The Modern Olympics: Power, Politics and Performance

The Modern Olympics: Power, Politics and Performance The critique is fair to some extent. Since its inception, Olympic Games have been a thing of the western nations. The sporting event that brings together over 200 countries after every four years segregates nations along their economic ability. The poor countries have often been lambasted for not having modern facilities to host such a ‘sensitive’ event. In addition, security has been pointed as an issue of utmost importance. This has locked out a number of developing nations, otherwise the black continent from hosting the event. The wealthy nations have been able to muscle out the contenders from poor economies seeking to bid for the hosting of this coveted sporting event from their countries. For example, Kenya that is a developing nation and an economic giant lost its bid to host the event on unrealistic grounds. Their interest was dismissed on grounds that the country lacked basic infrastructure to host the event. That in my opinion envisages the fact that poor nations have no room to host the event in the near future.

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The Olympic Games brings with it a package of opportunities to a hosting nation. With a huge number of participating nations i.e. 200, an economy has an ability of growing in all aspects. There are two types of Olympic Games, the summer and winter Olympic Games. The two games are played after the lapse of their four-year calendar. However, despite the two-year frequency, no poor nation has managed to convince the committee to entrust it with the event.

Only wealthy nations have been considered as the favorites to host the event. However, given a chance, traditionally poor countries are better placed to produce the best organizers for the event.

This can be attested from the FIFA world cup that was hosted in South Africa in 2010. South Africa’s organization was graded among the best in the history of football. The same can be replicated in the Olympic arena.

Racism needs to be condemned by all individuals to ensure that the color of the hosting nation is not a primary factor in the quest for consideration (Findling & Pelle, 2004). It is even disturbing that poor countries face discrimination in Olympic organizing committee but their participation is highly needed during the function. To uplift the welfare of all participating nations, it is important that rotational hosting be advanced to ensure that no country is discriminated on economic, color or cultural grounds. In addition, the move will ensure poor nations have a part to play in the monitoring of the event. This will encourage them increase their investment and support. The event that first crossed the great wall in 2008 calls for good investments in the part of the hosting countries. However, their ability is not constrained to themselves. They are not prevented from seeking partnership with other willing economies to develop the relevant structures that meet the quality standards of the committee. From the aforementioned, it is apparent that infrastructure need not be the only consideration during the

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evaluation of the request. A poor nation needs to be assisted to come up with the relevant structure. This empowerment will place them in a spot where they can easily bargain future hosting of internationally recognized events. In my honest opinion, I believe the event has been discriminative to poor countries whose inability has been judged and their fate sealed upfront by the rich nations.

Paralympic Games is a huge international sport that brings together the disadvantaged individuals in the society to compete in the global arena. The athletes who participate in this event are the lame, blind and those with brain disorders. Just like the Olympic Games, Paralympic games too have the winter and summer games. However, this sporting event is not run concurrently with the Olympic Games. They are conducted after respective games of Olympic i.e. Summer Paralympic games come after summer Olympic games. The event was first operational in 1948 as a sport to recognize British veterans of the World War II. However, the event is commanding many following in the 21st century. Paralympic Sports event received a warm reception from the civil society and the public all over the continent as it provides an avenue of equal treatment of individuals. The participants also feel recognized by the society.

This boosts their receptive nature and changes their dimension of viewing their fellow humans.

Paralympic Games comes with many challenges. First, there is a huge gap between the funding of Paralympic games compared to other sports i.e. the mother event Olympic Games.

Secondly, rigid policies have been a point of concern in the recent past. Although event organizers are trying their level best to ensure each athlete is treated equally, most Olympic competitors are reluctant to compete on an equal platform with the physically challenged athletes. Field events such as track athletic policies disadvantage the less privileged persons who are willing and able to take on other participants in the events. This is despite there being some

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athletes who have participated and thrived well as their counterparts in Olympic Games (Keith & Otto, 2009).

