What do the Olympic Games tell us about the 20th century?

1
What do the Olympic Games tell us about the 20th
century?
Details of the individual Olympiads
2
Potential themes who can find 12?

• Impact of war. No games 1916, 1940, 1944. Germany
  not invited to 1920 or 1924.
• Improving technology and communication.
• Nationalism (1908)
• Games used for propaganda/political purposes
  (1972, 1980.1984 )
• Racial tension (1936, 1968)
• Affects of world economic crisis (1932, 2012
  compared with 2008)

3

• Geographical changes (Germanies, Balkans former
  USSR etc)
• Political changes
• Changing world order
• Professionalism v Amateurism Chariots of Fire v
  Ben Johnson
• Cheating/drugs etc
• Womens role.
• Equal rights Paralympics
• Consumerism
• Shrinking world
• Faster transport.
• And more

4
Paris 1900

• The discus and hammer throwers often found that
  there wasn't enough room to throw, so their shots
  landed in the trees the hurdles were made out of
  broken telephone poles and the swimming events
  were conducted in the Seine River which had an
  extremely strong current.
• Women first participated as contestants.

5
1904 - St Louis

• Only 100 of the 681 who turned up came from
  Europe, about 500 were from the USA.
• Athletes from the USA had won 238 medals, among
  which 78 were gold, 83 silver and 77 bronze.
• Germany, the country that came second in the
  medal list, had won only 13 medals... 

6
1908 - London

• Britain's recent refusal to give Ireland its
  independence caused Irish athletes to boycott the
  Games and caused contestants from the U.S to not
  dip the American flag to the British royalty
  during the opening ceremony (a tradition the U.S.
  continues to this day).

7
1912 - Stockholm

• The Games also benefited from the use of electric
  timing devices and a public address system which
  were first used at these Olympic Games.

In 1912 Jim Thorpe, a Native American, became the
only man to win both the decathlon and
pentathlon in one year. Officials cancelled his
record and took back his medals when they
learned that he had played professional baseball
8
1916 No games

• During World War One

9
1920 - Antwerp

• The world had seen much bloodshed. Should the
  aggressors of the war be invited to the Olympic
  Games? The Olympic ideals stated that all
  countries should be allowed entrance into the
  Games. Though Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey,
  and Hungary were not forbidden to come, they were
  also not sent an invitation by the Organizing
  Committee. These countries were again not invited
  to the 1924 Olympic Games. In addition, the newly
  formed Soviet Union decided not to attend.
  (Athletes from the Soviet Union did not reappear
  at the Olympics until 1952.)

10
1924 Paris

• It was this Olympics that became fictionalized in
  the Academy Award winning film Chariots of Fire
  in 1981.

11

1928 Amsterdam

• Germany returned to the Olympic Games for the
  first time since 1912, after being banned from
  the 1920 and 1924 Games. The German team finished
  second in the 1928 medal count.

12
1932-Los Angeles

• Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many
  nations and athletes were unable to pay for the
  trip to Los Angeles
• Italy came second in the medal table

13
1936-Berlin

•  Germany topped the medal table
• Jesse Owens
• By allowing only members of the Aryan race to
  compete for Germany, Hitler further promoted his
  ideological belief of racial supremacy. At the
  same time, the party removed signs stating "Jews
  not wanted" and similar slogans from the city's
  main tourist attractions. In an attempt to "clean
  up" Berlin .

14
1940 1944 No games

• During World War Two

15
1948 - London

• Not much money after the war
• It was agreed that the participants would bring
  their own food.
• London was the first Olympics to have a political
  defection. Gold medal Czech gymnast refused to
  return home, because
• Russia was now in control
• No new facilities were built for these Games

16
1952 - Helsinki

• West Germany got no gold medals, only fully
  recognised by IOC in 1951.
• USA 40 and USSR 22 dominated as super powers.
  Games became politicised
• Questions of who now went to the Olympics. West
  and East Germany,
• China Taiwan?

