HISTORY96 - Olympic Games
A few
days ago, Pat and I were discussing the upcoming summer Olympic Games in Paris,
26 July to 11 August, and agreed that a timely blog topic would be the history
of the Olympic Games.
The
Olympic Games originated in ancient Greece in the late 8th century
BC, some 2,800 years ago. The Games were
held every four years in Olympia, located in Greece’s western Peloponnese
peninsula, in honor of the god Zeus. In
the late 4thcentury AD, Roman Emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, banned the Olympic Games, believing
that they encouraged paganism.
The Games were revived in the late 19th century
and have become the world’s preeminent international sporting competition. The first Modern Olympics took place in 1896
in Athens, Greece, and featured 280 participants from 12 nations, competing in
43 events. The Games have grown to the point that nearly every
nation is now represented. Thousands
of athletes from
around the world participate in a variety of competitions. Since 1994, Summer and Winter Olympic Games have been held separately
and have alternated every two years.
In this
article, I will cover the Ancient Olympic Games, the Revival of the Olympic
Games, the Modern Olympic Games, and end with a few closing words and a list of
my principal sources.
Ancient Olympic Games
Organized athletic contests occurred in ancient Greece almost
3,000 years ago. By the end of the 6th
century BC, at
least four Greek sporting festivals, sometimes called “classical games,” had
achieved major importance: the Olympic Games, held at Olympia;
the Pythian Games at Delphi; the Nemean Games at
Nemea; and the Isthmian Games, held near Corinth. The Olympic Games were the most famous
and longest lasting.
The Ancient Olympic Games were
religious and athletic festivals held in honor of Zeus. The Games were named for their
location at Olympia, a sacred site located near the western coast of the
Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece.
Held every four years between August 6
and September 19, they occupied such an important place in Greek history that
in late antiquity, historians measured time by the interval between them - an
Olympiad.
The most widely accepted inception
date for the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC; this is based on inscriptions,
found at Olympia, listing the winners of a footrace held every four years
starting in 776 BC.
At the competition in 776 BC, there was apparently only one
event, the footrace that covered one length of the track at
Olympia. The race, known as
the stade, was about 210 yards long.
The word stade also came to refer to the track on which
the race was held, and is the origin of the modern English word stadium.
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| Sporting events at the Ancient Olympic Games. |
Other events were added over the
ensuing decades. In 724 BC a two-length race, like the
400-meter race, was included, and four years later, a long-distance race,
possibly comparable to the modern 1,500- or 5,000-meter events, was
added. Wrestling and the pentathlon were introduced in
708 BC. The latter was an all-around competition
consisting of five events - the long jump, the javelin throw,
the discus throw, a footrace, and wrestling.
Boxing was introduced in
688 BC and chariot
racing eight years later. In
648 BC the pancratium,
a kind of no-holds-barred combat, was included.
This brutal contest combined wrestling, boxing, and street
fighting.
There were neither team games nor ball
games.
In the early centuries of Olympic
competition, all the contests took place on one day; later the Games were
spread over four days, with a fifth devoted to the closing-ceremony
presentation of prizes and a banquet for the champions. In most events, the athletes participated in
the nude. (There is no generally accepted reason for this.)
Participation in the Ancient Olympic Games was initially
limited to freeborn male citizens of Greece; there were no women’s events, and
married women were prohibited from attending the competition.
Many Greek competitors came from the
Greek colonies on the Italian peninsula and in Asia
Minor and Africa. Most of the
participants were professionals who trained full-time for the events. These
athletes earned substantial prizes for winning at many preliminary festivals,
and, although the only prize at Olympia was a wreath or garland, an Olympic
champion also received widespread adulation and often lavish benefits
from his home city.
The Ancient Olympic Games reached the
height of their success in the 6th and 5th centuries BC,
but then gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power
and influence.
Greece lost its independence to Rome in the middle of the
2nd century BC,
and support for the competitions at Olympia and elsewhere fell off considerably
during the next century. The Romans
looked on athletics with contempt - to strip naked and compete in
public was degrading in their eyes.
