The Olympics and a Stranger's Politics

Politics and the Olympics? Must they, and should they, be separated from one another?

Every place, anytime, sitting around any table, groups of very angry men speak of the evils of "politicalization" and the necessity of "competition for competition's sake."

"Forget the games," says a hostile participant in one such discussion.

"Move them to Switzerland," chortles another.

After a flurry of pounded fists: "The Olympics have been infected and sabotaged by politics. There's no such thing as an athletic forum, where the best can run, jump and swim against the best, immune from the tensions created by international boundaries and ideologies."

"Gentlemen, gentlemen," exclaims another, "let us return the athletics to the athletes. The Olympics cannot persist with such a fusion of the body physical and the body political."

The tremor of frustration evolves into a quake until one of the angry men says. "The Greeks abandoned their Olympics when they realized that it was, indeed, futile to attempt to avoid the mixture of politics and sport May we imitate the Greeks."

In the midst of this emotional confusion, one quiet man who has yet to speak gently, slowly arises to address this embittered assembly of ideas.

"May I suggest that shortly after the Greeks abandoned the Games, their empire crumbled. If we were to do the same as the Greeks, then we would in effect, admit that our international system is incapable of associating with itself. To throw in the towel would be an acceptance of the futility of striving to achieve diplomatic accord. When the Greeks threw in the towel, accepting that they could no longer get along with each other, their culture deteriorated."

"Huh' Who is this guy," says a still very angry but rather confused man.

"Sir," continued the stranger, "let me present you with a question what events would you guess have the two most expensive ticket prices?"

"Uh, I don't know I guess it's the basketball and the boxing finals."

"No, No, No," interrupts another angry man "I 'm pretty sure that it's the final mile of the marathon and the events of the decathlon."

"You're both wrong. I'm afraid," answers the stranger "It's the opening and closing ceremonies. No athletics are performed there, gentlemen. Only a parade featuring all of the Games' participants--despite the political tension, wars and ideological splits of their governments--marching together harmoniously, with a common interest. All have gravitated to the same track, traveled far from the troubled homes and governments to compete."

The stranger has intrigued the not-so-angry--but still angry--men "Just a moment, my good fellow What exactly are you proposing?"

"Sir. I don't know about you but the satisfaction which I, as a spectator, derive from the Olympics does not evolve solely from watching Carl Lewis run faster than Ivan Gregoriovich. Yes, I enjoy witnessing the finest athletes in the world striving to beat one another. And, yes, I can empathize with them when that opportunity is destroyed, because their governments use them as political lever age. And upon first instinct, I too, condemn the politicization of the Olympics.

"But, then I delve deeper and I stumble upon the true meaning and significance of the Olympics. I believe that athletics are only a forum which allows diverse, diffuse and struggling nations to surmount their differences and come together. The Olympics symbolize the ability of such nations to overcome political disputes to achieve a common end. To me, politics are just as an important element of the Olympics as are the events."

"Hold on a second, sir, We've listened long enough, says one of the men as the atmosphere of the room grows tumultuous again. "How can you contend that politics and the Olympics should have anything to do with each other."

Sir, when you gentlemen complain that politics have ruined the Olympics, you overlook the fulfillment of a need which we all receive by accepting the political significance of the Games Recently, it is true, politics have dampened the sprit of the Olympics, and it's quite easy to accentuate such failures. But by doing this, you all ignore the political benefits which we can and do gamer from the Games. These benefits aren't as starkly noticeable as the failings which political association potentionally entails, but they are just as profound Isn't it soothing to know that the world can organize itself without decay? Only through such association can we grasp such profound successes."

"I have trouble accepting this. What you speak of is wholey unconventional. We've always scorned the Olympics for its impurities. Day in and day out we intellectualize and mourn its political nature. It's hard to even appreciate your ideas," one of the baffled men admits.

"But wait a minute," interjects a still very angry man. "It's been years since we have achieved the political conciliation and unity of which you speak. Every Olympiad since 1976 has been marred by boycotts and international squabbles."

"Yes, that's true," answers the stranger. "But taken in a historical context, three Olympiads marred by political disputes isn't such a grave development. History goes in cycles it has been said. In 1936, Hitler's regime processed the Munich Games into a format which only exposed his propaganda globally. And World War II prevented the sponsoring of the Games in 1940 and 1944. But, from 1948 until 1972 the Olympics had succeeded in allowing nations temporarily to ignore their political vitality. True, the 1968 and '72 Games had their political incidents, but neither of them signaled the inability of nations to associate with one another."

"Hey, he's beginning to make some sense I know that when I watched the 1984 Winter Olympics I found it striking to witness ABC television cameras surveying the culture of a communist country and interviewing its people. Perhaps we have underestimated the significance of such an occurrence which only the Olympics can provide. It, indeed, is admirable that all countries could come together, despite the fact that the Games took place in a country which can ambiguously be described as a Soviet satellite."

These men, no longer angry, now speak in an empty murmur.

The stranger distances himself from the table and proclaims. "Gentlemen, think about an Olympics where the best compete against the best, but without associations with their countries. Yes, it would lack the sometimes burdensome political ramifications of the Games, but how empty such an Olympiad would seem, how pointless."

And the stranger leaves