The Olympics: Chasing Gold and Deviance

Justin Diehl

Sport & Society

6 May 2018
 The Olympics, there’s no other sporting event in the world that can truly match what

the Olympics are. So many athletes from so many diverse backgrounds participating in one

huge event. But why do we do it? What’s the end goal? To demonstrate the power of the few

over the many? That’s sort of the way it seems. Every time the Olympics rolls around its

generally the same first world counties who control the leader board. When’s the last time the

United States wasn’t in the top 10 for the medal count? It almost seems as if the Olympics is

just dominant countries flexing off their muscle in front of the weaker less advantaged

smaller counties.

Don’t get me wrong there are some wonderful things about the Olympics. It just

seems to me that the good things are out weighted by the bad. People say that the Olympics

bring jobs to the people in the host city or country but for how long? And how much are they

making? Some cities are left in shambles after the Olympics for example the 1976 Montreal

Summer Olympics and many other places too. Cities get left with buildings that they may not

even use again. Tourism to those cities actually suffers while the Olympics are going on. But

there’s one thing that I feel is very important about the Olympics it’s something that you

could probably only do in a few other settings. Be heard. Everyone in the world has their

eyes focused on these athletes there is no greater platform or stage that could be used to be

heard. Many athletes have made demonstrations that come from situations that they feel

merit some kind of attention within their countries.

Some people say that sports and politics don’t mix. They believe that they should be

separate entities like church and state. But there’s no such thing as complete separation of

sport and politics and there never should be. Athletes have used their platforms to ask for
reform, justice, and peace so many times. More often than not they receive backlash and are

deemed as deviant people in sport for example Collin Kaepernick, the ex-San Francisco

49ers QB who felt that racial injustice was still happening and decided to kneel during the

national anthem to protest what was happening to minorities at the very hands of the people

sworn to protect them. He probably won’t ever play in the NFL again because NFL teams

executives don’t want to deal with a PR problem that big. Even though Kaepernick did

something that seems noble and courageous he’s being blackballed and deemed deviant.

Why do I bring this up? What does it have to do with the Olympics? Well, what if I told you

that in 1968 two men stood on a podium in Mexico City and selflessly put themselves in the

crosshairs to stand up for something that they believed in. In 1968, Tommie Smith and John

Carlos finished first and third in the 200-meter dash. They stood on the podiums and during

the national anthem did a silent protest in which they performed the black power salute.

“Smith and Carlos, were members of the OPHR, which decided to organize a boycott of the

1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. However, many black athletes felt torn about the OPHR

boycott because they wanted to compete in the preeminent world event but also, they felt a

responsibility to alleviate the bad conditions that black athletes often faced compared to their

white counterparts” (AALC.org). These men faced adversity, death threats, and were

suspended by the International Olympic Committee after the demonstration, all because they

took a stand. But because of what they unselfishly did it started a conversation and its seen as

one of the most symbolic moments in the black power movement. These men used their

platform of sports to impact the injustices that they felt they were wrong within their society

even though they were deemed as deviant people, they were truly more courageous and brave

than deviant.
 1976, the Montreal Summer Olympic games, will probably go down as one of the

worst Olympics to date. A city left in turmoil because of the Olympics. Montreal won the bid

to host the 1976 Olympics to naturally like they do in most Olympic cities they began

building and because of this the city nearly went broke. The city of Montreal used so much

money and resources on the Olympics that it nearly caused the city to go broke. “When all

was said and done, the city was left with debt that took 30 years to pay off”

(theguardian.com). Imagine throwing a party and having it take 30 years in order to pay it

off. Montreal had to tax its own citizens an outrageous percent of tax because of what they

did for the Olympics. In the end, when it was all said and done with, the Olympics ruined the

city of Montreal. Because the Olympics took such a financial hit on Montreal they only

recently paid off all their debts. So why have the Olympics at all if all they’re going to do is

destroy once prominent cities? Is there a way to avoid things like what happened to Montreal

without sacrificing the games as a whole? I believe there is but only in certain locations. For

example, the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. The games went so smoothly because the

city already had sporting facilities available for use. Because Los Angeles is a prominent

sports city in America they already had a lot of the sporting facilities in place. Of course, the

