Olympic Games and the IOC - Essay Example

Olympic Games and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) The Olympics remain important in the modern world, even though this has a long history. Initially, the Olympics was a series of competitions between different participants from different cities in Ancient Greece. The activities in the historical Olympics included athletics, and combat and chariot racing, among others. The Olympics in the past, as opposed to modern times, had significant religious importance to the people. This was held together with rituals in honor of the Greek gods, including Zeus and Pelops, as well as the mythical kings. Winning the Olympics was an important event, and today, most past winners of the Olympics are documented and honored. Nonetheless, the Olympics in Greece ended when the Romans rose to power and influenced the Greeks. However, in 1700’s and 1800’s, there were fresh attempts by France and England to revive the Olympics. Nonetheless, this registered success when in the year 1890, the International Olympic Association/Committee (IOC) was founded. This was to be responsible for the laying a framework for all Olympic Games (Engineering Sport Web). After a long pause of the Olympic games, in 1896, the first Olympic Games was held in Athens, as a tribute to the original Olympics. In these games, there was participation of 214 athletes and 14 nations, which competed in 43 events. Although the Greeks wanted the Olympics to be held in Athens and nowhere else, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) made a decision that different countries across the world will host the Olympic Games, thus Athens would not be the permanent host of the Olympics. Compared to the Olympics held in the Ancient Greece, the modern day Olympic Games exhibit a myriad of changes that have occurred to the Olympics ever since. New games have been added to the Olympic Games, including swimming, cycling, gymnastics, and fencing, among others. Furthermore, the number of countries participating in the modern Olympics has risen to over 200, compared to less than 20 in the 1896 Olympics (Engineering Sport Web). The IOC is an important and influential force in the modern Olympics Games. This non-governmental organization is based in Switzerland, and consists of 100 active members, 1 honor member, and 33 honorary members, and is headed by a president (Olympic.org Web). The role of the IOC is to organize all the modern Olympic Games and the Youth Olympic Games, which take place in summer and winter after every four years. This organization is also responsible for the management of finances from the Olympics, and these mainly are utilized in the organization of Olympic Games. In order to execute its role appropriately, the IOC adopts different projects and programs (British Library 1-3). Nonetheless, the core responsibility of IOC is to ensure the celebration of Olympic Games, to support all the organizations that are affiliated to the Olympic Movement, and to promote Olympic values among members. The IOC today attempts to execute these and other of its roles. The IOC has not fully succeeded in performing its roles perfectly, and this continues to influence Olympic Games in different ways. One of the major roles of IOC is to encourage and promote ethics in sports. This includes ensuring that there is fairness in the Olympic Games and there is no violence whatsoever experienced. On the contrast, the IOC has not fully performed this role as expected. There are different scenarios that have tainted the image of IOC, as far as ethics and integrity is concerned. A major corruption and bribery scenario is the scandal of the winter games in the Salt Lake City. Here, more than six members of the IOC were reported t have received bribes, gifts, and scholarships that were worth $600,000. This was offered to them by the organizers of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah in order to support the city’s bid to host the games. This scandal had adverse outcomes on the image of the IOC, as well as the overall events of the Olympic Games (British Library 4-5). Following the scandal of the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, the Vice President of the IOC initiated different changes in the IOC system. A major change was the overhaul of the bidding process. In this case, the IOC members lost their rights to vote for a city bidding to host the games. This responsibility was passed on to an independent committee consisting of eight IOC members, representatives from the Winter Sports Federation and the National Olympic Committee and athletes. Furthermore, the members of the IOC that were involved in the scandal were expelled from their positions on the grounds of corruption and failure to adhere to ethics. Nonetheless, apart from tainting the image of the IOC and the portrayal of Olympic Games in a negative manner, this scandal shook up the IOC, and resulted in the overhaul of the manner in which cities bid to host Olympic Games (British Library 4-5). Closely related to cases of corruption and bribery is the commercialization and commodification of Olympic Games. Commodification and commercialization of Olympics contributed to the scandal of the Winter Games in Salt Lake City. The modern Olympics attract multi-million sponsorship deals, which have turned the Olympic Games into a lucrative financial venture. These multi-million sponsorships are regarded as the root cause of corruption among most IOC members. Commercialization is the act of involving something in commerce. The Olympics have become highly commercialized, especially in the past few decades. This has resulted in the flourishing of sports marketing, sports tourism, sponsorship, and consultancy sectors. With regard to the scandal of the Salt Lake City, commercialization of sports is seen as a contributing factor. According to Tomlinson (1), the commercialization of Olympic Sports is exhibited in different ways. However, the core of commercialization of Olympics is the bidding process and the marketing strategy of the IOC. Tomlinson (1) notes that these processes are two dimension of one process that works to intensify the commercialization and commodification of the Olympics. The scandal of the Salt Lake City revolves around the bidding process, which is identified as characteristic of the commercialization and commodification of the Olympics. Similarly, concerns were raised about the over-commercialization of the Olympics in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where IOC had solicited for dozens of sponsors, thus was expected to make great profits (BBC Monitoring Asia Web). Wedekind (Web) also notes that the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing were a platform for marketing in China, as many international companies developed commercials and advertisements with Chinese themes in order to appeal to Chinese consumers. The president of the IOC plays a crucial role, and has a great influence on the organization. For this reason, the IOC can be seen as a reflection of its president and its practices that have existed since the past decades. The president is elected by the session, where members of the IOC vote in secret ballot. What makes the president of the IOC