Olympics

Olympics

The five rings of power, each standing for a single continent in which competed in the games. The Olympics started in 1896 and have withered through some tough times but as we are still witnessing today, these games will keep becoming a part of history. The most controversial Olympics ever was the 1936 games in Berlin and in a close second comes the summer games of 1968 in Mexico City. These games affected the way everyone viewed their competitors and spectators. Though the games were great in stature, the games of 36' and 68' could have easily damaged the rest of the Olympics forever.

The 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin, Germany in a time when Adolph Hitler ruled with great power. The IOC decided on Berlin instead of Barcelona with a ballot vote that went 43-16 in favor of Berlin. Though everyone knew of Hitler's cruelty to people the IOC decided not to pull the Olympics, but instead make it clear to the people that the city of Berlin was getting it and not the Nazi party. "A Nazi spokesmen, Bruno Malitz, condemned modern sports because they were international, "infested" with Frenchmen, Belgians, Pollacks, and Jew-Niggers" (p. 54). The Olympic committee was determined to fight for their greatest international event ever even it took facing Hitler, probably the most influential and most powerful man in the world.

This was the indefinite "war without weapons" unfolding in front of the world and there wasn't much that could be done to stop it, even the IOC was in check by the Nazi party. The Germans continuously lied and avoided the thought of German-Jews competing in these Olympics. They felt that since they were holding the games that they didn't need to follow the rules of the Olympics brought out by the IOC. The rule was that everyone disregarding racial status was allowed to try out for the team. Hitler's men assured the IOC and pretty much the rest of the world that they would in fact get a fair try-out and would...

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