IOC was still dealing with the backlash from the 1976 Olympics that nearly destroyed

Montreal, so they paid for the games to be held in Los Angeles which is the only time I

believe they’ve done so. I believe that even without the help of the International Olympic

Committee that the games still would’ve went on without any problems financially because

the city wouldn’t have had to blow their budget on facilities that would never really be used

again. There are very few cities in the world that I believe could handle the financial burden

that comes with hosting the Olympics. Those cities include New York, Boston, Los Angeles,
and a few others. The reason I believe this is because of the amount of sporting facilities

within the cities that are already built, the biggest problem with Montreal was it really didn’t

have the facilities already there, so they had to spend money on state of the art facilities that

end up almost running the city into the ground.

There’s one thing that you always hear when it comes time for the Olympics and its

generally something about some athlete who is supposed to be competing in the Olympics

gets suspended from the games for some kind of substance abuse. This is something that the

International Olympic Committee has been fighting ever since they banned the use of

performance-enhancing drugs from Olympic competition. So why does the Olympics have

such a bad problem with this over conformity? Why do Olympic athletes feel the need to

cheat to get ahead? It seems like once the International Olympic Committee bans one drug

another is formed and new ways to cheat are found. How do you stop something you can’t

control? Athletes always want to give themselves an edge over other athletes whether that

means they only wear and use certain types of clothes and gear, or if it’s how much time they

spend in the gym lifting weights and getting stronger or faster, or if it’s how much they study

the sport, the opponent, and themselves. There’s one thing though that athletes around the

world have been doing for years and years and that’s PED’s or otherwise known as

performance Enhancing drugs. According to the International Olympic Committee, “The

number of tests conducted during the Olympic Games has increased over the years: up from

3,600 in Athens to over 5,000 in London and Rio. While this increase demonstrates the IOC's

commitment to ensuring that athletes play fair, there is a greater shift towards using a more

intelligent testing strategy through more targeted out-of-competition tests” (Olympic.org).

There are some people that believe that doping and performance-enhancing drugs should be

permitted within international Olympic competition. The argument being made for this is that

the people who are cheating are going to cheat no matter what and some don’t get caught but

if it was legalized for play then everyone would have the same choice to up their game and it

would be a fair playing field for all. But my argument against this is how can we turn a blind

eye on the people doing things that are considered deviant in sport but then jail people in real

life because they’re also using banned substances. It sets a dangerous precedent and I don’t

really think it sends the right message to the young athletes of the world that it’s okay to take

the easy way out and use drugs instead of performing naturally. I personally believe that it

destroys the integrity that comes with playing sports and in my opinion is the equivalent to

Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift lip syncing at all of their concerts, it’s just not a genuine

experience and something I see as morally and ethically wrong.

My point behind my writing is not to sway you to one side or the other when it comes

to the Olympics but instead hopefully lead you to recognize what is good about the games

and what is wrong with them. Emphasizing these good and bad attributes sheds light on

things that most people would never think of while watching Usain Bolt or Shaun White win

gold medal after gold medal in their respected events. Opening eyes and minds about what

really happens behind the scenes at the Olympics and hoping that maybe there will be change

in the future is my main goal and I hope my approach delivered just that.
References:

 Tommie Smith and John Carlos. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.arthurashe.org/tommie-smith-and-john-carlos.html

 Montreal, J. T. (2016, July 06). The 40-year hangover: How the 1976 Olympics

nearly broke Montreal. Retrieved from

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jul/06/40-year-hangover-1976-olympic-

games-broke-montreal-canada

 Support and protect clean athletes. (2018, March 07). Retrieved from

https://www.olympic.org/fight-against-doping