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French lost to the Germans in this war and this was the motive behind the start of the Olympic Games, they wanted international peace and healing old wounds from the war. Pierre de Coubertin (founder, who was French, from Paris)

“Savage Day”. Human zoo, they had primitive people from acors the world on display like animals. To display white superiority and show primitive inferiority, they let the primitive people compete in sports that had never seen before. Ex. compete in water polo but they couldn’t swim. James Sullivan behind this.

desire of the upper class to exclude the working class from sports. If a working man can’t make money participaating in sports than he can’t find time to compete. “Class warfare”

Christian leaders considered sports to be a distraction from religion. They thought the gambling and drinking to be sinful and a distraction. They thought the body and the soul were two warring sources. To privilege your body (play sports) was to neglect the soul. But then these “muscular christians” argued that being physical and engaging in these sports were the keys to living a spiritually elevated life. Sports make you moral, keep you disciplined, etc. Sports actually make you a better Christian. People playing sports will make you a better person, this is where that idea came from. This is why we naturally want our children to play sports without thinking.

Faster, higher, stronger, put right arm to the side. In the Paris Games. Coubertins most proud Olympic Games. Wanted to incorporate religion aspect into the games and re-inergize.

Ruins from the Great War caused people to question politics and norms of society which caused the global womens movement. Global womens movement: women wanted inclusion, including being involved in the Olympic Games.

International workers of the World (IWW). Was never so prominent than right after the war. “War is declaired by the wealthy man but it was the working class man who fought the war and died for their greads.” 3 workers olympics, they were a critique of the regular olympics, they said the regular olympics were too elitist and only for the upper class. As these workers olympics, anyone could compete. Women were welcomed.

refers to using sports to push a political agenda. Using sports to make themselves feel desirable. A prime example was the Nazi’s in the Berlin Games in 1936. Demonstartion of German physical suspremacy. Celebration of German culture and demonstration of German reasonableness. Answer to all the Nazi critics.

Helen Mayer, who was half Jewish. She represented the German team in 1936 and allowed Germany and other supporting nations to say “Germany isn’t excluding Jews.”

1937. This was a brutal massacre by the Japenese military. This sparked a movement for the games to be moved away from Tokyo. The IOC says the Olympics aren’t about politics, it's about sports and sports only. In July 1938 the Japanese military canceled the Olympics to be held in Tokyo. Basically, if they want to continue their expansion they have no need to be involved in the olympics.

USSR effort during the Cold War to beat the West in the Olympics. Soviet said their athletes were factory workers and soldiers who happended to play sports. Societ were putting athletes in the army to try and loop hole this amatursum rule. Bottom Line: Who has the better system for creating athletic human beings. Who has the better system in creative dominant human beings. Maximize human potential.

1952 Count Anthony Szapary Eastern Europeans were stateless after fleeing Eastern Europe due to the rise of communism. Led by refugee Anthony. Fled the “Iron Curtain”. They would tell the rest of the world about the horrors of communism in Eastern Europe. Political organization from the start. The real purpose was anti-communist propaganda.

Soviets and Western Allies. Melbourne 1956 Games. Brundage got them to compete under a unified flag. Berlin Wall

Nationalist and Communist China. “Formosa China”. Formosa China protested saying they are the real China.

Manmade canal that connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. (French and British) Gamal Nasser took control of Egypt and took control of the Suez Canal (nationalizes). Britain and France bombed Egypt on Oct 30, 1956. Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon boycotted the 1956 Olympics due to Suez Crisis because they were Western Games and the Western Games fucked them over. These were the first boycotts of the olympics in history.

The Holocaust 1968 was a generation that grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust. Power and Authority needed to be challenged otherwise, stuff like the holocaust would happen. Mario Savio (UC Berkley Free Speech Movement) Spoke on the impact of the Holocaust. “Everything needed to be challenged. Reality itself.” Civil Rights Movement Nashville Sit In 1960. An example that ordinary people could force the government to change. Vietnam War Provided a cause for all of the rebels out there who were seeking one. This war sparked outrage around the world Television Soldiers being killed in Vietnam Dogs attacking black people Demographic changes Educated generation. Western powers subsidized education. Types of courses were in the humanities and the social sciences. (cost-efficient way to educate people) People were reading about philosophers. (Herbert Marcuse wrote “False Needs” criticising capitalism. People were obedient consumers)

Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet Leader, sent in the tanks and troops. 500,000 troops stormed into Prague and Emil Zatopek walked up to the tanks and asked why they were invading their ally. The protesters told them to go home. They began killing innocent protestors. This invasion had badly discredited the Soviets around the world. The Soviet block was held together by force rather than ideology.

Black population was mobbed out of the cities and placed in to reservations. Lived in “Shantys” in a South African Township. Hyper segregation. Blacks were only let out of these townships with identification. Only let out of they were going to work for white South Africans. Black South Africans were not considered citizens. Sports were part of the apartheid system. Sports were highly segregated. White athletes played in modern stadiums using the best equipment. Blacks played in dirt feilds and used makeshift equipment. “Seperate and unequal”

What was giving the games their emotional power was TV. It added to the power and popularity of the games. This makes the Olympic games the ideal place for political violence.

Palestinian Led Group kidnapped and killed 11 Isreali athletes. Avery Brundage at the Memorial. He declared one day of mourning and then said that the games would resume one day later. “Two twin acts of terror, refering to the Rhodesian battle against South Africa.”

1976 Games (Denver), Lots of people objected to the Games because of the cost and environmental damages. They voted on it “Measure 8” and determined that no tax payer dollars could be used. Denver then passed on these games.

1976. In response to a new law stating that all blacks had to be taught in Afrikaner (white SA language). They met the police in the streets, and the police opened fire and killed over 500 children. This was the moment when the Apartheid system became a global issue. 28 African delegations pulled out of the Olympics because “We will not play sports with people who play with racist and muderers.”

The Olympic Games had a bigger impact on the history of south korea than likely any other nation. “Tiger economy” and “miracle on the Han river”. Protest “The June Struggle” 1987. Pressing for democratic reforms. Time to bring political reforms to go along with economic reforms. Chun said we have to wait until after the Olympic games and then we can talk about reforms. Soul was unraveling. Agreed to elections of presidency, freedom of speech, freedom of the press. Nov 1987 Korean Air Line Flight 858. Killed 115 passengers. North Korea agents Planted bombs on the plane. Purpose to scare off nations and make them afraid to come to South Korea for the Games.

Barcelona 1992. Many people considered these games to be the best games ever. Best demonstrated what the Olympics could do for a city. Used the games as a massive reimagination of their city. After the Games, tourism surged. First time professional athletes could compete in the games. Juan Antionio Samaranch (IOC pres). The Nike Games. The dream team. The foundational unit of the Olympic Games is no longer the Nation… it is the shoe company. National identity is meaning less, corporate allegiance is more important than national.

In 1948, every female had to get a letter from their doctor stating they were a female. “Feminity Certificate.” No trust in these letters from doctors as women were winning more medals than men. Then the Genital check started (nude parade). Then came the chromosome test (inside the mouth swab, looking for XY or XX). Then came a testosterone test. Moving forward: anyone who identifies as a female can enter a female sporting event.

Deng Xiaoping Leader of the Peoples Reopublic of China. Sets China on a new path of economic development. Made them the global economic power they are today. Chinese capitalism. For 30 years Chinas economic grew by 10% every year, post war, unprecidented. Democracy typically followed by capitalism however, this was not the case for China. Giving the Olympics to China will force them to have civil freedoms. This was the thought process behind giving the Olympics to Beijing. “Free Tibet Movement”.