The Olympics, politics and protest have been intertwined almost since the very birth of the modern Games in 1896, expressed through banishments, boycotts, demonstrations and terrorism.
In that sense, the current demonstrations protesting China’s hosting of the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing is nothing new.
Tibet is currently the focus of attention, given the violence that broke out earlier this month. It touched directly on the Games last Monday when protesters smeared with fake blood appeared at the Olympic torch-lighting ceremony in Greece.
But it’s not the first time the Beijing Games have been targeted. Last August, the media freedom group Reporters Without Borders released a poster showing an alternate take on the Olympic rings: Five interlocking handcuffs, with the caption “Beijing 2008.”
The group was trying to highlight repressive media policies in China, which it calls the “world’s biggest prison for journalists and cyber-dissidents.”
Activists in Canada have also used the Olympics to draw attention to their cause. Anti-poverty protesters in Vancouver have used actions against the 2010 Winter Games as a method to draw attention to their cause. Alberta’s Lubicon Cree, then fighting for a land claims settlement, protested at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games.
All those were small beer, however, compared to the Munich massacre. In 1972, Palestinian extremists kidnapped and murdered 11 members of Israel’s Olympic team during the Summer Games. A bomb rocked celebrations at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.
Protests from interest groups and terrible acts by extremists are one thing, but the International Olympic Committee has also banned countries from participating as a political statement of its own. Some countries have in turn boycotted various Games.
Here is a look back at the countries that have been banned from participating over the years.
* 1920 and 1924: Germany wasn’t allowed to send teams as punishment for its role in the First World War.
* 1923: The Soviet Union was banned over the Bolshevik revolution; the USSR and its East European allies didn’t participate again until 1952.
* 1964: South Africa was banished over its apartheid policies.
* 1972: Rhodesia kicked out of Olympics.
* 1976: Taiwan was excluded after Canada would not recognize the island as the Republic of China.
* 2000: Afghanistan was banned in protest over the then-Taliban government’s policies towards women.
Boycotts
* 1936: Many countries considered boycotting the Berlin Summer Games to protest the National Socialist government led by Adolf Hitler, who had started to implement his racist policies. Forty-nine countries still attended. U.S. African-American sprinter Jesse Owens made a statement of sort by winning four gold medals.
* 1956: The Melbourne Summer Games were preceded by two major conflicts: The Suez Crisis and the Soviet Union’s invasion of Hungary. Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon boycotted over the Suez Crisis, and the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland boycotted over Hungary. Fifty-seven countries participated altogether.
* 1976: Twenty-six African nations boycotted Montreal’s Summer Games. They were angry over the IOC’s decision to let New Zealand participate after that country’s rugby team toured South Africa.
* 1980: The United States led a boycott of the Moscow Summer Games to protest the Soviet Union’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. Sixty-one nations participated, including Canada. Eighty-one countries still attended.
* 1984: The Soviet Union boycotted the Summer Games in Los Angeles. East Germany, Cuba and 14 other countries joined them. One-hundred-and-forty countries still attended.
* 1988: North Korea, miffed at not being named a co-host of the Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, boycotted the event. Ethiopia and Cuba joined the boycott, but 159 other countries showed up.
* 1992: Barcelona became notable for being the first Olympics in decades not to be subjected to a boycott. One-hundred-sixty-nine countries showed up.
There is no talk yet about nations boycotting the Beijing Games, but there is some talk about snubbing the opening ceremonies.
Protests
Ten days before the Mexico City Summer Games in 1968, students held massive protests to criticize the Mexican government’s lavish spending on the Games while so many suffered in poverty.
Up to 500 are estimated to have died in what became known as the Tlatelolco massacre, when police and soldiers fired on the students. More than 1,000 others were injured. One-hundred-twelve countries still showed up — including Canada.
The Mexico Games also saw the iconic “Black Power” protest of American sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith. They stood silently on the medals podium of the 200-metre spring event while the U.S. anthem was being played. They wore black socks and raised a single black gloved fist in the air. To put the event in some cultural context, legendary singer James Brown released “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)” that year — and civil rights leader Martin Luther King had been assassinated that spring.
The two athletes were kicked out of the Olympics. Back home, the media savaged them, and the U.S. Olympic Committee banned them from future Games.
The Olympic charter sternly reads: “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”
Steve Keogh, communications manager for the Canadian Olympic Committee, told CTV.ca that Canada has no policy on athletes issuing political statements beyond the Olympic charter.
“Outside the venues, they are free to do whatever they want under the laws of that host country,” he said.
Asked if Canadian athletes have ever violated the charter in the way that Smith and Carlos did, Keogh said, “I don’t know of one that comes to mind for Canada.”
He added: “We respect every athlete’s freedom of expression. It is their right, and we respect that.”
from: ctv.ca (ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080329/olympic_protest_080329/20080329/)
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