The True Olympic Games

The True Olympic Games

By: Grace Angkasa


Internationally acclaimed sports, top-notch athletes, the never-ending roar of the crowd, the colourful advertisements as well as merchandise, and everywhere cameras swiveling taking in all that is the Olympic Games. While the original Grecian Olympic Games were to be a religious event aimed to provide an unbiased competition in the sporting world, today the media has dominated the Olympics so much that the Games often seem like an immense advertisement concealed under a so-called “friendly sporting event”.

As the Olympics is an international gathering of hundreds of countries, this internationally acclaimed sports event may seem to bring the world together, but the Olympics is far from a simple unbiased gathering of countries. Although the Olympics do bring the world together and  discharge a sense international unity but as a media-infested, nation-based international sports event, the Olympic Games is the perfect situation to assert nationalistic pride as well as provide an arena for power politics, which actually distances countries instead of uniting them. Although the Olympics seem like the least likeliest place for the government to interfere, the neutrality of the Games are the reason why governments clash in the sidelines. Sometimes subtle other times not so, politics during the Games had truly started during the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, when the Nazi party that had then ruled Germany used the Games to reinforce the ideal German image; tall, blond, strong -- the image of German perfection. In response to these “Nazi Games”, many short-term boycotts erupted from Great Britain to Czechoslovakia plans for a “People Olympics” were planned although never put to action. Several other noticeable political situations in the Games were at the 1980 Moscow Games, were the United States boycotted the Olympics to protest against the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. The Russian government retaliated during the 1984 Los Angeles Games, where it boycotted the American Olympics.

The hosting of the Olympics Games, as well as the victories at the Games, are also a breeding ground for nationalism and political prestige, as hosting the Olympics is largely promoting national prestige. During the Olympics, one comes to notice that networks based in a certain country are biased to that same country and use their Olympics coverage to reinforce and emphasize national pride. While the Olympic Games seem to promote positive international relations and to encourage co-operation between nations, the true message that the Olympics establish is in fact the complete opposite as an international sporting event is ultimately a conflicting face off between countries.

The flashy opening ceremony, the complex Olympic Village, the magnificent stadiums, and the huge amount of workers that keep the Olympic Games running smoothly are certainly impressive but this extravaganza comes with a steep price, one that usually cuts deep into the host city and country’s coffers. We may not notice it, but with every colourful firework, and every world-class stadium comes with a price that frequently puts a country into deeper debt. As the date of the next Olympic Games looms closer, the host city rushes to fulfill the standards that are constantly being pushed higher with every Olympic Games; stadiums and facilities for the athletes must be built (often from scratch), plans and practices for the opening as well as the closing ceremonies must be carried out and a vast workforce of people hired to run the Games smoothly. During the Games themselves, prices on everyday goods will skyrocket, putting strain on the local economy and with the sudden boom of tourists and foreigners in the host city, municipal services will have problems and crime rates will escalate due to the crowds and influx of people. As the Games come and go and the crowds start to disperse, the economic nightmare is far from over for the host city as well as the country. With the accelerated spending on the Games the host city will be saddled with an exorbitant debt, causing a spike in taxes and a strain on the city’s and country’s economies. A true-to-life example of the financial strains an extravagant Olympic Games can cost is the Montreal Olympics of 1976, when not only were the Olympic buildings partially completed but with the sudden costs of the Games, the city was saddled with a gargantuan debt, finally repaying it--30 years later.

In a world that revolves around corporate interests, commercialization and general business, it is rare to find a single celebration or event not blackened with advertisements and sponsors intent on cashing in on the event. Unfortunately, the Olympic Games as well as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has long been sullied with corporate interests, advertisements and athlete endorsements. The once pure and unaffected image of the true Games; a pure and strictly sportive competition for amateurs, has now been reinstated with flashy media, sponsors, endorsements, and interests that are a far cry from the true sporting world. The constant bombardment of media broadcasts, advertisements, and athlete endorsements ought to tire and pester us, but instead, we loyally bind ourselves to Olympic broadcasts that are little than cleverly concealed advertisements.

As for the IOC, this once neutral and solely sportive governing body has now become none other than a major international commercial corporation, with many of its decisions swayed by corporate interests. Prior to 1972, the IOC led by the insightful  President Avery Brundage, had refused corporate sponsors and media deals, but after the retirement of Brundage, the IOC turned to the media and corporate sponsors to promote corporate merchandise and acquire a great deal of money. At the time of Brundage’s retirement, the IOC had assets worth only 2 million, but with the change of leadership the IOC has increasingly opened its doors to corporate sponsors, and eighty years after Brundage’s retirement the assets of IOC were worth over 45 million dollars. During the Olympics of 1984, the IOC had reached a financial milestone, because through media broadcasting deals and corporate sponsorship, the IOC had accumulated an ample surplus of 225 million dollars. Through the eyes of large-scale media broadcasting company, the Olympic Games is the perfect opportunity for some important corporate deals, with a huge audience of nearly a billion people worldwide. As the governing body of the Olympic Games, the IOC has media rights to the Olympic as well and realising the media potential of the Games demands a monstrous payment for media rights to the Olympics as in 1998 the CBS company had to pay an exorbitant 375 million dollars to broadcast the Olympics and NBC was hit hard with a towering 3.5 billion to broadcast the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. But corporations not only look up to the IOC for promotions but also to athletes primarily gold medallists. Today, as a result of the intense pressure corporations are putting on athletes to become medal winners, athletes will no longer see their medals as a mark of their achievements and the completion of their often childhood dreams, but as the ticket to several years of money-making endorsements.

The world is changing fast, and with it the ever-growing commercialization of the Olympic Games. Though most of us may barely have a voice deep in the IOC, cannot argue our way out of hosting the Olympic Games and cannot right a historical wrong, maybe we can change the Olympic Games and the IOC through a constant stream of messages and complaints, it may take 10, 100 or maybe even a 1000 years but maybe one day we will see a free flag waving, endorned not with the latest fancy corporate merchandise but with a simple olive leaf wreath, a simple symbol of what the Olympic games should really be.