History 12

20th Century Political History as seen through Olympic Controversies

Directions:  The Modern Olympics purports to support the notions of friendship, solidarity, and fair play.  However, the world is not a just and fair place.  The Modern Olympics has been used time and time again as venue for political expression, sometimes to challenge the injustices of the world, sometimes to perpetuate injustice.  In this lesson, students will document various Olympics where "fair play" was not the call of the day. 

In groups or as individuals: 

Research the circumstances around your assigned event and develop a timeline presentation that covers the following information:
a. State the date and name of Olympic host city.
b. Describe the positions of the countries and/or organizations involved in the incident in question.
e. Provide images or pictures from the Olympic event and the incident.
f. Document the effect of the incident in question on this Olympic event and, if evident, other Olympic events.
g. Do you think the actions were or were not justified?  Why or why not?

Past Olympics with political events:
 

• 1936 Berlin Olympics became propaganda forum for Hitler’s Third Reich
• 1948 London Olympics barred Japan, Germany, and Russia from event
• 1952 Helsinki Olympics Eastern bloc countries refuse to share Olympic Village
• 1956 Melbourne Olympics overshadowed by Soviet invasion of Hungary and crisis at Suez Canal
• 1960 Rome Olympics only incident was Communist China insisting that Nationalist China compete only as Formosa and not China
• 1964 Tokyo Olympics South Africa not invited
• 1968 Mexico Olympics American athletes use medal ceremony to make political statement.
• 1968 Mexico Olympics students held massive protests to criticize the Mexican government's lavish spending on the Games while so many suffered in poverty
• 1972 Munich Olympics Palestinian terrorists use Olympics to kill 11 Israeli athletes and a policeman
• 1976 Montreal Olympics 22 African nations boycott over apartheid policies of South Africa
• 1980 Moscow Olympics Major western powers boycott Moscow Olympics over Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
• 1984 Los Angeles Olympics several eastern bloc nations and the Soviet Union boycott Los Angeles games to protest previous U.S. boycott
• 2008 China Many threats of a boycott due to China's human rights record
• 2010 Vancouver Indigenous people and poverty activists are against the Olympics