In AD 393,
the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I banned the Olympic Games for
religious reasons, claiming that they encouraged paganism, ending the
ancient Olympic tradition after nearly 12 centuries. They were not revived until the modern
era.
Revival of the Olympic Games
Several initiatives to
re-establish an international sporting event were attempted at the end of the
19th century - including games held in Athens
(1859, 1870, and 1875) and London (1866) - but failed due to the lack of
coordination among the worldwide sporting movement - until one man decided
to bring the main stakeholders together in Paris.
French educator and
historian, Baron Pierre de Coubertin
built on the earlier initiatives with the aim of establishing internationally
rotating Olympic Games that would occur every four years. He was inspired to found the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) and in June 1894, he
presented these ideas during the first Olympic Congress of the newly created IOC. It was decided that the first Olympic Games
to come under the auspices of the IOC would take place in Athens, Greece in
1896.
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| Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the Modern Olympics. |
In April 1896, the first Olympic Games of the modern era took place in
Athens in the country where the Ancient Games ended 1,500 years earlier. In the opening ceremony, King Georgie I and a crowd of 60,000
spectators welcomed 280 participants from 12 nations (all male), who would
compete in 43 events, including track and field, gymnastics, swimming,
wrestling, cycling, tennis, weightlifting, shooting. and fencing.
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| Opening ceremony at the 1896 Olympic Games in Panathinaiko stadium in Athens. |
Modern Olympic Games
The Modern Olympic Games
celebrate an Olympiad, or period of four years.
The first Olympiad of modern times, celebrated in 1896, and subsequent
Olympiads are numbered consecutively, even when no Games take place (as was the
case during World War I in 1916, and World War II in 1940, and 1944). For example, the upcoming 2024 Olympics in
Paris are officially the
Games of the XXXIII (33) Olympiad.
French and English became the official
languages of the Olympics. Another
language used at each Olympic Games is the language of the host country (or
languages, if a country has more than one official language apart from French
or English).
The following paragraphs will
cover details of the Modern Olympic Games:
the International Olympic Committee; National Olympic Committees, Federations,
and Organizing Committees; how the host city for the Games is selected; Winter/Summer Olympics
and sporting events; Participation in the Olympics, including citizenship,
amateurs/professionals, and women; Olympic ceremonies, including opening,
medals, and closing; Olympic symbols; Olympic controversies, including
politics, corruption, and drugs; and commercialization of the Olympics.
International Olympic Committee. At the Congress of Paris in
1894, the control and development of the Modern Olympic Games were entrusted to
the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
During World War I, its headquarters moved from Paris to Lausanne, Switzerland, where they have
remained. The IOC is responsible for
maintaining the regular celebration of the Olympic Games, seeing that the Games
are carried out in the spirit that inspired their revival, and promoting the
development of sports throughout the world. The original IOC committee in 1894 consisted
of 14 members and Baron Coubertin.
The IOC is a permanent organization
that elects its own members. Reforms in
1999 set the maximum membership at 115.
The members are elected to renewable eight-year terms, but they must
retire at age 70.
The IOC is officially responsible
for selecting the host city, overseeing the planning of the Olympic Games,
updating and approving the Olympic sports program, and negotiating sponsorship
and broadcasting rights.
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| IOC Headquarter in Lausanne, Switzerland. |
National Olympic Committees, Federations,
and Organizing Committees. Each
country that desires to participate in the Olympic Games must have a national
Olympic committee (NOC) accepted by the IOC.
By the early 21st century there were more than 200 such
committees.
The purpose of these NOCs is the
development and promotion of the Olympics within a particular nation. NOCs arrange to equip, transport, and house
their country’s representatives at the Olympic Games. They must be not-for-profit organizations,
must not associate themselves with affairs of a political or commercial nature,
and must be completely independent and autonomous.
