Olympic Games and Villains - Article Example

Olympics Games and Villains Executive Summary The dissertation focus to provide an insight of the political events that unfolded during the 1972 Olympic Games that were held in Germany in Munich city. The article highlights some of the implications of political and terrorist activities that halted the games temporarily. During the preparation of the games, Germany was under a political heat. The country had a strained relationship with other nations arising from the aftermath of the World Wars. Hosting the Olympic Games was one of the excellent opportunities that had been bestowed upon them. It was an opportunity for Germany to rebrand its dented that had been tarnished globally. Although the preparations were appropriate, a single mistake rendered the competition to be unsuccessful. In addition, some of the measures that were initiated are covered in the paper. Because of the huge following that sporting events have, politicians have found a new platform where they can lure masses to follow them. As a result, many politicians have started influencing authorities that manage sports in their countries. Games can be for positive purposes such as bring harmony between warring factions, nurturing of talents and for health purposes. The 1972 Munich Olympic Games were unique in the history of Germany sports events. Having come from the aftermath of the Second World War, Germany was gratified to hold the prestigious event in the sports calendar of the whole world. Introduction Sporting activities have been come very frequent in the recent times. Many businesspersons have been lured to invest in the industry because of the attractiveness the sector enjoys globally. Consequently, politicians too have not been left behind. Politicians have gained the interest of sports such the Olympics albeit with a malicious intent. Sports are one of the social activities that unify people. At the time the 1972 Olympic Games were held in Germany, the country had a negative image. The country had political and economic enemies. Conversely, the differences dated back to the Nazi holocaust where many Jewish were killed Nazi soldiers under the rule of Hitler. Most nations did not trust German to hold the games peacefully. There was tension. Despite the challenges, Germany had, the country was determined to organize a successful event. It was an appropriate opportunity for the State to prove critics wrong. The Germans saw the opportunity as a chance for them to shed off the negative image that was associated with them. According to internet sources, 121 nations took part in the competition. 7170 athletes confirmed their participation. Among the number 7170 athletes, 6075 were men whereas 1095 were women (Jasmand and Meaning, 2008). The social and political environment in Germany was still tense because of the aftermath of the World War II. Athletes felt that their security was going to be. Because of the concerns that were raised the authorities had to act by assuring the participants security. Additionally, the authorities had to dissociate themselves with the Berlin games that had turned to be a fiasco previously. It was an indication that they did not want to be with the Nazi. Because of the fear that many participants had, the German government became proactive and started earlier preparation for the event to avoid a fiasco. According to the organizers of the event, the Munich Olympic Games were supposed to start August 26, 1972 and conclude on the 10th of September in the same year. Unfortunately, unbelievable occurrences transpired at the sporting activities (Calahan, 1995). Olympics Games and Villains Some days before the games could start; many protests were witnessed from different corners of the world. Many of the people did not see the need for holding such an expensive activity given the fact that there were much more touchy issues that were of priority such as unemployment. The protests rekindled the memories of the 1968 Mexico Games where scholars took to the streets demanding change of leadership. Following the events that transpired in Mexico, the government of Germany was forced to make structural changes to allow for economic empowerment of all classes of people irrespective of their age. The move was aimed at ensuring that Germany did not face similar embarrassment. Their forces were adequately prepared to deal with cases of protests. The scenario that Germany faced while holding the games is not different to what Brazil underwent while holding the Football World Cup in 2014.Many Brazilians were planning to protest because their government had spent many resources in preparing for the activity. The planned protests were fuelled by the decision for the Brazilian government to allocate a huge chunk of its funds to the activity whereas the citizens had numerous economic challenges (Taylor and Toohey, 2007). Demonstrations held for political reasons during sports activities do not escape the eye of the whole world. The events usually spark a lot of interest as people seek to find out the reasons behind the protest. Sometimes the protests are organized by opposition leaders to discourage their government from spending many financial resources on issues they feel of less priority. Although, many people may criticize the countries that hold protests and term them to be unfriendly, sometimes the demonstrations are justified. The differences between the United States of America and former USSR states came into light.USA was defeated in basketball. Additionally, because of political reasons Zimbabwe was excluded from participating in the competition because the regime that was in power was under a white minority leader. Majority of the International Olympic Committee voted for the exclusion of the country. However, some of the participants felt that it was unfair to expel the country based on flimsy political reasons. The subsequent events changed the central issue of discussion that was about the exclusion of Zimbabwe. A terrorist group gained access to one of the premises that hosted the Israel team and took to captive eleven members of the team. The terror group went on and killed the 11 members plus a German police officer. Tension became very rife. People became more confused about the motive of the attack. The weakness of the security system of Germany became more exposed than ever. Although all arrangements had been made to make the event successful, they failed to focus on the safety of the participants. With the unfortunate terrorist attack, it became much more difficult for the entire would change their perception of the Germans. Apparently, all Germans became associated with the Nazi soldiers. The Germany government was accused of being aware of the attack something that did not