Fifteenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

The Olympic ideal was that only amateurs could participate since they did so for the joy of participating in their particular sport. Moreover, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chair, Avery Brundage, politics and the Olympics did not mix. Given the strict Olympic code of the times, it can be said that professionals did participate. Some were caught, some were not, and some, Jesse Owens, for example, was punished despite no evidence of wrongdoing. Dating back to the 1936 Olympiad in Germany, politics was mixed with the Olympics. The 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City was the agent of change as athletes took under-the-table payments. Brundage, an ardent anti-Communist, was powerless to stop Eastern bloc nations from subsidizing their athletes. But he could control Western nations and many athletes were aware of the double standard. For the sake of fairness and personal gain, they happily accepted payments from various companies in exchange for promoting their goods. International political disagreements took center stage. The most controversial involved Rhodesia not being allowed to participate in the Mexico City Games due to threats of boycott by other African nations. Brundage supported Rhodesia’s inclusion but a vote of IOC members prevented that from happening. This was the beginning of the end of Brundage’s reign as the IOC chair. This paper discusses how and why his stances on amateurism and politics made it happen.