Olympic Movement and Other International Sport Events

On March 3 in my American Sport in the 21st Century class we discussed the international sport events that occur around the world. We also discussed the Olympic Movement and briefly about the history of it. We discussed where the Olympic Movement started, which was in Athens Greece in 1984 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin. We also talked about ideals in which underly international sports such as the hope that international sports could one day establish relationships. Another example of underlying international sports is to hope that one day international sports could foster cultural understanding and eliminate national stereotypes. Also, we discussed the political aspects of the olympics. Some political aspects of the Olympics are divided into four categories: internal groups, external groups, state actions and IOC (International Olympic Committee) actions.

Olympic Movement

The Olympic Movement is known as the turning point for commercial involvement in sport, which generates over 200 million dollars in profit. For example, the Olympics now have major sponsors such as TOC (Toronto Olympic Club) which generates a revenue of about 20 to 30 million dollars. Amateurism used to be a bigger part of sport until 1992, when it was dropped. The Olympics were held in many places but returned to Athens in 2004. The Olympics now include 201 nations, 301 events and have an audience of 3.9 million viewers. If there weren't Olympics what would us Americans do? During the last Olympic games, the opening ceremony attracted an audience of 1 billion people. The Olympics are definitely a major event in the world and should be considered a national day or holiday due to the huge crowd and attention that it receives. 

(Olympic Rings)

International Sport Events

Listed below are a few International Sport Events:

1. Fifa
2. Cricket World Cup
3. Baseball World Classic
4. ICC World Cup (Cycling)
5. Ryder Cup (Golf)
6. Rugby World Cup
7. Wimbledon (Tennis)
8. Olympics

Political Aspects of Olympics

There are four main political uses of where the Olympics come from and they are:

• Internal Groups-1996 Atlanta Games (assumed to be domestic act by FBI)
• External Groups-1972 Munich Games
• State Actions- Mass boycotts
• IOC Actions- Israel withdrew from participation because of boycotts

                  (International Olympic Committee Logo for the Olympic Games)