Sport and politics

Propaganda, boycotts, the Cold War, apartheid and ping-pong diplomacy: how States use sport and how sport responds.

The outline, topic by topic

Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.

Olympic boycott: what is it?
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One or more countries collectively refusing to take part in the Games in protest.
Montreal 1976, Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 are the major examples.
Twenty-nine countries, mostly African, left the Montreal 1976 Games. Why?
- To protest a New Zealand rugby tour of South Africa
- To protest the Vietnam War
- For lack of money
- Against the invasion of Afghanistan
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To protest a New Zealand rugby tour of South Africa
They blamed the IOC for not excluding New Zealand.
Ping-pong diplomacy: what is it?
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Table-tennis exchanges between the United States and China in 1971 that paved the way for rapprochement.
Richard Nixon visited China the following year.
Why does a State spend heavily to host the Games?
- Because the Games always make money
- Because the IOC pays for building the stadiums
- To gain image and influence in the world
- To win a permanent seat on the IOC
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To gain image and influence in the world
This is soft power: prestige counts as much as the often loss-making accounts.