sports history test #2
cold war in 1980s timeline
- 1980: US led a boycott of summer olympic games in Moscow following soviet invasion of afghanistan in december 1979 - USSR experienced economic problems and political ferment - 1985: Premier Mikhail Gorbachev took office, new more open policy - 1987: Gorbachev and Reagan agreed to eliminate all land-based intermediate-range missiles - 1989: every communist state in eastern europe except russia replaced its government w/ non-communist one 1989: Berlin wall, most visible symbol of cold war was torn down 1991: end of soviet union and cold war
Lutz Long
- German athlete who was totally against Hitler's regime - befriends Jesse Owens - he was arian, white and blonde - just him talking to his friend Jesse Owens was taking a stand against the Nazi regime
Black Power protest at Olympics
- John Carlos and Tommy Smith staged an unprecedented protest on the victory stand, HUGE impact - first time Olympics were globally televised - raised their fists in "black power" salute on winners' podium - consequence: expelled from games and ordered to leave Mexico City in 48 hours decision made by IOC not USA
how was contradiction of Olympics and Nazi Berlin solved?
- Nazi propaganda Minister, Josef Goebbels - 1936 Olympics in Berlin were a splendid opportunity to showcase the third reich on international stage
issues of concern for Mexico City Olympics 1968
- altitude: Mexico City is 7500 meters above sea level, would it spoil athletic performances - Olympic stadium built across University: riots btwn students and police - black power and the Olympics
black power
- american civil rights movement that had been steadily gaining momentum thru 1950s and 1960s - threatened boycott of Mexico City Olympics involving all black athletes - black power athletes devised diff forms of protests, wearing black armbands and not participating in victory stand ceremonies
Peter Norman
- australian athlete who wore badge standing up for civil rights movement with tommy smith and john carlos - he had won silver medal -he also got in trouble and was not honored at all
March 22, 2016: Baseball Diplomacy
- baseball helped thaw relations with Cuba ahead of President Barack Obama's historic visit to the island in 2016 - game btwn Tampa Bay Rays and Cuban national team marked first time in 17 years major league team had played on island - obamas visit marked first time US President had been to island since Calvin Coolidge in 1928 - embargo wasn't lifted but 2016 Baseball diplomacy helped ease some of the trade and travel restrictions btwn US and Cuba
1980 Moscow Summer Olympics
- biggest Olympic boycott ever - 65 countries led by USA refused to attend games due to soviet invasion of Afghanistan (only 81 countries participated)
Political tension USA-USSR: 1947-1991
- cold war ended 1991 with collapse of Soviet Union, conflict waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts, carried our thru: - intelligence (CIA/KGB) - nuclear arms race - space race - propaganda - more than a military conflict, political and media conflict so sport was used and abused to play an imp role in propaganda war
innovations of modern olympics
- counted participation - not at all a religious event, secular - emphasis of peace across world and idea of globality: games across globe and athletes from all over world - celebrated in a different country/city every 4 years - longer games, ab 15 days
2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang
- during opening ceremony, N and S Korea march under united flag - also formed joint women's ice hockey team marking the first time they contributed athletes to same Olympics team -these gestures of unity came at a crucial moment, tensions btwn N and S Korea skyrocketed
red army (2014)
- feature documentary ab soviet union and most successful dynasty in sports history, red army hockey team
1985: Stallone's Rocky IV
- film pits American world-boxing champion Rocky Balboa against bigger stronger Russian, Ivan Drago supported by Soviet Union - movie intended to portray Soviet Union as evil and cheaters and reflects Cold war attitudes and propaganda - rocky is able to overcome odds against him and defeat bigger stronger russian and win over the people of the soviet union
examples of Sport and politics mixing
- germany and austria banned from antwerp 1920 and paris 1924 - berlin 1936 and the nazi use of the games - germany and japan banned from londong 1948 (USSR invited but refused to send team) - melbourne 1956 boycotted by several nations due to political events (Suez crisis: dont need to know details but caused 6 nations to pull out and soviet invasion of Hungary caused Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland to pull out)
Berlin 1936: the Nazi Olympics
- germany defeated in WWI and banned from 1920 and 1924 games - weimar republic from 1919 - 1930-33 worldwide economic depression - unemployment - ascent of Nazi party - Hitler, at first Chancellor of Weimar Republic, wipes Republic out and starts Nazi regimes (Third Reich) 1933-45
closing ceremony
- handing over olympic flag to next host country
official intervention of politics and Olympic games
- head of state of host country declaring games are open/ have started
Modern Olympics similarity to ancient Greece
- held in Athens 1896 - only male athletes - most of ancient olympic sports included in first modern games - most competitions held in ancient athenian stadium restored for occasion
reaction by hitler and US when Jesse Owens won
- hitler left stadium - owens quoted saying he was not invited to shake hitlers hand but he wasnt invited to shake FDR's hand either, FDR didn't even send black athletes telegrams of congratulations from Olympics
Arab-Israeli conflict
- israeli athletes in Munich were victims of terrorist attack - 8 Palestinian terrorists raid olympic israeli housing and take 11 israeli athletes hostage demanding release of 234 palestinian guerrillas - Palestinians did it to be acknowledged - all hostages were killed and 3 terrorists
Christmas Eve, 1979: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
- just a few months later February 1980: Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY (Miracle on ICE) - a few months after that, July 1980, Summer Olympics in Moscow (Americans boycotted and 55 countries followed) - then in August 1984: Summer Olympics in LA Russia boycott but only 13 other countries followed
what happened after 1936 Olympics?
