining politics into the olympics
What happened at the Munich olympic games?
-1972, Palestinian Terrorism
-A day before the games began 8 Palestinian terrorists entered the olympic village and seized 11 members of the Israeli olympic team, and made a political request to release the 234 Palestinians that were being imprisoned in Isreal-
-German authorities attempted to rescue the hostages but all the hostages and 5 of the terrorists were killed, 3 others left wounded
-Palestinian terrorists were known as the Black September Group
-IOC made a controversial decision that the Games should go on, and there was a memorial service for the victims
What happened at the Moscow olympic games?
-1980, boycott led by the USA
-In December 1989, Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, which created conflict and extended the cold war
-USA president Jimmy Carter said that they would boycott the games if Soviet troops did not withdraw in one month
-Many protests in Britain against and in favour of the boycott
-British hockey,fencing and equestrian teams chose to boycott as well
What happened at the Los Angeles olympic games?
-1984, boycott by the soviet union
-12 weeks before opening ceremony, soviet union announced they would be boycotting the olympic games along with East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and Cuba
-In all 14 nations refused to take part
-Soviet union blamed the commercialisation and lack of security of the games. Claimed they were using the games for political purposes and ‘stirring up anti-soviet propaganda’
-It was seen as ‘a tit-for-tat’ response to the USA boycotting Moscow 1980 games
