THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
For those World Cup fans insisting that politics has no place in sport or that sport and politics should be kept separate – forget it. You are backing an unwinnable horse.
The fact is that in the public imagination physical prowess on the playing field or in the stadium is equated with national success. And projecting the image of national success is an important part of politics.
Almost since the start of modern international sport, competitions between national teams have been a tool to score political points, showcase achievements, make statements, isolate enemies and win public approval from home audiences.
The downward spiral probably started with the 1934 World Cup in Italy. Benito Mussolini saw the tournament as the perfect opportunity to promote muscular fascism. But to do that he needed the Italian team to win. So the game schedule was organised to suit the Italian side and referees were personally chosen by the Italian Duce. Italy won.
Encouraged by the success of his fellow dictator, Adolf Hitler set out to mirror his success at the 1936 Munich Olympics. These were meant to showcase the superiority of the Aryan race as well as Nazi Germany. He was, of course, thwarted by the Black American athlete Jesse Owens.
Conflict between states has led to violence in the stadium. The 1956 Olympics were held only a few weeks before the Soviet invasion of Hungary and were dominated by the "blood in the water" water polo semi-finals between the Soviet Union and Hungary. There were numerous clashes between the two sides which culminated in top Hungarian scorer Ervin Zádor being struck in the head by the Soviet player Valentin Prokopov.
Zádor staggered from the pool with blood pouring from the side of his face. A riot involving players, officials and spectators was only narrowly averted when the Russian team was escorted away from the pool. Hungary won the re-match.
Throughout the Cold War the rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States regularly affected the sporting calendar. In 1980, the US organised a boycott of the Moscow Olympics in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and in 1984 the Soviets and their Warsaw Pact allies boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics in protest against the boycott of the Moscow Olympics.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics were seen as marking the return of China to the world stage. The Russian Federation was the inheritor state for the Soviet Union and in 2014 it hosted the Sochi Winter Olympics to mark its return after decades of political and economic turmoil following the collapse of the Soviet state.
The Sochi Olympics are remembered for two things: the staggering record-breaking price tag of $51 billion and the revelation that Russia was guilty of a state-sponsored doping regime. The discovery of Russia's doping activities has led to Russian teams being banned from subsequent Olympic Games.
Apartheid was a major issue at both the World Cup and the Olympics and led to South Africa being banned from both events between 1964 and 1992. Sporting contacts with South Africa in other sports was also a major issue. The decision of New Zealand's All Black rugby team to tour South Africa led to a boycott of the 1976 Olympics by African countries.
International sport has also been used to make positive political statements. The London Olympics were a celebration of a return to normality after World War Two. And the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea were marked by a joint North-South Korean team in the opening ceremony and in the ice hockey tournament. Unfortunately, tensions quickly returned to the Korean Peninsula after the games.
Many like to hark back to the good old days of classical Greece when the Olympics meant a truce throughout the Peloponnesian Peninsula. But even then politics infected sports. The quadrennial gathering in the shadow of Mount Olympus was used to forge and announce alliances and athletes became symbols of a city state's greatness just as they are national symbols today.
Tom Arms is the foreign editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and the author of America Made in Britain.
