What Price Victory? The World of International Sports and Politics

• Date: 01 September 1979
• Author: Andrew Strenk
• DOI: 10.1177/000271627944500114
• Published date: 01 September 1979
• Subject Matter: Articles

128

What

Price

Victory?

The

World

of

International

Sports

and

Politics

By

ANDREW

STRENK

Andrew

Strenk

is

a

lecturer

at

the

University

of

Southern

California,

where

he

received

his

bachelor’s

and

doctor’s

degrees

in

history.

He

received

a

master’s

degree

from

the

Julius

Maximillian

University

of

Bavaria

in

West

Germany

in

1975.

He

was

a

member

of several

US

national

swimming

teams,

including

the

1967

and

1971

Pan

Am

and

1968

Olympic

teams.

In

addition,

he

has

worked

for

various

news

agencies

at

numerous

international

sports

events

including

the

1972

and

1976

Olympics.

ABSTRACT:

Public

opinion

and

the

news

media

in

the

United

States

have

generally

assumed

that

sports

and

politics

are

separate

entities

and

should

be

kept

that

way.

However,

this

has

not

been

the

case

throughout

history.

The

tremendous

emphasis

which

many

nations

today

place

on

winning

at

international

events

such

as

the

Olympics

is

due

to

several

factors.

Those

nations

spending

millions

of

dollars

on

sports

programs

for

elite

athletes

expect

results.

Sport

can

be

a

very

useful

political

and

diplomatic

tool

and

weapon

in

gaining

prestige,

protesting

various

situations,

spreading

propaganda,

and

in

recognizing

or

isolating

another

nation.

There

is

a

long

tradition

of

mixing

sports

and

politics

which

dates

all

the

way

back

to

the

ancient

Greeks.

The

development

of

the

Turner

movement

in

the

German

states

of

the

19th

century,

the

rise

of

the

Sokol

movement

in

neighboring

Bohemia,

and

the

formation

of

the

International

Olympic

Committee

by

Baron

Pierre

de

Coubertin

later

in

the

same

century

all

served

to

reinforce

earlier

traditions

linking

sports

to

politics.

The

result

of

these

developments

was

to

produce

a

war

without

weapons.

The

recognition

of

this fact

is

the

first

step

towards

limiting

some of

the

most

aggressive

conflicts

which

have

increasingly

plagued

modern

international

sports

events.