- last Olympics for over a decade, next time were in london in 40s - 3 years after games hitler invaded Poland, starting WWII - olympic games created a screen to hide what was really going on in Nazi Germany
how did arab-israeli conflict affect the games?
- many middle eastern teams left the games fearing revenge - some israeli athletes left for safety reasons - games suspended one day - israeli flag flown higher than all other national flags - on sept 9, 4 days later, Israeli planes bombed 10 palestinian bases in retaliation
1968 Mexico City Games
- marked the most memorable moment of athletes interfering in social movements and politics thru sport - MLK assassination, Senator R.F. Kennedy's assassination, Vietnam War and Mohammad Ali - political activism evident throughout world
nazi pre-Olympic propaganda
- physical exercise was declared a patriotic obligation - nazi interest in classicism was emphasized - building of grandest complex of sports architecture ever
1980 Winter Olympics
"Miracle on Ice", bunch of college kids representing USA beat country that took 6 gold medals in last 7 olympic games and were world champions in 1978 and 1979
The Creed of the Olympic Games
"The important thing in life is not the victory but the struggle, the essential is not to have won but to have fought well"
September 1972: Munich Olympics
"cheerful games" - marked first return of Olympics to German city since 1936 games in Berlin - games were running smoothly until Sept 5, 1972 when Arab-Israeli conflict got to olympics
Herb Brooks call to President Carter
- "It just proves our life is the proper way to continue" after won hocket game
Los Angeles 1984: Soviet Boycott
- 14 countries including USSR boycotted Games in what was widely seen as revenge for moscow games 4 years earlier - ironically China chose to return to games after 32 year absence - much less successful than 1980 one - imp for cold war politics bc showed which of the two would have better support on a global level - relatively limited support of 1984 boycott was indication that USSR would not have support they'd need to win war against US
evolution of the games
- 1900: women join Paris games for tennis and golf - 2012 London, women can finally compete in all sports - since 1924, games for winter sports - since 1984 professional athletes
examples of sport used to make peace
- ping pong diplomacy 1971: maoist china, 1946-71, in early 70s bc of deterioration of relations btwn USSR and China, subtle overtures betwn US and PRC began to develop - by 1971 both nations were looking to open dialogue w/ one another and breakthrough came thru ping pong, China unexpectedly invited US table tennis team to China to participate in tournament - as a consequence of ping pong diplomacy Nixon made a two-week-long state visit to China - it was the first time in history that an American president had traveled to Chinese mainland - as a result, Nixon relaxed trade embargo w China - full relations btwn US and PRC were achieved in January 1979
opening ceremony
- release doves, raise olympic flag, light olympic cauldron - entry of athletes and delegations, Greece always first and host nation always last, rest are alphabetical order according to host's language
the marathon
- show-piece of the modern Olympics - invented for the first edition of the modern games, Athens 1896, and based on legend of Pheidippides who ran 26.2 miles to say we won then dropped dead
Jesse Owens
- star of the 1936 Berlin Games - won 4 gold medals - black athlete, disproving Hitler's point of white supremacy
Olympic torch relay
- today, torch is carried around country of host city of Olympics that year by land and air and ends in host city
Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938)
- tremendous aesthetic and cinematic achievement - movie directed by woman about Nazi Germany Olympics - changed cinema forever, genius, first to use slow motion, animation, etc
what does the Olympic symbol represent?
- union of the 5 continents - designed by Pierre de Coubertin
November 1933: threat of an American boycott
- unless German Jews were allowed to "train, prepare for, and participate in Olympic games of 1936" - eventually US accepts invitation to Berlin but calls for olympic boycott did not stop - 43% of american population was in favor of boycott
history of victory: the medals in the olympics
- used to be a silver medal and an olive crown awarded to the winner of each event during summer 1896 olympics - runner up got bronze medal and crown - gold medals not awarded until 1904 - Athens 2004 change of iconography on medals
Propaganda of Berlin Games
- world was so impressed by magnificence of Berlin Games - 110,000 seats and 18,000 seats at olympic pool - at the time, this stadium was impressive, convinced ppl that Nazis could not be responsible for crimes they were being accused of
George Orwell
- wrote 1984 -read article, exam question on it - wrote ab how sport is "war minus the shooting"
Pierre de Coubertin
-French nobleman, obsessed with ancient Olympics, wanted to revive them into modern olympics - Founder/father of modern Olympic games and International Olympic Committee (IOC) - designed Olympic rings - first Modern Olympics held in Athens 1896 - founder of Olympic Winter games 1924
Biggest Olympics boycotts ever
Moscow 1980 and LA 1984, sturggle between capitalism and communism, athletes and sport delegations on either side of cold war division struggle were used as political pawns
amount of olympic sports in summer and winter
summer games: 33 sports over 300 events winter games: 15 sports, 109 events
nazi invention of olympics
the olympic torch relay - torch went thru eastern europe to show where hitler wanted to invade, educated germans of this geography
