ABSTRACT
The Melbourne protests were part of a general pattern established long before 1956 and which continue to the present day. Countries absenting themselves from the Olympic Games, either as a gesture of protest, or because of exclusion, have been a feature of Olympic history. They usually make headlines and attract the rhetoric of interested parties who talk regretfully about how unfortunate it is that sports and politics have become mixed up. But, then again, they mix so well. Why?
