Sport, Politics and the Olympics

1968 Olympics: Mexico City, Mexico

The 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City were surrounded by political unrest and controversy. Two separate groups of people voiced their opposition towards their homeland and were met with swift and relentless backlash. Only ten days before the Olympic games were to take place, over 10,000 students gathered at the Plaza de Tres Culturas to protest against the Mexican government and peacefully listen to speeches. The uprising was viewed as threatening to the soldiers sent to disperse the masses, and shots erupted into the crowd. Dozens of innocent citizens were killed and hundreds were arrested. Later in the Olympic Games, black sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos won gold and bronze medals in the men's 200 meter race. When called to the podium to hear the national anthem, both men wore a black glove on one hand, bowed their heads, and rose their fists as a tribute to black pride. They wanted to bring awareness to the injustices faced by blacks in America during this tumultuous time. Prior to their gesture, they were booed leaving the stage and banned from the Olympics permanently.

The actions taken by the students in Mexico and Tommie Smith and John Carlos best represent Eitzen and Sage's political use of sport as a vehicle of change in society. There is so much media attention and hype surrounding the olympics, and both groups of people used this heightened focus on the event to bring light to the injustices that were taking place in their own country. America was at the peak of the civil rights movement, and both Smith and Carlos believed that bringing awareness to the racism in the U.S. was equally important as their accomplishment of winning olympic medals. I disagree with the statement, "Sport is pure and devoid of political interference", particularly because of the events that took place at the 1968 Olympics as stated above. One of the goals of the Olympics is to remove all political biases from the games in order to hold events that focus primarily on the talents of the athletes. The mere fact that this has to be done shows that politics do interfere with sports. As stated above, the reason why Smith and Carlos were banned from the games was because they violated those terms. Politics undoubtedly affect sports and athletes, through the institutions they have control over or the regulations they enforce; and it is difficult to imagine a world where political interference does not exist.

Eitzen and Sage, Sports and Politics (Provided on the University of Colorado at Boulder D2L website)

1968 Summer Olympics: Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Summer_Olympics

1968: Black Athletes Make a Silent Protest: BBC America. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_3535000/3535348.stm