For each Olympic sport, there must be
an international federation (IF).
The IFs promote and regulate their sport on an international level. Since 1986, they have been responsible for
determining all questions of Olympic eligibility and competition in their
sport.
When the IOC awards the Olympic Games
to a city, an organizing committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) replaces
the successful bid committee. Although
the IOC retains ultimate authority over all aspects of an Olympic Games, the
local OCOG has full responsibility for the festival, including finance,
facilities, staffing, and accommodations.
Note:
In Paris in 1924, several cabins were built near the stadium
to house visiting athletes; the complex was called “Olympic Village.” But the first Olympic Village with kitchens,
dining rooms, and other amenities was introduced at Los Angeles in
1932.
Today each organizing committee
provides such a village so that competitors and team officials can be housed
together and fed at a reasonable price.
Menus for each team are prepared in accord with its own national cuisine. Today, with so many athletes and venues,
OCOGs may need to provide more than one village. The villages are located as close as possible
to the main stadium and other venues and have separate accommodations for men
and women. Only competitors and
officials may live in the village, and the number of team officials is limited.
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| The Olympic village for athletes at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. |
Awarding the Olympic Games. The honor of holding the Olympic Games
is entrusted to a city, not to a country.
The choice of the city lies solely with the IOC. Application to hold the Games is made by the
chief authority of the city, with the support of the national government.
The host city for an Olympic Games had
historically been chosen seven to eight years ahead of their games. Beginning with the 2024 and 2028 Olympics
selection process in 2017, the IOC has proceeded to announce the winning bid
with a longer lead-in time to provide time for the winning cities/regions to
prepare. Besides the 2024 Summer
Olympics in Paris, three cities have been chosen by
the IOC to host upcoming Olympic Games: Milan-Cortina
d'Ampezzo for the 2026 Winter Olympics, Los Angeles for the 2028 Summer
Olympics, and Brisbane for the 2032 Summer Olympics. By 2032, the
Olympic Games will have been hosted by 47 cities in 23 countries.
Winter/Summer Olympics and Sporting
Events.
The Winter Olympics was created to feature snow and ice
sports that were logistically impossible to hold during the Summer Games. Figure skating (in 1908 and 1920) and ice
hockey (in 1920) were featured as Olympic events at the Summer Olympics.
Olympic Winter Games have been held
separately from the Summer Games since 1924 and were initially held in the same
year. In 1986, the IOC voted
to alternate the Winter and Summer Games every two years, beginning
in 1994. The Winter Games were held in
1992, and again in 1994, and thereafter every four years; the Summer Games
maintained their original four-year cycle.
The events included in the different sports are a matter for
agreement between the IOC and the international federations, and have changed
from time to time.
In 2024, the Paris Summer Olympics
program includes the sports listed below:
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Handball
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The Winter Olympics program in 2026
includes sports played on snow or ice: alpine skiing, biathlon
(cross-country skiing and rifle shooting), bobsledding, cross-country skiing,
curling, figure skating, freestyle skating, ice hockey, luge (feet-first
sledding), Nordic combined (ski jumping and cross-country skiing), short track
speed skating, skeleton (head-first sledding), ski jumping, ski mountaineering,
snowboarding, and speed skating.
Participation. To be
allowed to compete in the Olympics, an athlete must meet the eligibility
requirements defined by the international federation of the sport and by the
rules of the IOC.
The
maximum number of entries permitted for individual events is three per
country. In most team events only one
team per country is allowed. There is no
age limit for competitors unless one has been established by a sport’s
international federation. No discrimination is allowed on grounds of
“race,” religion, or political affiliation.
Citizenship. The Olympic Charter requires that athletes be
a national of the country for which they compete. Dual nationals may compete for either country
under certain circumstances
Amateurism versus Professionalism. In
the final decades of the 20th century there was a shift in policy
away from the IOC’s traditionally strict requirement for amateur status for
competing athletes.
