Sports, Politics and the Olympics

The 1936 Olympic Games were held in Berlin. There is great significance to these Olympic games because it occurred during the start of the Nazi regime. According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, the Olympic games in 1936, were used as a tool in order to show the world how tolerable and peaceful Germany was. While slowly expressing their true goals, throughout the games, Germany was trying to be seen as tolerable of everyone. Propaganda was used during the Olympic games in order to show the false rhetoric of the Nazi Party. There were boycotts of Jewish athletes at the Olympic games, but many of which failed. There was talk of having the United States not participating; however, ended up with the second largest team at the 1936 Olympics. 

This leads into the question of how was sport used for political measure. In the 1936 Olympic Games, it was clear that sports were used as a propaganda vehicle. According to Eitzen and Sage's article, in the 1936 Olympics, Adolf Hitler used sports in order to introduce Nazi culture to other nations. Sports as a propaganda vehicle is just one of Eitzen and Sage's 5 political ways of sports. 

I disagree with the statement of: "Sport is pure and devoid of political interference". I believe that this is a false statement because of what happened in the Olympic Games in 1936. Through research, I have found that in almost every sporting event, there is some sort of nationalism. Nationalism equates to politics. If there is politics then it interferes with sport. For example, when you go to a high school, college, or professional basketball game, the National Anthem is performed. This is a huge political statement of nationalism. At the Olympics, if a country wins the gold medal, their national anthem is played. These are just a few examples that show how nationalism is evident in sports. 

Through researching the 1936 Olympics, I have come to the conclusion that Sport isn't pure and devoid of political interference. If anything, sports is reflected through politics. While the 1936 Olympics shows a negative political interference, I do believe that it is important to have some nationalist ideals. We should be proud to live where we live. I am proud to be an American. Since sports play a big role in American society, American society (politics) should play a role in sports. 

References: 
Eitzen and Sage
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005680