It would be very wrong to diminish the majesty and international scope of the Olympic Games by, as some are suggesting, anchoring them in Greece or on permanent sites on five continents.
The seemingly endless problems with this year’s Rio Games have prompted calls to stop having nations compete to host the contests and hold them instead in permanent facilities in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
This would be a serious mistake. It would deprive nations of a chance to show national pride, make economic gains and, most importantly, make history.
The Olympics represent the absolute ultimate opportunity to showcase a national identity on the global stage.
For example, the 1964 Tokyo Olympics marked a shining moment in Japan’s history, an occasion that restored national pride after a humiliating World War II defeat and heralded the country’s long, victorious climb toward international economic power.
Those Olympics helped rebuild the nation’s infrastructure; the bullet train connecting Tokyo and Osaka started operating just days before the games were held that October, and the core of the Metropolitan Expressway, the highway system in central Tokyo, was newly constructed. Tokyo’s public transportation network was given a major boost, while the public broadcasting system was upgraded, encouraging families to purchase color television sets.
In Great Britain, during the 2012 Olympics, polls showed that a vast majority of British men felt a renewed sense of national pride because their nation was hosting the games. This is invaluable to a nation.
The Olympics have also made history for reasons larger than the games themselves.
During the Berlin 1936 Olympics, Hitler planned to show the world that the Aryan people were the dominant race. Jesse Owens, an African-American, proved him wrong and sealed his place in Olympic history by becoming the most successful athlete of those games.
Owens also became the first American to win four track-and-field gold medals at a single Olympics, a record that stood unbroken for 48 years.
The fact that Owens did this in, of all places, Berlin added much luster to his achievements. Hitler would not have been as humiliated if the Olympics had been held anywhere else in the world, including Greece.
Another case where the world was focused on the Olympics, at least partially because of its location, came in 1956.
Back then, Australia was an exotic, unknown place for much of the world, which heightened interest in the Melbourne games.
Armed conflict in Hungary threatened to disrupt the 1956 Games because in November, Soviet tanks rolled into that nation to crush an heroic anti-Communist armed revolt by the vastly outnumbered and outgunned Hungarians.
Shortly thereafter, the Soviet water polo team met the Hungarians in that obscure sport’s semifinals.
Hungary got the world’s attention by winning by 4-0, and the match turned ugly after a Hungarian player was pulled bleeding from the pool with a deep gash over his eye from a Soviet headbutt.
A brawl involving players and spectators quickly ensued, and the police had to step in to prevent a riot. But again the brave Hungarians largely prevailed.
The Olympics belong to the world, not to any single nation. Any major city that wants to foot the bill should be eligible to host them.
By Whitt Flora
Whitt Flora, an independent journalist, covered the White House for The Columbus Dispatch and was chief congressional correspondent for Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. –Ed.