The
exclusion of professionals caused problems throughout the history of the Modern
Olympics. The 1912
Olympic pentathlon and decathlon champion Jim
Thorpe was stripped of his medals when it was discovered that he had
played semi-professional baseball before the Olympics. Swiss and Austrian
skiers boycotted the 1936 Winter Olympics in support of their skiing
teachers, who were not allowed to compete because they earned money with their
sport, and were thus considered professionals.
The
advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of
the Eastern Bloc countries eroded the ideology of the
pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western
countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of
athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession,
but all of whom were paid by the state to train on a full-time basis. The situation greatly disadvantaged American
and Western European athletes, and was a major factor in the decline of
American medal hauls in the 1970s and 1980s. As a result, the Olympics shifted
away from amateurism to allowing participation of professional
athletes.
In
1986 the IOC adopted rules that permit the international federation governing
each Olympic sport to decide whether to permit professional athletes in Olympic
competition. Professionals in ice hockey, tennis, soccer, and equestrian sports
were permitted to compete in the 1988 Olympics, although their eligibility was
subject to some restrictions. By the 21st
century, the presence of professional athletes at the Olympic Games was common.
Women. The Paris 1900 Olympic Games saw women compete for the
first time. Out of a total of
997 athletes, 22 were women, competing in just
five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrian events, and
golf. Of these disciplines, only golf
and tennis included women‑only events.
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| Charlotte Cooper of the United Kingdom was the first female Olympic champion (tennis) in the 1900 Games. |
According
to the Olympic Charter, the IOC’s role is “to encourage and support the
promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures, with a view to
implementing the principle of equality of men and women.” Female participation in the Olympic Games has
increased dramatically since 1900. Over the years, the IOC has worked with international
federations, as well as the Olympic Games Organizing Committees, to increase
the number of women’s events at the Games.
The Games in London in 2012 were the first where women competed in
all sports of the Olympic program. At
recent Olympic Games, women have numbered almost 50% of participating athletes.
Olympic Ceremonies.
The principal ceremonies in the Modern Olympics are the opening
ceremony, the medal ceremonies, and the closing ceremony.
Opening Ceremony. Since the 1996 Summer Olympics,
the opening ceremonies must be held on a Friday evening. The
form of the opening ceremony is laid down by the IOC in detail, from the moment
when the chief of state of the host country is received by the
president of the IOC and the organizing committee at the entrance to the
stadium, to the end of the proceedings, when the last team files out.
When the head of state has reached the
appointed place in the tribune and is greeted with the national anthem,
the parade of competitors begins. The
Greek team is always the first to enter the stadium, and, except for the host
team, which is always last, the other countries follow in alphabetical order as
determined by the language of the organizing country. Each contingent, dressed in its official
uniform, is preceded by a shield with the name of its country, while an athlete
carries its national flag. The
competitors march around the stadium and then form in groups in the center
facing the tribune.
Opening ceremony entrance of United States athletes at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
The president of the OCOG then
delivers a brief speech of welcome, followed by another brief speech from the
president of the IOC, who asks the chief of state to proclaim the Games open.
A fanfare of trumpets sound as the
Olympic flag is slowly raised.
The Olympic flame (see below) is then carried into the stadium
by the last of a series of runners who have brought the torch on a very long
journey from Olympia, Greece.
The runner circles the track, mounts the steps, and lights the
Olympic fire that burns night and day during the Games.
Medal Ceremonies. In individual Olympic events, the
award for first place is a gold (silver-gilt, with six grams of fine gold)
medal, for second place a silver medal, and for third place a bronze
medal. Solid gold medals were last
given in 1912. From 1948 onward,
athletes placing fourth, fifth, and sixth have received certificates, which
came to be known officially as Olympic diplomas; from 1984, these have
also been awarded to the seventh- and eighth-place finishers. All competitors and officials receive a
commemorative medal.
Gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics will feature iron from the Eifel Tower.
