Scandals of the Winter Olympic Games

Doping in Russia - Photo: Wikipedia

The Winter Olympic Games are highly anticipated as they bring the best athletes from all over the world to compete. While there is plenty of publicity that surrounds the Winter Olympic Games, some of it isn’t the type of attention that organizers want. The Olympic Games are to be a symbol of peace among countries and good sportsmanship. So when scandals emerge about cheating it really affects the overall perception that people have about the Olympics as a whole.

These types of scandals have been going on since the early days of the Winter Olympic Games though. In 1948 it was discovered that someone had tampered with the bobsleds of the USA team. It is a good thing it was discovered before the event because those responsible had loosened the bolts that hold the steering mechanisms in place. This would have resulted in a serious accident occurring. Those responsible for this act were never caught though and it left 1948 with some uneasy feelings in place. 

Germany did very well in the 1964 Winter Olympic Games. However, two people were stripped of their gold medals as it was discovered they were categorized as professionals. In 1968 it was discovered that East Germany had been heating up the runners on their sleds in the luge competition in order to beat the competition. 

Even if you don’t follow figure skating, chances are you know the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan story that unfolded during the Winter Olympic Games in 1994. At one time these women had been friends on the ice but that quickly changed when Kerrigan was hit in the knees with a metal baton during a practice session. As a result, she wasn’t able to perform and Harding was given her place on the Olympic team. 

It was discovered that Harding’s ex-husband and a friend had planned the attack. Harding admitted she knew afterward but that she didn’t report the information. Kerrigan was able to perform at the 1992 Olympic Games and she walked away with the silver medal. She had the support of the entire world behind her it seemed due to what she had been through in order to even perform at the games. 

Hosting the Winter Olympic Games is quite an honor and one that brings plenty of attention and revenue to the area. In 2002 a scandal was discovered involving bribes paid for Salt Lake City, Utah to host the Winter Olympic Games. These bribes include numerous ski trips, real estate deals, and cash. Even though the scandal was investigated and several people resigned from the Winter Olympics Committee, the games still took place in Salt Lake City, Utah that year.

The area of figure skating was plagued once again in 2002 at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. It is believed that some of the judges had been bribed to give high scores to the Russian team in exchange for their team getting high scores in another event. Everyone agreed that Canada should have gotten the gold medal. Eventually, they were given the gold but the Russian team was not stripped of theirs.

Coaching is an essential part of any good Winter Olympic team, and the reputation of these coaches is very important. Tim Nardiello is a coach for the USA team but he has been placed on leave. There are allegations of sexual harassment that have been filed by several females under his direction. The issue is being carefully investigated and the results of that will determine if he is reinstated as a coach for them or not.

Officials have worked very hard to make changes to how scores are calculated for the Winter Olympic Games. This is to make sure the weight of only one judge doesn’t affect the overall outcome of the results. They also continue to test all athletes to make sure they haven’t been using drugs to enhance their performance. The reputation of the Olympic Games is on the line each time such scandals arise, and with the power of the media these days you can be sure it will be National news. 

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Winter Olympics

8th Winter Olympic Games, Squaw Valley, California, February 18-29, 1960
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are plenty of different sports to keep your attention if you are watching the Winter Olympics. They take place every four years at different locations found around the world. Some of the most exciting events of the entire Olympics take place during the winter games. The most popular winter sports events that get watched are the skiing competitions and the skating events.

There are ten different events that take place for both men and women to compete in for the Alpine skiing competition. Cross-country skiing is offered as an individual and as a team event with competitions spanning over several different distances ranging from 15 km to 40 km.

Freestyle skiing allows those in competition to be judged on their style, their stunts, and the level of difficulty that they are able to offer during their routine. Ski jumping allows contestants to race down hills and then see how far they can jump in the air across an area. The way in which the land is also judged. The Nordic combined is a skiing event that offers a combination of cross-country skiing combined with jumping.

Snowboarding was added to the Winter Olympic Games in 1998 and continues to be one that many people love to watch. These events require the individual to use a board strapped to their feet without any poles as you would use in regular skiing. The individual controls the direction of the snowboard with their feet and body.

In the skating categories of the Winter Olympics, figure skating is watched by millions of viewers. There are individual and team events which have both been plagued with controversy over the years. In 1992 Nancy Kerrigan was attacked and injured while practicing for the Olympics. It was later determined that a rival, Tonya Harding, had launched the plan with her boyfriend to get Kerrigan out of the way for the competition.

