With only a couple of days until the start of the Olympic Games in the Russian city of Sochi, the Olympic park is buzzing with activity and preparations are in full swing.
Security is at its highest while finishing touches are being put on the glassy, monster-sized Fisht Stadium, which will kick off the opening ceremony.
However, these are not the only games being played on the Olympic grounds.
Behind every athlete, there are success-hungry coaches, strategically planning every jump on the ice, turn on the slopes, and goal in the rink. Behind every national team, there’s an equally strategic barrage of political activity. Like passionate fans screaming in support of their teams, there are also politicians on the sidelines, silently vying for their own interests.
The most recent games have sparked a flame in the hearts of Russian citizens, political activists, and governments around the world. Debates, speculation, negative media attention, and protests have further fueled the fire.
The criticism is surrounding not only Russian President Vladimir Putin, but also the International Olympic Committee(IOC) for not seeing to their true duties.
So what is it about these Olympic Games that has people around the world on the edge of their seats?
Publicity, nationalism, and terrorism
“The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity,” says the 2014 Olympic charter.
The first modern Olympics were held in 1896 by Baron Pierre Coubertin, with the hopes of gathering together the professional athletes of nations on the most perfect level of equality, according to the 1920 charter.
Today’s charter conveys a similar objective. But the IOC has been under scrutiny for not ensuring the games meet their founding objectives.
The very organization of the games through national teams makes it difficult for nations to compete on a friendly and strictly athletic basis.
The past century has been tainted by controversies, and the games have a long history of serving as a platform for politics.
“Olympics, from an ideological perspective, are about promotion of nationalism. The truth is it mobilizes national patriotism, which is pretty ugly in a lot of ways,” says Tyler Shipley, a York political science professor.
In the case of Sochi, many have labeled the Olympics as Putin’s very own “pet project,” and a way for him to showcase his control over the country and put out a positive picture of Russia around the world.
Without any explanation, Putin recently permitted the release of two members of the Russian punk rock-activist group, Pussy Riot, and former Russian oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, from prison.
In an interview, Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova deemed her release to be nothing but a publicity stunt to improve Russia’s reputation just before the games. She was arrested in 2012 for participating in a protest against Putin.
The December railway station bombing by a Chechen woman was another planned political move by terrorist groups in Chechnya who have long been against Putin’s power.
The positive politics of sports
By nature, sports can harbor strong bonds between players as well as create deep-seated resentment between teams.
Shipley says, “Sports have the ability to push great politics, but it’s a matter of whether or not people are willing to use sports for that reason […] Sports are a big part of our lives and can teach really interesting, progressive things.”
Beyond the Olympic stadiums, many athletes have made strong, positive political statements through their game.
In 1947, Jackie Robinson made a huge political statement, by becoming the first African-American athlete to play in an all-whites league, overcoming the racial segregation at the time.
In more recent years, small, single political acts have given way to the development of sports diplomacy.
In 1973, Canada sent a British Columbian hockey team to play a friendly game against the Chinese team to build a relationship between the nations.
As Shipley explains, sometimes mixing sports and politics isn’t such a bad thing.
Rather than playing simply for money and status, athletes can use their influential position in society and media attention to make political statements out on the field so that their game really means something.
Different city, same story
Unfortunately, the Olympics haven’t been an arena for good politics in the past few years.
Sochi might be the focus of media scrutiny these days, but the 2014 Olympics are just a mirror image of Vancouver 2010 and London 2012.
Shipley describes the Olympic games as a “mask,” covering up the truth of Russian affairs. “All the things that are wrong and criticized about Sochi are the same for London and Vancouver,” he says.
Behind the pride and excitement during the Vancouver Games, the indigenous people of Canada, fought for their land rights.
The Olympic park in Sochi is truly a work of art, but neighborhoods in Sochi are without electricity and construction in the area has destroyed building foundations and caused homes to sink.
But despite all the negative media attention surrounding the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, some still won’t write-off the games completely.
Karina Davydova, a political science graduate and a Russian-Canadian, has a refreshingly positive attitude towards the games.
“As somebody who was born in the former USSR and who has vacationed regularly in Sochi as a child, I cannot help but feel a great sense of pride that such a scenic city will be represented on the world stage.”
“The upcoming games are of great importance to the Russian-Canadian community overall because not only will it serve as a token of nostalgia for those now living in Canada, but it will also involve a sense of pride our homeland is playing centre stage for such an important event.”
With regards to the negative publicity, Davydova states that Putin’s actions are not representative of an entire nation.
“Hosting the Olympic Games makes one’s city placed under the proverbial microscope, and Russia is no different.”
“Russia has a long history of conducting itself in a way that other countries have categorized as unethical and so it is no surprise that such activities will once again be brought to light in the wake of the Games.”
“If carried out successfully, the Sochi Winter Olympic Games will once again re-establish Russia as a serious player in the world of politics and international affairs.”
Davydova’s feelings towards the Olympics are a perfect reminder that the Games have the potential to be considered one of the greatest honors and triumphs in Russian history, despite the country’s political issues.
In 1927, Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, made the following speech: “My friends and I have not fought and worked to restore the Olympic games to you as an object for museum or cinema, nor is it our wish that mercantile or electoral interests should seize upon them.
“In reviving the institution, 25 centuries old, we have wished you to become devotees of the religion of sport….Olympisim may be a school of moral nobility and purity, as well as of physical endurance and energy…The future rests with you.”
Perhaps one day, in the true spirit of the Olympic Games, nations around the world will put the politics aside and allow for the revival of the religion of sports.
Maha Azher
Contributor
