October 15, 1975

Olympics Plagued By Nationalism

The way things are going, the Olympic Games in Montreal next July may be the last of an era.

Some kind of international sports competition undoubtedly will survive, but the traditional spirit of friendship and fun is long gone.

These unsettling conclusions were made evident to me during a recent visit to the Canadian city that will host the Twenty First Olympiad of the modern series.

All of Canada seems to be in a big hassle over the merits and costs of the Olympic Games.  They are expected to cost $627 million at last calculation.  Revenues will bring in an anticipated $393 million.

Someone will have to pick up the tab for the difference.  - $234 million.  Montrealians are bitter over the certainty that most, if not all, the deficit will come out of their already over-taxed pocketbooks.  And they haven't yet paid off the deficit of the great World's Fair Expo eight years ago.

Moving force behind Montreal's participation in world-wide attractions is Mayor Jean Drapeau.  He believes Montreal can become the major convention city in North America - out-pulling such U.S. giants as New York City, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

His critics point out that while a posh Olympic City is being built for athletes, twice as many children in Montreal live in poverty as for the rest of Canada.

While the citizens of Montreal worry about the highest tax rate in their country, Canadian athletes are angry about the lack of financial assistance for their efforts.

In a survey of 286 Olympic candidates most felt they should be subsidized by their government.

Said one respondent, typical of the rest, "The thing that makes me sick is the millions of dollars- they're spending on the Olympics.  But what about the athletes?  I've been training now for more than 10 years and what do I have for all that time but a few trophies and a two-bit reputation."

"Athletes who qualify for the Olympics should perform as individuals in their own choice of dress and burn their uniforms in protest," replied another.

The majority of athletes who replied to the questionnaire said they experience serious financial difficulties for taking part in the Olympics.  A Canadian Olympic official assured me that the attitudes also expressed the outlook of American athletes.

All of this carping about pay for play flows directly from the national competition that has grown up around the games in recent years.  No - longer is the Olympics for "amateurs".  It is a deadly serious display of national prestige.  The athletes don't perform for the fun of it.  Goaded by their governments, they train to a fine professional edge for the greater glory of the fatherland.

It is a far cry from the intention of either the original Olympiads in Greece or from the modern games re-established by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, of France, in 1896.

When the Romans conquered Greece in ancient times, they continued the Olympics.  However, the games soon degenerated into professional circuses and were finally abolished in the fourth century by Emperor Theodosius.

Baron de Coubertin's dream was to develop universal-understanding through amateur athletics.  For awhile he succeeded.

Greece was awarded the honor of holding the first modern Olympics.  Of the 396 athletes who competed, many came on their own.

A small group of Americans crossed the Atlantic by tramp steamer, hitchhiked across Europe and reached Athens a few hours before the opening ceremonies.  The first gold medal, in fact, was won by a Harvard student in the hop-step-and-jump, an event he had never tried before.

The United States won 12 gold medals at Mexico City in 1968, and this record total declined to five in the Munich Olympiad of 1972.  Sports observers say we will be lucky to match that meager tally at Montreal.

Belgium's Emile Puttemans, holder of the 5000-meter world record, says, "Many European countries now have better training facilities and coaching programs, and this is beginning...to erode American dominance."

This candid statement reveals the difficulties the Olympics have once again fallen into.

Professionalism and nationalism!  German Dictator Hitler tried to make the 1936 Olympiad in Berlin a showcase of German superiority.  He failed, of course, but the nationalism he unleashed has become a curse.

American blacks have used the winners' podium to shake their fists in protest to the world and their own country.  Arab terrorists forever besmirched the spirit of the Olympics by invading a dormitory at Munich and killing eleven Israeli athletes.

Russia is notorious for fully subsidizing and pampering potential Olympic athletes.  They spend full time developing the muscles to help advance Communism superiority.

The United States has fought valiantly to maintain the spirit of amateurism, but even here the athletes are getting restless.  They want time and money to train and compete on the Soviet level.

When athletes want to make a living at it, when cities go broke for Olympic prestige, when nations make the games a propaganda circus, then it is time we asked ourselves:

Did Emperor Theodosius know something we don't?

Author: Lindsey Williams