In 2002 there was controversy surrounding the judges as the Canadian team had a flawless routine but the Russian team walked away with the gold. Rumors that some judges had been paid off quickly circulated and eventually the Canadian team was offered a gold medal. However, the accusations could not be substantiated enough to justify the removal of the gold medal from the Russian team.

The event of speed skating in the winter Olympics is one that has gained the attention of the audience in recent years. This involves individuals and teams racing around the ice at neck-breaking speeds. There is plenty of action though to keep you on the edge of your seat as they skate around the track.

Ice hockey is always a fun sport to watch, and there are events in the Winter Olympics for both men’s teams and women’s teams. Canada holds the record for the most gold medals in this event with 13. There is plenty of stiff competition in the ice hockey games though so make sure you tune in to cheer on your favorite teams.

The fastest sport in the Winter Olympics is the Luge. This event involves one or two people on a small sled that quickly descends down the course. The riders control the speed and the movement of the sled with their bodies so they have to exhibit strength in their calves and their shoulders in order to be very fast.

The bobsleigh events are very similar but there are events for a full five-person team as well as a two-person team. They sit upright for this particular event in the Winter Olympics while they lay down for the Luge events.

The next Winter Olympic Games will be taking place in 2010 and will be hosted by Canada. You will be able to watch all your favorite sports as the teams from around the world compete to take home the gold medals in the various individual and team sports.

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The Triumph at the BERLIN OLYMPICS 1936

There have been many truly memorable moments in black history where the blatant wrongness of racial discrimination has been dramatically put on display.  The 1936 Olympics in Hitler’s Germany may be one of the most dramatic because of what the madman wanted to happen and what really happened.

Jesse Owens  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hitler was pleased to host the Olympics because he felt it was a chance to put on display one of his core philosophical concepts which was the superiority of the Aryan race.  Or to put it more bluntly, Hitler wanted to show the superiority of the white man on the Olympic fields.  Looking back on his arrogance, and knowing what we do today, you wonder how he could have been so deeply wrong about something.  But if he had never questioned that theory, he should have given it serious review after the Berlin Olympics.

Once again, it was a man whose name in black history has become one of great pride that turned the day for justice and equality.  That man was Jessie Owens who came to those Olympics not to make a racial statement or start a movement but to do his best and show his pride as a black man, as an American and as an athlete.  And that pride shown through as he won four gold metals and turned Hitler’s hopes for an Aryan romp over the black man to dust.

Hitler’s response was infantile and nauseating storming out of the stadium as Owens won event after event and then refusing to shake Jessie’s hand when the time to award the metals came.  But there is another side to this story that sheds another light on where we were in black history at that time.  And that was the experience Jesse Owens had in Germany from the other athletes and from the German citizens who were warm and welcoming to him and treated him as the athletic hero he was as a result of his great accomplishments.

History tells us that during the long jump competition, Jesse’s German competitor Lutz Long gave him advice and was friendly throughout the competition.  As he continued to put on display his remarkable athletic ability, the German citizens, some 110,000 strong cheered him enthusiastically and eagerly asked him for his autograph when he was on the streets after the competition.  In fact, Owens enjoyed equality that is common among athletes as he traveled with his fellow white athletes, ate with them and stayed in the same living accommodations with them, something that would have been out of the question in America at the time.

There are many lessons we can gather from Jesse’s experience beyond that obvious that Hitler’s ideas of Aryan supremacy were deeply wrong and offensive to all mankind, not just to the victims of discrimination.  We see that even in a society that has become characterized as racist, such as Germany in the 1930’s, the people, the common everyday folk of Germany had no room in their hearts for such racism that was being pushed upon them by their leadership.  This can be a source of inspiration and hope for all of us and an encouragement not to prejudge a people who we might even perceive as being racists because many times the good people, the common everyday people will have nothing to do with such evil.

And we can celebrate this great victory in a very difficult circumstance in which it wasn’t speeches that proved that race or color or creed don’t make a man superior.  Instead it is the talent, the integrity and the hard work of each individual that shows the quality that is from within.  Jesse Owens demonstrated that even to the likes of Adolph Hitler.  And we have that opportunity to demonstrate that same principle every day in our daily lives.

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