Medals are presented during the Games
at the various venues, usually soon after the conclusion of each
event. The competitors who have won the
first three places proceed to a rostrum, with the gold medalist in the center,
the silver medalist on his or her right, and the bronze medalist on the
left. Each medal, attached to a ribbon,
is hung around the neck of the winner by a member of the IOC, and the flags of
the countries concerned are raised to the top of the flagpoles while an
abbreviated form of the national anthem of the gold medalist is played.
Closing Ceremony. The closing ceremony of the Olympic Games
takes place on a Sunday after all sporting events have concluded. The president of the IOC calls the youth of
the world to assemble again in four years to celebrate the Games of the next
Olympiad. A fanfare is sounded, the
Olympic fire is extinguished, and, to the strains of the Olympic anthem, the
Olympic flag (see below) is lowered and the Games are over.
But the festivities do not end
there. The 1956 Olympics
in Melbourne introduced one of the most important and effective of
all Olympic customs. At the suggestion
of John Ian Wing, a Chinese teenager living in Australia, the traditional
parade of athletes divided into national teams was discarded, allowing
athletes to mingle, many hand in hand, as they move around the stadium. This informal parade of athletes without
distinction of nationality signifies the friendly bonds of Olympic sports and
helps to foster a party atmosphere in the stadium.
Olympic Symbols. The Olympics use symbols to represent
the ideals embodied in the Olympic Charter. The Olympic rings,
consist of five intertwined rings and represents the unity of the five
inhabited continents. The colored
version of the rings - blue, yellow, black, green, and red - over a white field
forms the Olympic flag. These colors were chosen because every nation
had at least one of them on its national flag. The flag was adopted in 1914 but flown for the
first time at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. It has since been hoisted during each
celebration of the Games.
The official flag of the Olympic Games.
The Olympic motto, “Citius, Altius, Fortius,”
a Latin expression meaning "Faster, Higher, Stronger" was
proposed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1894, and has been official since
1924.
Coubertin's Olympic ideals are
expressed in the Olympic creed: “The most important thing in the
Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing
in life is not the triumph but the struggle.
The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”
Months before each Games, the Olympic
flame is lit at the Temple of Hera in Olympia in a ceremony
that reflects ancient Greek rituals. A
female performer, acting as a priestess, joined by ten female performers
as Vestal Virgins, ignites a torch by placing it inside a parabolic
mirror which focuses the Sun's rays; she then lights the torch of the
first relay bearer (who also is a Greek athlete), thus initiating the Olympic
torch relay that will carry the flame to the host city's Olympic stadium,
where it plays an important role in the opening ceremony. Though the flame has been an Olympic symbol
since 1928, the torch relay was introduced at the 1936 Summer
Games in Berlin to promote the Third Reich.
The organizers of the 1968 Winter
Olympics in Grenoble, France, devised as an emblem of their Games a
cartoonlike figure of a skiing man and called him Schuss. The 1972 Games in Munich, West Germany,
adopted the idea and produced the first “official mascot,” a dachshund
named Waldi who appeared on related publications and memorabilia. Since then, each edition of the Olympic Games
has had its own distinctive mascot, representing the cultural heritage of the
host country.
Olympic Controversies. Over the years, politics, corruption, and drugs
have affected the Olympic Games.
Political Pressures. Because the Olympics take place on an
international stage, they have been plagued by the nationalism,
manipulation, and propaganda associated with world politics. Attempts to politicize the Olympics were
evident as early as the first Modern Games at Athens in 1896, when
the British compelled an Australian athlete to declare himself British. Other prominent examples of the
politicization of the Games include the Nazi propaganda that pervaded
the Berlin Games of 1936; the Soviet-Hungarian friction at the 1956
Games in Melbourne, Australia, which followed shortly after the U.S.S.R. had brutally suppressed a
revolution in Hungary that year; the forbidden, unofficial, but
prominent contests for “points” (medals counts) between the United
States and the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War; the controversy
between China and Taiwan leading up to the
1976 Montreal Games; the manifold disputes resulting from South
Africa’s apartheid policy from 1968 to 1988; the
U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games (in protest of
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979), followed by the retaliatory
boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Games by the Soviet bloc; and, worst of all,
the murder of Israeli athletes by terrorists at the 1972 Games
in Munich, West Germany.
