ABSTRACT
The Olympic Games were conceived partly as an international meeting ground, and the first International Olympic Committee contained several figures who also played an active role in international peace organisations. Yet, from the start, tensions and rivalries between nations disrupted the internationalist aspirations of Olympism. Indeed from the earliest years, for a combination of pragmatic, political and cultural reasons, national-based structures, practices and rituals began to develop. National flags, teams, uniforms, anthems at the victory ceremonies, and the ‘unofficial’ medal tables in the media – all contribute to an image of the Olympic Games as a symbolic contest between nations. During the 1908 Games there were several acrimonious disputes between British and American officials. The 1936 Games became notorious as the ‘Nazi Olympics’, and in the Cold War era the Games became a symbolic battleground between East and West, communism and capitalism. The IOC also had to manage divided societies in Germany, Korea and China; Middle East tensions associated with the establishment of Israel and displacement of the Palestinians; the impact of decolonisation and establishment of emergent independent nations; and the demands for the isolation of South Africa over apartheid. This chapter examines the inherent contradictions between internationalism and national organisation, outlining the development and management of political tensions by the Olympic movement.
