Sports, Politics, and the Olympics

            In 1990, the US city of Atlanta, Georgia was selected to hold the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Just narrowly beating out the sentimental bid from Athens, Greece to host the Centennial Olympics. This would be the first time that the International Olympic Committees’ decision to separate the games into winter and summer segments—rotating every even-numbered year. Atlanta was the fifth American city to host the games, yet the international community did not fall naïve to the previous success of the US…they remained diligent, and were never slow to scrutinize what would later be deemed, “The Commercial Games.”

            When preparing for this massive onslaught of visitors coming into Atlanta, the city turned to its most prevalent corporation for sponsorship—gargantuan soft-drink company, Coca-Cola. These sponsorship dollars became a competition of their own, with both the city’s organization committee and the IOC competing for its funding. Coca-Cola became the official (and exclusive) drink offered at each of the games 25+ venues. The city also gave license to various street vendors to boost sales, offering merchandise that was not part of the official Olympic sponsorship. This sparked an outrage in the international community, claiming that the US and its system of capitalism were marring the essence of the Olympic games.

            Amidst the quarrel was a far more violent demonstration of economic disapproval, the bombing of Centennial Olympic Park—the “town center” of the Olympic Village. Eric Rudolph, responsible for a total of 4 political terrorist attacks, planted a pipe bomb under a bench—taking 2 lives, and injuring more than one hundred. In a statement he gave in 2005, he claimed that his attack was meant to force the cancellation of the games and “eat into the vast amount of money of invested.” He recalled the games celebration of “socialism,” even quoting the song “Imagine” by John Lennon; his claims were also rooted in his anti-abortion views—the US being his intended target.

            The bombing coupled with the commercial fallout, stamped the games with a print of disapproval in the international community. People from various parts of the world felt as if the United States was using these games as means to demonstrate their economic system. Sage and Eitzen’s work on politics in sport highlight political demonstrations from a host nation to be one of their five uses for politics within the sporting realm. Often paired with violence, claiming, “At virtually every recent Olympics there have been political demonstrations, threats, and violence by disaffected groups,” citing the Atlanta games specifically.

            An event like the Olympiad is constructed to be a pure and honored tradition, which brings nations together to compete in sport. However, it is not just the athletes that have their sights on these games, big money has its green eyes planted on events like these every year. It is not just the Olympics, either. American sports have become a cash cow for large corporations—sticking their logos atop stadiums, eating up hours of commercial times on TV, and monopolizing sponsorship deals to increase sales. There is no way, in our capitalist society, to which sport will ever be completely devoid of political interference. That is American nature, and it is here to pay stay.

Colin Carmody