Terrorism also affected the 1996 Summer Olympics in
Atlanta. A bomb was detonated at the
Centennial Olympic Park, killing two people, and injuring 111 others.
The effects of political pressures
continue today. Currently, the
government of Iran has taken steps to avoid any competition between its
athletes and those from Israel. In 2022,
in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the IOC Executive Board
recommended no participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials
in future Games, urged international sports federations and organizers of
sports events worldwide to do everything in their power to ensure that no
athlete or sports official from Russia or Belarus be allowed to take part under
the name of Russia or Belarus. Russians and Belarusians can compete
in the 2024 Olympics - as neutral athletes.
Even national politics has affected
the Games, most notably in 1968 in Mexico City, where, shortly before the Games
opened, Mexican troops fired upon Mexican students (killing hundreds) who were
protesting government expenditures on the Olympics while the country had
pressing social problems. Political
tension within the United States also boiled to the top at Mexico
City when African American athletes
either boycotted the Games or staged demonstrations to protest
continuing racism at home.
Medal winning black U.S. athletes protesting racial inequality at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
IOC Corruption. In December 1998, the sporting world
was shocked by allegations of widespread corruption within the IOC. It was charged that IOC members had
accepted bribes - in the form of cash, gifts, entertainment, business
favors, travel expenses, medical expenses, and even college tuition for
members’ children - from members of the committee that had successfully
advanced the bid of Salt Lake City, Utah, as the site for the 2002
Winter Games. Accusations of impropriety
were also alleged in the conduct of several previous bid
committees. The IOC responded by
expelling six committee members; several others resigned. In December 1999, an IOC commission announced
a 50-point reform package covering the selection and conduct of the IOC
members, the bid process, the transparency of financial dealings, the size and
conduct of the Games, and drug regulation. The reform package also contained several
provisions regulating the site-selection process and clarifying the obligations
of the IOC, the bid cities, and the national Olympic committees. An independent
IOC Ethics Commission also was established.
Doping and Drug Testing. At the 1960 Rome Olympics,
a Danish cyclist collapsed and died after his coach had given him
amphetamines. Formal drug testing was
instituted at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France.
Only one athlete was disqualified for taking a banned substance -
beer. But in the 1970s and 1980s,
athletes tested positive for a variety of performance-enhancing drugs, and
since the 1970s, doping has remained the most difficult challenge facing the
Olympics. As the fame and
potential monetary gains for Olympic champions grew in the latter
half of the 20th century, so too did the use of
performance-enhancing drugs. Tests
for anabolic steroids and other substances improved, but so did
doping practices, with the design of new substances often a year or two ahead
of the new tests. When 100-meter-sprint
champion Ben Johnson of Canada tested positive for the drug
stanozolol at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, the world was shocked, and the
Games themselves were tainted.
To more effectively police doping
practices, the IOC formed the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999. There is now a long list of banned substances
and a thorough testing process. Blood
and urine samples are collected from athletes before and after competition and
sent to a lab for testing. Positive
tests for banned substances lead to disqualification, and athletes may be
banned from competition for periods ranging from a year to life. Yet,
despite the harsh penalties and threat of public humiliation, athletes continue
to test positive for banned substances; in 2016, for instance, the entire
Russian track-and-field team was banned from that year’s Rio de Janeiro
Olympics after a wide-ranging state-supported doping ring was uncovered.
Commercialization. The
Olympic Games have been commercialized to various degrees since the inaugural 1896
Summer Olympics in Athens, when several companies, including Kodak,
paid for advertising. In 1908, Oxo, Odol mouthwash
and Indian Foot Powder became official sponsors of the London Olympic Games. Coca-Cola first
sponsored the Summer Olympics in 1928, and has remained an Olympic sponsor
ever since. The IOC initially
resisted funding by corporate sponsors due to a belief that the lobby of
corporate interests would unduly impact the IOC's decision-making.
