Aug 06 2008
The Time for Sport is Now
In the summer of 1936, world leaders knew what the general public didn’t yet know–that Adolf Hitler was a mad tyrant. Hitler had been elected chancellor of Germany in 1933 but he quickly usurped all political power and formed the Third Reich. Hitler looked forward to a crowning achievement, hosting the Summer Olympic Games in Berlin.
U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew Hitler was a scourge even though there wasn’t much politically he could do about it. He knew his citizens craved isolationism. They’d returned from World War I (then called the Great War) in Europe fewer than 20 years earlier. Roosevelt knew any overt military action would never be accepted. So he had to wait five years until Europe was nearly completely under Nazi rule before he had the mandate to fight Germany.
In the summer of 1936, Roosevelt had a decision to make. He chose to take a political stand in protest of a government he knew had withheld basic human rights, had killed its own people and begun to prepare for a war that would restore its lost glory. So Roosevelt made the difficult choice to order the United States to boycott the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He hoped the action, although heartbreaking for the American athletes involved, would lead to the greater good of world peace and freedom.
Oh wait. That’s not what happened. What happened is that Jesse Owens went to Berlin’s Olympic Stadium and won four gold medals in front of the Fuhrer himself. Owens, without firing a shot, disproved the myth of the Aryan race in front of tens of thousands of spectators. By the time the competition had ended, Owens was a hero on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Others have won four or more gold medals since 1936 but, given the circumstances, I’d say Jesse Owens’ performance was the greatest in Olympic history.
Jimmy Carter foolishly mixed politics and sport in 1980 by leading a western boycott of the Moscow Games. His re-election hopes were dashed then. The Soviet Union could have proven to be the bigger superpower but instead fell into a tit-for-tat trap. The Soviets and nearly all eastern bloc countries boycotted the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Romania defied the boycott and was immediately the second-favorite nation competing in the hearts of the fans.
There will undoubtedly be political moments. Perhaps there will be something be strong as the Black Power salute given by Tommie Smith and John Carlos in 1968 during their medal ceremony. Most likely, there will be simply athletes running around competition venues while draped in national flags. They’ll be overjoyed that their years of hard work have resulted in glory for themselves and their countries.
Charles Barkley famously said athletes are not role models. That point is mixed. Some athletes deserve ridicule and some deserve acclaim. I’m sure Barkley would agree, however, that athletes are not diplomats. The competitors must do what they’ve been trained to do and the politicians must do what they’ve been elected and appointed to do.
