Essence Changing of the Olympic Games - Coursework Example

Are the Olympic Games changing its essence? The Olympic Games have provided a competition arena for the athletes from all over the world to show their power. To improve the physique，to respect the justice and competition is the main purpose of the Olympic Games. Elliott Herb, an Australian middle runner and a world record holder quotes about the Olympic Games that “It is the inspiration of the Olympic Games that drives people not only to compete but to improve, and to bring lasting spiritual and moral benefits to the athlete and inspiration to those lucky enough to witness the athletic dedication.” If we view today’s Olympic Games, it can be easily said that the ancient Greek Olympic Games were of the highest spirit than today’s games offer. They athletes and the sports were of pure in mind as well as body. The athlete’s trained not for the gold medal but for the love of physical exercise, good and fair play in the competition and to honor their gods. However, the economic influence on the Olympic Games had caused lots for negative information. As a result, the problems follow close upon another, such as: drugs taking problem, black judgment by the referee, athletes were physically disabled; sponsors take control of the game, terrorists and so on. People really need to think about those problems deeply. The drug problems had already become the most difficult problem for the Olympic Games. Every year the IOC (International Olympic committee) spend at last 60 million dollars on the drug research, but the types of drugs do not stop increasing; there are approximately a hundred types by now. Athletes will get a huge damage on their body and organs chemically by the influence of taking drugs. On the other hand, they are on their way of death. This way of improve the competite abilities is not obey the nature rules and it is also against the purpose of the Olympics. Incontestably, the modern sports competitions have got political and economic character on it. From 50s of the 20th century, some counties use drugs as a “secret weapon” to take control of the competition and to make the championship means as the honor of the county and a huge amount of money. Therefore, athletes would take drugs to sacrifice their health because they could not resist the lure form both physical and mental. Consequently, with the economic impact of the Olympic Games, money has become the important purpose for the athletes. According to the report of Klie, she has reported that a new form of drug cheating has been discovered. It is genetic doping. The pressure to win on the athletes has forced them to dive in the pool of steroids, designer steroids, hormones, blood doping and many other forms of drugs. These were detectable, now the discovery of new drug that is genetic doping has brought a little hope for the athletes to use drugs that are undetectable. Over many years, athletes were banned from using performance-enhancing drugs by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and International Olympic Committee (IOC). In order to enhance their performance, athletes are paying different laboratories to produce undetectable performance enhancers. The athletes in their quest to become stronger, faster and winner of gold medallions do not care about the risk that they take by using the drugs. (Klie, 2004) According to Klie in the report ‘First Genetically Modified Olympics, she states that as technology is advancing, scientists have discovered a new way to enhance performance. This is no drug but a gene therapy. This therapy can manipulate DNA to enhance the abilities that are almost undetectable. With the discovery of such a therapy, WADA and IOC are really concerned and believe that such therapy will be used in the 2008 Olympics. As this is a new technology, not many positive results have been generated. But in order to win a gold medal, athletes are willing to put their lives on the risk. (Klie, 2004) If this therapy indeed becomes a reality and the athletes use it on themselves just for the glory, then they are most certainly not playing in the spirit of the Olympic Games. With the active use of this therapy, the Olympic Games will lose its meaning, its essence and all that it stands for. Another shameful incident for the Olympic Games is that it is now associated with the scandals of corruption. These corruptions are in relation to the Olympic sites being chosen over the years. According to the article ‘Olympic Scandals: From Bribery to Steroids’ (2002), it was stated that on December 12, 2002 the bidding for the Winter Games was bought unfairly by the Salt Lake City. The members was belonged to the bid committee were accused of bribery to IOC members. The payments made to them were in the form of cash payoffs, medical and travel expenses, gifts and so on. “It is important to be participates” is the slogan of the Olympics; however, the economic Olympics had already lost from its main purpose. Athletes could ignore everything to competite with the entrance ticket by the economic influence on the Olympic Games. They have almost lost their peaceful and friendly heart and face competitors as their