The national Olympic committees (NOCs)
originally had sole responsibility for negotiating their own contracts for
sponsorship and use of the Olympic symbols. But, two large industries emerged
to eclipse all others - namely, television and makers of sports apparel,
especially shoes - and caused the IOC to take over primary responsibility for
sponsorship.
The IOC, the NOCs, and to some degree
the international sport federations, depend heavily on television revenues, and
many of the best athletes depend on money from apparel endorsements.
The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin were the first Games to be broadcast on television, though only to local audiences. The 1956 Winter Olympics in Italy were the first internationally televised Olympic Games, and the broadcasting rights for the following Winter Games in California were sold for the first time to television broadcasting networks.
Vigorous bidding for the television
rights began in earnest before the Rome Games in 1960; what have been
called the “sneaker wars” started an Olympiad later in Tokyo. The Games began to shift toward international
sponsors who sought to link their products to the Olympic brand.
Television viewership increased
exponentially from the 1960s until the end of the 20th century. This was due to the advent of satellites for
broadcasting live television worldwide starting in 1964, and the introduction
of color television in 1968.
The Los Angeles Games of 1984 ushered
in a new Olympic era. In view of
Montreal’s huge financial losses from the 1976 Olympics, Peter Ueberroth,
head of the Los Angeles NOC, sold exclusive “official sponsor” rights
to the highest bidder in a variety of corporate categories. Now almost everything is commercialized with
“official” items ranging from credit cards to beer. Now athletes
openly endorse everything from allergy medicines to blue jeans.
The global television audience grew to
3.5 billion by the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. With the
high costs charged to broadcast the Games, the added pressure of the internet,
and increased competition from cable, the television lobby demanded concessions
from the IOC to boost ratings. The IOC responded by making several changes to
the Olympic program; at the Summer Games, the gymnastics competition was
expanded from seven to nine nights, and a Champions Gala was added to attract
greater interest. The events programs
were also expanded for swimming and diving, both popular sports with a broad
base of television viewers. Due to the substantial fees NBC has paid for
rights to the Olympics, the IOC has allowed the network to influence the event
scheduling to maximize U.S. television ratings when possible. Notable examples of maximizing U.S. television
viewership include scheduling the finals of the swimming events only during the
mornings of the host cities: Beijing during the 2008 Summer Olympics and
Tokyo during the 2020 Summer Olympics, which coincide with the
evening prime time broadcast slots in the United States.
Primary partners for sponsorship of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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The sale of the Olympic brand has been
controversial. The argument is that the
Games have become indistinguishable from any other commercialized sporting
spectacle. Another
criticism is that the Games are funded by host cities and national governments;
the IOC incurs none of the cost, yet controls all the rights and profits from
the Olympic symbols. The IOC also takes
a percentage of all sponsorship and broadcast income. Host cities continue to compete ardently for
the right to host the Games, even though there is no certainty that they will
earn back their investments.
Closing
The
evolution of the Olympic movement during the 20th and 21st
centuries has resulted in numerous changes and additions to the Olympic
Games. Some of the additions include
the Paralympic Games for
athletes with disabilities, the Youth Olympic
Games for athletes aged 14 to 18,
the five Continental games (Pan American, African, Asian, European, and Pacific), and
the World Games for sports that are not contested in the Olympic
Games. The IOC also endorses the Deaflympics and
the Special Olympics.
The
Olympics remain the most compelling search for excellence that exists in sport,
and maybe in life itself.
My primary sources include: “Olympic Games,” en.wikipedia.org; “Olympic Games,” britannica.com; “The History of the Olympic Games” and “Paris 2024 Olympic Sports,” olympics.com; “The Olympic Games,” history.com; plus, numerous other online sources.
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