go down well with most of the participants. The security system of the country failed to acknowledge that athletes were exposed to a high risk of being attacked given that some countries still had between them. Law enforcement agents failed to approve the use of firearms to protect the participants of the sporting activity a move they came to regret later. Members of the illegal group gained access to the premises easily since they did not have any counter attacks. The guards were caught pants down, and they could not respond to the distress call (Gamarra, 2009). The security forces later on responded and managed to kill some of the terrorists. In a twist of events, the 11 captives and a police officer were brutally murdered. Those who managed to escape later on went and high jacked plane. Fortunately, security officers managed to arrest some of the terrorists while they were onboard the aircraft. Interestingly, they were set free. The release of the terrorists seemed to be a direct insult to Israel that wanted justice. The act indicated that German was trying to settle political scores with Israel. Israel reacted by launching an intensive mission to capture the perpetrators of the terror activity. Organizers of the attack were killed by Israeli officers (Boyle and Haggerty, 2012). German organizers had failed to prepare adequately for the security of the athletes that were going to take part in the Munich Game Olympics. However, the hands of Germany were tied. The particular incident required military intervention. The government could not send military troops in the particular instance as the situation did not match the threshold to warrant military deployment. For the reason above, little could be done to save the situation since the terrorists were well prepared. Consequently, the games had to be stopped shortly in honor of the victims who had died prematurely. Differences between Israel and Arab nation played the memorial service when the Arab countries failed to turn up for the event (Gamarra, 2009). The Olympic Games held in Munich failed to achieve the peace objective that they were supposed to bring between nations. Instead, the event tore apart those countries that were antagonistic. Unlike those that were held in Greece, the events failed terribly. The events that transpired intensified the global political activities. Germans image became dented further. Some days later, a letter was found that revealed terrorist were planning to launch attacks during the event. The letter was clear evidence that German could have been aware of the planned attacks. Apparently, German had an opportunity of preparing itself for the sad event that robbed Israel some of their best talents (Miller, 1990). Despite the significant blow that the Olympic organizers faced, they stood firm and were not discouraged from organizing similar events in future. The terrorist wanted to divide the European nations politically so that they can reduce the influence of the Western world. The then German prime ministers had made erratic decisions meaning that they had to be for negligence (Gamarra, 2009). Conversely, the attack on Israeli athletes painted Germany as an irresponsible state that was still practicing Nazism. German citizens had to pay for some of the damages that had been caused. Germany pretended to be promoting peace but failed to collaborate with Israel to capture the perpetrators of the evil activity. The trickle-down effect is that there was an economic sabotage. Businesses failed to perform as they were performing earlier. Later on, influential business leaders started interfering with the activities of the Olympics committee. The prominent leaders began to manipulate the body to make favors for business leaders and politicians (Calahan, 1995). Importance of the deaths The remains of some of the terrorists who were murdered were taken back to their native lands. They were celebrated by their countrymen. The celebration indicated the differences that existed between the Israelites and the Arab nations. Apparently, the mission was a Jihadist war. The nation celebrated the unfortunate event as a sign that they shared common beliefs with the attackers. Israel also started an operation to avenge for the killings. In the subsequent years, some of the attackers were arrested and detained. However, they found their freedom shortly after when their colleague hijacked a plane and demanded their release. The attacks also revealed that the differences between the Germans and Jewish were still rife. The decision for the German authorities to release some of the terrorists was clear indication hatred existed between the two groups that boiled down from the era of Adolf Hitler (Gamarra, 2009). Conclusion The events of the Munich Olympics shaped some the succeeding international political environment. In addition, it affected the social dimension between countries. Germans were painted to be a nation that resented other people and took policy decisions that favored their government ignoring others. The Nazi name that was used to refer to brutal people took a new center stage. The events also rekindled the memories of the innocent Jewish, who were murdered during the regime of Adolf Hitler. Germany could have made many pro-active measures to protect all the athletes at the event. Political differences seemed to have interfered with the sporting activities during the sports event. The unfortunate event marked a dark history in the international political arena. Since the Munich massacre, the Olympics Games have been hosted in other countries successfully. Security has become a major issue for athletes that can never be taken for- granted. During the preparation stage, measures must be taken to beef up security throughout the games (Boyle and Haggerty, 2012). References Boyle, P., and Haggerty, K. D. (2012). Planning for the worst: Risk, uncertainty and the Olympic Games. The British journal of sociology, 63(2), 241-259. Calahan, A. B. (1995). Countering Terrorism: The Israeli Response to the 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre and the Development of Independent Covert Action Teams  Gamarra, A. (2009). Securing the gold: Olympic security from a counter-terrorist perspective. In A New Understanding of Terrorism (pp. 205-218). Springer US. Jasmand, S., and Meaning, W. (2008). Regional income and employment effects of the 1972 Munich summer Olympic Games. Regional Studies, 42(7), 991-1002. Miller, R. (1990). Game Theory and Hostage-Taking Incidents: A Case Study of the Munich Olympic Games. Journal of Conflict Studies, 10(1). Taylor, T., and Toohey, K. (2007). Perceptions of terrorism threats at the 2004 Olympic Games: Implications for sport events. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 12(2), 99-114. Read More