enemy. On the other hand, the training for athletes has become more ruthless than it used to be. It is almost exceed the level for a normal athlete to get though. Nowadays, the sports competition training is becoming more technological and focused. In the past, lots of athletes were physically disabled and quit from the sports because of the oppressive training. A crazy and huge amount of heavy training is not the improvement of competition skills, but to train how much pain could the athletes feel. As mentioned at the beginning, those athletes who take drugs are live in pain for their whole life. The reason why the athletes could reach this step is because they perhaps do it for their own country’s benefit but more for themselves. Due to the economic impact of the Olympics, the spirit of the Olympic Games is changing and also made the athletes measured everything in terms of money. This is indeed true. The arrival of the corporate world in the Olympics has changed the face of the games. It’s not that much about sports than it is about the sponsorship, money and promotion of corporate identity. According to article, it reported that there is an Olympic lore that: “Basketball star Michael Jordon and his "Dream Team"-mates almost boycotted the medal ceremony in Barcelona because the teams Nike loyalties and paraphernalia clashed with the podium, which sported the corporate symbol of the American team sponsor, Reebok. The podium was draped in the American flag to avoid embarrassment. Many predict the visibility of product advertising at the Olympics will only increase.” (Olympic Changes: Dollars and Sense, 2006) Because of the entry of corporations and corporate sponsorship the Olympic Games spirit has been diminished. Athletes are not interested in the sport as much as they are interested in the sponsorships and the money. From all the major countries of the world like US, Europe, China, Russia and so on, corporation sponsor the professional athletes so that they can train all the year round with the finest available training facilities. While the athletes from these parts of the world can enjoy all the training, people from less developed countries can hardly gather enough equipment with which they can train. It is a common sense that anyone or any team that is being paid money in millions of amount than it is natural that he/she will have a top hand over the amateur players. It now seems that the IOC has joined hands with the big corporate promoters to lure in big amounts of money. The approach to the Games is not spiritual but it is more commercial. Network broadcast coverage of the events, by its very nature, fits hand-in-glove with this commercial focus. (Olympic Changes: Dollars and Sense, 2006) According to new modern charter of the Olympic Games, it has been almost a decade since the difference between a professional athlete and an amateur athlete has been removed. After that removal, more professionals have entered the Olympic cycle than the amateurs as the Games were now about the economic and political value and not about the spirit of the Olympic Games. Frances Pierre de Coubertin, the originator of the modern event says that “the modern Olympics should be a pristine, apolitical arena where amateur athletes indulge in pure competition and rejoice in the heights of human achievement. (Olympic Changes: Dollars and Sense, 2006) By the introduction of the professional athletes in the Games, the spirit and goal of the Games have been degraded. In the ancient Olympics, any person could compete, whether he was professional or an amateur. But now it has become a dream for the ordinary non-professional people. This is because sponsorships, full-time training with expensive and modern equipment have changed the Olympics and for which it were created. Not only are professionals taking part but the young athletes from all over the world are now chosen since their schooling and are trained to be professionals to compete in the Games. Another reason for increase in young athletes is that they are playing for the commercial gains and not for the spirit of Games. The responsibility of the referee is to keep the justice of the game and to punish the athletes who did not obey the regulation. Apparently, referees are the most significant person who to reflect and implement in the games, however, some referees use their power to control the game and judge the game unfaithful. It has got an extremely negative effect on athletes that some excellent athletes had been eliminated. The audiences from all over the world who really care about the sports are extremely upset about this kind of events. It is very obvious that referees will give more than once black judgment in every single Olympic Games. They are losing their direction above the economic influence. It is a beneficial action that sponsors would like to spend money on advertising and buying TV channels, because it can support the Olympics to solve finance problems and more audiences could enjoy the games and etc. But now, too many sponsors take part in supporting the Olympic Games that make the games like a business competition. Sponsors are not thinking about the games but money and profits. So, they