Given the uniqueness of each challenge, the Paralympic committee is presented with a puzzle to solve to ensure that each group needs are satisfied. Due to variation in the disability, the event organizers come up with different categories for these individuals to participate in. The classifications have been criticized for favoring some athletes over others. This is because some athletes fail to be honest when stating their type of impairment to the registration committee.

Some athletes have been surrounded by controversies of exaggerating their level of disability during the registration process. On the other hand, the disability of some athletes has been a blessing in disguise. This is because they are using their state and the sympathy advanced to them by the event organizers to consume drugs meant to enhance their performance.

Ascertaining the individuals to be accepted to the event poses a big headache to planners.

Paralympic organizing committee has come up with six distinct categories to address the issue.

These six categories are the amputee, visually impaired, Cerebral Palsy, Les autres, Intellectual disability and those individuals using wheelchairs (Findling & Pelle, 2004). The Les Autres are those athletes who not able to fit in the five groups. These individuals are further classified to smaller groupings i.e. congenital deformities. Groupings that differ from one sport to another too. Despite the aforementioned challenges, Paralympic games have done well to develop a platform where athletes despite their physical challenges are treated equally.

Since its inception, the Olympic event has been attracting tradition sports from different participating countries. The evolution of sports is drastic more so in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Twentieth century was the century that saw a lot of revolution in Olympic sporting calendar.

Sporting adjustments were made to differentiate between winter, summer, Paralympic and

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youthful type of sports. The introduction of a variety of games has increased participants. This is because most nations feel they are well represented by the diverse sporting events. However, the adoption of new sporting events has drawn a lot of criticism from a number of quarters who argue that it has increased corruption in the sport. In embracing society cultural diversity, some Indian sports were incorporated in the gaming list. The sports were identified courtesy of international media that agitated for their adoption in the international sporting event. Field hockey and Kho Kho are two Indian sports that have been incorporated in Olympic sports calendar.

Field hockey is a hyped Indian sport. Citizens have glorified it to a level where it is ranked among official sports in the national sphere. Due to its national following, the sport attracted international sporting personalities who proposed its adoption as one of the events in the Olympic Games. India has done well both internationally and specifically in Olympic Games. The country has sourced eight medals since the inception of the sport in Olympics. This implies that the adoption of the sport in international arena is a blessing to the country (Keith & Otto, 2009). Field hockey was chosen not only due to its popularity but also because of the uniqueness of this country. India has a large population that is otherwise seen as a good niche for business. The move to adopt India sports is to please the country and make it open up its economy for other countries through the removal of insensitive tariffs and taxes. Wealthy economies are the custodians of the event and any move adopted has strings attached often meant to benefit them in either the short run or long term.

Kho Kho is another Indian sport that has received overwhelming support from international sports men and women. Kho kho is a game that is played by eighteen players where a team chooses nine players from its pool of twelve players to battle out with the opposing teams.

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The rule of the game is that players are to avoid any touch from the competing team. The Olympic association of India incorporated the sport in its events in 1982. During the first international tournament in 1998, the sport attracted a good number of sponsors. These individuals were much attracted to the game that it propelled it in the international sphere. This is the primary reason why the event was adopted by the Olympic association as part of the sport during its calendar.

From the discussions, it is apparent that both the Olympic and Paralympic games have effects that cut across the society. From the choice of a host to the type of sports chosen, it is evident that some interests play a key role in decisions. However, there is room for improvement to make the event improve its image and disapprove its critiques. The event organizers need to advocate for transparency when disseminating their responsibilities. In addition, the issue of favoring some countries based on their economic muscle and level of influence needs to be condemned to ensure that each participating country is given an equal hosting opportunity.

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Findling, J., & Pelle, D. (2004). Encyclopedia of the modern Olympic movement. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Keith, G., & Otto, S. (2009). The Paralympic Games: Empowerment or side show? Washington, D.C.: Meyer & Meyer Verlag.