17
1956 - Melbourne

• First games that most athletes flew to.
• USA and USSR still dominate.
• Some countries boycotted because of way the USSR
  put down a revolt in Hungary
• Australia third in medal table.

18
1960 - Rome

• West Germany now fourth in medal table. USSR well
  ahead of USA. Space age Cold War rivalry between
  USA and USSR was seen in the games too.
• The 1960 Olympic Games were the first Olympics to
  be fully covered by television.

19
1964 - Tokyo

• The first time South Africa was barred from
  taking part due to its apartheid system in
  sports.
• Japan third in medal table just 20 year after the
  war.
• The games were telecast to the United States
  using the first geostationary communication
  satellite, and from there to Europe.

20
1968 Mexico

• Black Power American athletes Tommy Smith and
  John Carlos demonstrated against racial
  segregation in their country. As they stood on
  the podium to receive their medals for the 200
  metres, they raised black-gloved fists and bowed
  their heads when the American flag was raised.
  This gesture was their way of showing their
  support for the Black Power movement. As a
  result, they were sent home.

21
1972 - Munich

• Largely overshadowed by what has come to be known
  as the Munich massacre. Arab-Israeli conflict
  leads to 12 Israeli athletes being shot by
  Palestinians.
• East and West Germany came 3rd and 4th

22
1976 -Montreal

• West Germany overhauled USA

In protest at a tour of South Africa by the New
Zealand All Blacks rugby union team early in the
year, Congo's officialled a boycott of 28
African nations as the IOC refused to bar the
New Zealand team.
23
1980-Moscow

• No US presence. Boycott over USSRs invasion of
  Afghanistan. Even Britain came close to
  boycotting.
• USSR and East Germany dominated.
• "Third World" athletes qualified for more events
  and took more medals than at any previous
  Olympics

24
1984 Los Angeles

• No USSR presence. In response to the American-led
  boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, 14
  Eastern Bloc countries and allies including the
  Soviet Union, Cuba and East Germany boycotted the
  Games
• China 4th in medal table
• Eleven athletes failed drug tests at the Los
  Angeles Games
• First time Marathon for women.

25
1988 Seoul S. Korea

• As of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South
  Korea, the host city for the Olympics has also
  played host to the Paralympics.
• Ten athletes were disqualified after drug tests
  revealed steroid abuse

26
1992 Barcelona

• United Germany took part after the fall of the
  Berlin wall in 1989
• South Africa was allowed to compete in the
  Olympics for the first time since the 1960 Games,
  after a long suspension for its apartheid policy.
  

27
1996 Atlanta

• For the first time, Olympic medals were won by
  the athletes from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
  Burundi, Ecuador, Georgia, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan,
  Moldova, Mozambique, Slovakia, Tonga, Ukraine,
  and Uzbekistan

Eleven of the ex-Soviet countries made their
debut
Coca-Cola, whose corporate headquarters is in
Atlanta, received criticism for being the
exclusive drink offered in Olympic venues.
28
2000 - Sydney

• Torch bearer, and gold medal winner Cathy Freeman
  was Aboriginal.
• Marion Jones, winner of three gold and two bronze
  medals for the United States, gave them back in
  October 2007 after confessing that she had taken
  drugs.
• Afghanistan did not participate in 2000, having
  been banned due to the extremist rule of the
  Taliban's oppression of women and its prohibition
  of sports.

29
2004 - Athens

• For the first time, major broadcasters were
  allowed to serve video coverage of the Olympics
  over For the first time, major broadcasters were
  allowed to serve video coverage of the Olympics
  over the Internet

Also since 2000, Yugoslavia had changed its name
to Serbia and Montenegro
30
2008 Bejing

• Largest ever medals tally in China's Olympic
  history and marking the first time China has
  ranked first.
• They had entered the biggest team into the
  Olympics with a huge number of over 600.
• Efforts to reduce air pollution in the Beijing
  region

31
2012 London

• What will the issues be then?