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CNN Saturday Morning News

Olympics Have History of Mixing Politics, Sports

Aired July 14, 2001 - 09:27   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Along with the celebration, there's also controversy over China's selection to host the 2008 Summer Games, and it isn't the first time the Olympics and politics have shared the same podium.

CNN's Garrick Utley has more on what the 2008 Games could mean for China.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARRICK UTLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Berlin, 1936, the Summer Olympics had been awarded to Germany two years before the Nazis came to power. But Adolf Hitler turns the Games into his political stage to show the superiority of his German Master Race.

The Fuhrer is not happy when American Jessie Owens wins four gold medals.

Mexico City, 1968, 10 days before the Summer Olympics open, Mexican students protest against the money being spent on the Games rather than poverty. The army opens fire. More than 250 are killed.

Inside the stadium, politics mounts the victory stand when a black power salute is given by gold and bronze medal winners Tommy Smith and John Carlos. The two Americans are sent home.

Munich, 1972, terrorism invades the Olympic Village. Palestinians kill two Israeli athletes and seize nine hostages. The hostages and eight terrorists die during a failed rescue. The Games are suspended for one day for a memorial service, and then continue.

(on camera): Part of the mythology surrounding the Olympics is that the Games are above politics. The reality is that they're never beyond the reach of politics. Sports, after all, are about life and competition and winning.

(voice-over): In the summer of 1980, Moscow got all dressed up for its Olympics, and a lot of people didn't come. The Soviet troops and tanks which had invaded Afghanistan led the United States to boycott the Games. Sixty other nations stayed away, the largest boycott in Olympic history.

At the next Olympics in Los Angeles, the Soviet Union scored its cold war points by keeping its athletes home. The Olympics may be about individuals competing, but the individuals represent countries, which have their own political pressures. Perhaps the best example of Olympic pressure on domestic politics came in South Korea with the 1988 Games. The military had controlled the government. Pressure for democratic reforms was growing in the streets, and the pressure of world attention brought by the Olympics was felt by President Roh Tae Woo. Five months before he opened the Games, he allowed free elections.

(on camera): Which raises the question, can and should the Olympics be used as a political tool to promote change in a country? If it helped in South Korea, will it in China?

(voice-over): Of course, that was not on the official agenda of the International Olympic Committee as it awarded the 2008 Games to Beijing. But it's certainly in the minds of China's leaders, who want the prestige of the Olympics and to hold onto their power.

Above all, there are the people, who must wonder as they celebrate, what changes their Olympics will bring to their lives.

Garrick Utley, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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