OLYMPICS PART TWO: SCANDALS AND CONTROVERSIES

http://genelalor.com/ ^ | JULY 20, 2008 | GENE LALOR

[Gene Lalor]

OLYMPICS PART TWO: SCANDALS AND CONTROVERSIES

Published July 20th, 2008

Idealism is an admirable quality.

The reality is, despite the idealistic dreams of the founder of the modern Olympiad and the current members of the IOC, the Games have never even approached the “equality of sports which are international and democratic” nor have they ever come close to their goal of contributing “to building a peaceful and better world.” Would that it were so, but it isn’t so.

In fact, for many decades now, the Olympics have been a venue for nationalistic propaganda, racism, boycotts, drug use, terrorism, and just downright cheating.

This site lists the “worsts,” including Jesse Owens infuriating Hitler in Berlin in 1936, Black Panthers infuriating America with their insulting salute in 1968, the slaughter of Israeli athletes in 1972, nations trading boycotts in 2000 and 2004, as well as various fixes, phony judges and judging, and trailer trash Tonya Harding’s knee-capping Nancy Kerrigan in 1994: http://www.listafterlist.com/tabid/57/listid/12304/Sports++Recreation/Top+10+Olympic+Scandals+and+Controversies.aspx

But those only represent the tip of the Olympic Scandal Iceberg. As the passengers on the Titanic discovered, the most obvious isn’t always the worst. The Olympics’ ...

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