Drake Justen

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Modern Olympic Movement DBQ
Although the original Olympic Games was held in Greece from 776 B.C.E to 393 B.C.E, the
Olympic Games transformed with the modern Olympic movement in 1982 because of the social barriers
between genders, struggle for economic profit and existing conflict between countries.
The involvement of women in the Olympics tore down social barriers that restricted women
from physical competition created for men. The picture of Sybil Newall (Document 2) portrays her as
strong and independent to prove women had the power and capabilities men did for the Olympics.
Because this document contains a picture taken at the 1908 Olympics games, it is likely reliable because
the picture was taken for an English newspaper. She agreed to take this picture to be an example of the
2% of women in this event. She was one of few who stood up for the rights of many. Also, Algerian
competitor Hassiba Boulmerka speaks about being a representation for the women in her country that
aspire to become athletes (Document 8). Because this document was written by an Algerian competitor,
it is likely reliable because she talks of personal experiences she had in the Olympics. This relates to my
thesis because Boulmerka was one of the 29% of women taking part in the 1992 Olympic Games. She
claims to represent the women of her country which urges her to continue. These documents work
together to support my thesis by showing examples of women who involved themselves in the Olympic
Games to prove that they were capable of the physical feats of men, tearing down the barriers between
genders.
In the modern Olympics, countries struggled for economic profit and desire to display power.
The 1988 Olympics brought 9 large corporations as sponsors to support the games in Seoul. Because this
document is a Japanese editorial about Korea, it is likely unreliable because it is an outside source with
not much info as to why Korea failed to participate in the sponsorship. Because the games were so
popular in this time these corporations were to receive large amounts of profit from advertising and
display their industrial power. Korea has chosen not to participate in the Games being held in South
Korea, which sparks the interest and critique of this Japanese editorial. Also, as the games became more
popular over the years host countries began to invest more in TV and radio broadcasting rights (Doc. 9).
Because this document was written by the International Olympic Committee, it is likely reliable because
the chart contains the amounts of dollars by million they were paid each year. Over time as the
Olympics became more popular and the need for countries to display power through advertisement,
countries were willing to pay more for broadcasting rights. This would give an economic profit as well as
popularize the country and businesses. These documents tie together to support my thesis because they
both reference how countries would struggle to use the Olympics for economic profit and
advertisement.
During the time of the modern Olympic movement, conflicts existed between countries causing
the issues seen in the presented documents such as warfare aftermath and use of foreign policy. Arnold
Lunn explains that the Nazis had an unfair advantage in the ski race competition of the 1936 games
when they practiced the course before it was opened. Because this document was written 20 years after
the event in which World War II caused a hatred of the Nazis, it is likely unreliable because the recall of
Drake Justen
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events wouldnt be exact, and Lunn would be pressured to discuss the Nazis in a bad light because of
recent events. He connects their determination to Nazism by stating they sought to prove they were
better than democracy. The author was forced to right this because he wouldnt have shared the
popular opinion if he spoke well of the Nazis, so we can assume his writings are false. In addition to this,
the Soviet Union involved politics in the planning of the Olympics when they chose Moscow to stage the
1980 Games. Because this document information was provided by the Soviet Union Olympic Organizing
Committee it is likely reliable because the information contains an explanation of why Moscow was
chosen by this committee. The Soviet Union provided them the honor to stage because they were
pursuing a foreign policy with Moscow. It was meant to represent peace, democracy, and social progress
as well as build respect for the Soviet Union. These documents provide for my thesis by showing how
politics had changed the modern Olympics because of conflicts that influenced decision.
In conclusion, the modern Olympic movement was transformed by all of these factors including
social gender barriers, existing political conflict between countries and struggle for economic profit.
Overall, women broke the social barriers, countries fought over using the Olympics for profit from
advertising and relationships between countries influenced decisions that took place.