to have great influence on the IOC is his representation function. The president is responsible for making major decisions. This way, the president shapes the IOC, and his decisions influence other organizations affiliated to the IOC. Nonetheless, IOC is shaped depending on its elected president, as well as his leadership qualities. Therefore, if the president values Olympic the spirit, ideals, and values, he will ensure that the IOC members also adhere to these. In addition, the IOC continues to comply to the past practices that were initiated by past members and presidents, as there have been few reforms in the IOC. Nonetheless, Unger (Web) notes that the IOC is reluctant to do away with commercialization, thus the Olympics continue to be highly commercialized. For this reason and others, therefore, it is evident that the IOC is a reflection of its president, as well as its past practices. The IOC determines the growth of the Olympic Games. This has highly influenced the growth and evolution of Olympic Games over time, as the organization is responsible for increasing the number of games in the Olympics, including the type of games. The first modern Olympics had 22 sports, while the original Olympics in Athens had only 9 sports. However, today the number of sports in Olympics has increased to 28 sports, as rugby 7s and golf will be added in the 2016 Olympics. Therefore, today, the games in Olympics vary considerably with those in the past Olympics. The addition of games such as fencing, swimming, and cycling, among others, shows how the Olympics continues to grow (Engineering Sport Web). The continued influence of IOC will result in the incorporation of more sports in future Olympics. The controversies facing the Olympics and the IOC come in different dimensions. Another major concern in the Olympics is revolves around amateur vs. professional athletes. There continues to be a debate on whether or not to include professional athletes in the Olympics. Both the amateur and professional athletes in the Olympics have different impact. The professional athletes have ruined the Olympics for the amateurs, as they are highly skilled; therefore, get most of the medals, compared to the amateurs. Additionally, professional athletes have changed the scope of the games. In the past, professional athletes were not allowed in the Olympics. Today however, this has changed, as most Olympic teams comprise professional athletes. Furthermore, the professional athletes are credited for adding credit to the Olympics. This is because of the increased television viewership of the Olympics, and this is beneficial to the Games. People enjoy watching professional athletes, as compared to amateur athletes. Nonetheless, although professional athletes were prohibited from participating in the Olympics in the past, these have been accepted today, and this has a positive influence on the Games, as compared to when only amateur athletes are allowed. One of the major roles of the IOC is “To encourage and support the promotion of ethics in sport as well as education of youth through sport and to dedicate its efforts to ensuring that, in sport, the spirit of fair play prevails and violence is banned. . .” (Olympic.org Web). Therefore, most presidents of the IOC have been faced with the challenge of fighting any form of unethical acts in the Olympics. The most common unethical practice of athletes is doping. This does not adhere to ethics, as it affects health of athletes in an adverse manner, and grants athletes unfair advantage to athletes, thus going against the ethical values of sportsmanship. However, in modern Olympics, countries are pressured by the need to emerge successful in the competitions, thus have downplayed the ethical values of sportsmanship. A popular instance of doping by an athlete is that of Lance Armstrong, who was stripped of his titles and banned for life, for doping (Takedo Web). The win-at-all-costs culture has slowly crept into athletes, and has overtaken safe, fair, and honest competition. Nonetheless, this is disadvantageous to the individual athlete, as well as the overall Olympics. Commercial interests of the IOC, sponsors of the Olympics, and athletes, among other participants are the major cause of different controversies surrounding the Olympics. Therefore, in order for future Olympic competitions to be fair and successful, the commercial interests involved must be kept under control. Although it is presumed that commercial interests in the Olympics have a long history, it is possible to change this culture in Olympics. All the involved parties need to initiate their own change of mind and aim at upholding the core values of the Olympics and acting in the Olympic spirit. The authorities involved, including the IOC should ensure that necessary measures are put in place to uphold ethics. Therefore, it is possible for the commercial interests in Olympics to be put under control in future, only if effective strategies are adopted. In conclusion, the Olympics have a long history, and continue to evolve over the years. The IOC is a great influence on the Olympics, as this shapes the Olympic Games and determines growth of the Olympic Games. However, the IOC continues to be faced by different challenges, which threaten the role and function of the Olympics today. These challenges are drawn from both the internal and external environments. Cases of bribery and corruption in the IOC in the past have tainted the image of the IOC. Additionally, the commercialization of the Olympics continues to raise concerns, as the IOC contributes to it. Furthermore, due to the pressure to succeed in the Olympics, most countries and athletes have downplayed ethics, and engaged in various unethical practices, such as doping, which undermines the values of the Olympics. Nonetheless, with the adoption of necessary strategies by the IOC, and the commitment of all countries and individuals to the values and ideals of the Olympics, it is possible to overcome the challenges that face modern Olympics, and ensure ideal Olympics in the future. Works Cited BBC Monitoring Asia. "IOC Chief in Denies "Over-Commercialization" of Olympics during China Visit." Oct 23 2006: 1. ProQuest. 20 Sep. 2013 . British Library. “The development of the International Olympic Committee and its relationships with international sporting federations and national committees.” 2013. Web. Viewed 20 September 2013 Engineering Sport. “Why are The Olympics Important?” 26 January 2012. Web. Viewed 20 September 2013 < http://engineeringsport.co.uk/2012/06/26/why-are-the-olympics-important/> Olympic.org. The IOC. 2013. Web. Viewed 20 September 2013 < http://www.olympic.org/about-ioc-institution > Takedo, Alison. “Lance Armstrong Gives Back Olympic Bronze Medal After Doping Confession.” 13 September 2013. Web. Viewed 20 September 2013 Tomlinson, Alan. “The commercialization of the Olympics: Cities, corporations and the Olympic commodity.” N.d. Web. Viewed 20 September 2013 Unger, Arthur. "Olympic Games: Is Politics the Main Event?" The Christian Science Monitor Dec 23 1987 ProQuest. 20 Sep. 2013 . Wedekind, Jennifer. "The Commercial Games: Selling Off the Olympic Ideals." Multinational Monitor 29.2 (2008): 47-53. ProQuest. 20 Sep. 2013. Read More