forced the IOC to change the time of the games. However, athletes regular training life was broke down because the time was changed. That is reason that so many athletes had lost in games. Every time after the Olympic Games was successfully finished, all the facilities which built for the games were abandoned; and it caused a huge financial burden for the country which held the Olympic Games. The purpose of the Olympics from the beginning is to provide more opportunities for those people who love and enjoy sports to take exercise and entertain themselves. However the fact is that nobody could actually use those facilities until now. In the modern society, efficiency is the first important factor in economic competitions; but, the economic Olympics did not absorb the idea. The ancient Olympics had some part of politics in it but it was in a good way. The Olympics were used as a means to forget the differences among the tribes and countries and settle their differences. The competitors did not let their political difference or cultural difference engulf them while the Olympics were held. No means of war was allowed in the grounds of the Games. For example, in ancient Olympics, Pantarces of Elis was honored not because of winning the horse-race but was honored for making peace between Achaens and Eleans which led to the freedom of the prisoners of war from both sides. In the modern era, the Olympics have become a platform where nations fight for the recognition of its might. It has become a platform for countries to show how technologically advanced they are from the other nations and are far superior to the rest of the world. Like the Beijing Olympics of 2008 remarkably states that it is the best host to the Olympics by providing state-of-the art structures, ceremonies, technology and so on. This political tension between countries is not new. It was there is the times of Hitler as well. WU quotes in the article that “During the 1936 Berlin Games, Hitler tried to showcase the athletic “superiority” of the Aryan race in order to justify to the world his Nazi agenda. In the 1972 Munich Games, terrorists killed eleven Israeli athletes after demanding the release of over 200 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. United Stated and the Soviet Union also brought their political hostility into the Games throughout the Cold War Era, each boycotting games hosted by the other, namely, the 1980 Moscow Games and the 1984 Los Angeles Games.” (WU, The Search for a New Olympic Identity) In the modern world, the spirit of the Olympics is to involve spirits which are in dire need and remove the realistic spirits at the same time. It will make the spirit of the Olympics can catch the step of the modern world and express the needs of the society. It was long time age when the spirit of the Olympics was appeared. Although, it is not changing from its own essence, but some ideas from the economic world do not mean too much to it. Nowadays, people need a spirit which suits the actual condition of the reality to give them direction on their actions and thinking. Therefore, to put the new idea from the modern world and the old Olympic spirit together is the most actual way to get a new spirit of the Olympic Games. As time goes on, the spirit of the Olympics developing above the impact of the social and economy and it will not change its essence but defence itself. Keeping in view the above argument, we can see the reality of the modern Olympics Games and their purpose for being organized. The essence and spirit of the Olympic Games is lost in the midst of political, financial and commercial gains. Athletes compete not for the fun, friendliness and love of the spirit of the game but to crown themselves with glory. In achieving that glory, athletes have turned to the degrading methods of making them superior to other competitors. It’s not only the athletes who are to be blamed for devaluing the spirit. It is each and every member; organizer and country are responsible for the changing essence and spirit of the Olympic Games. (Word count 2458) Reference: Bayes, R. (2007) Bone up on China. Travel Weekly Australia. Issue 64, P12-13 Retrieved on 18/07/08 Business Source Complete(EBSCOhost) http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=26673302&loginpage=athens.asp&site=ehost-live Hazlett, C. (2007) GOLD FEVER. 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Asia Monitor: China & North East Asia Monitor. 10/2007, 14(10), P8 Retrieved on 18/07/08 Business Source Complete(EBSCOhost) http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=26612889&loginpage=athens.asp&site=ehost-live Klie, Shannon. (2004) Ergogenics. The First Genetically Modified Olympics. Retrieved 14/08./08. http://www.ergogenics.org/44.html Olympic Changes: Dollars And Sense (July 1996). Open Forum. Retrieved 14/08/08. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/july96/olympics_7-23.html Olympic Scandals: From Bribery to Steroids (2002). Drake University. Retrieved 14/08/08. http://www.teachervision.fen.com/olympic-games/history/2338.html WU, Duan. The Search for a New Olympic Identity. http://oycf.org/Perspectives/26_093004/2_Duan_Wu_Olympics.pdf Read More