Olympics Case
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“The 1968 Olympics signified an end of innocence and the beginning of a new world in which the Games, once thought to transcend international politics, were instead shaped by them”(Gettings, 2007). The Olympics are usually held every four years. The Olympics showcase the abilities of the best athletes in the world. This paper will be about the controversy surrounding the 1968 summer Olympics in Mexico City and how much politics entered, and should enter the Olympics.
There were some controversies that happened in the 1968 summer Olympics. The one of the controversy that happened was that ten days before the 1968 summer Olympics were supposed to start there was a shooting. The shooting killed more than 260 people and injured 1,200 people. “All that summer in Mexico, a country tightly controlled by one-party rule, hundreds of thousands of students demonstrated for democracy. They were spied on by the government, which was nervous about how it would appear in the glare of the most intense international spotlight of all”.(Gettings, 2007). Even though this tragedy happened, the 1968 summer Olympics still went on. “Another controversy that happened was that the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy happened in the same year as the 1968 summer Olympics. And also the Democratic convention in Chicago and the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia also happened in the same year as the 1968 summer Olympics”.(Gettings, 2007). There was a lot of tension in the United States following the two assassinations. The Blacks lost a very powerful and influential leader they looked up to. There was the potential for racial unrest at this time and race riots broke out in 124 cities. The whites lost another Kennedy son some people thought would be the next President of the United States. Another problem was that during the National Anthem, four black Americans gave the black power salute. The black power salute is when the blacks raised their right fists with black gloves on and bowed heads. The names of the people who did this were Tommie Smith, John Carlos. “They were immediately thrown off the team by the USOC”.(Gettings, 2007). The USOC stands for the United States Olympic Committee. The final controversy was that the Olympians were 7,000 feet above sea level. So most people had a hard time breathing, so that meant a hard time running. “Very few people understood the significance of competition in the endurance events at this height. Bodies could not react in the same manner in high-class competition. The disparity was large enough to bring a degree of unfairness” (Rodda, 1976).
Yes, I think that this action was appropriate, at the time. I think that the action was appropriate because the Civil Rights Movement had not been passed yet. The Civil Rights Movement had not been passed until after the 1968 summer Olympics. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 wanted to end discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. A 1968 Supreme Court ruling said that the federal government had the