International Sports Management

The Olympics (Summer)

Bryan Finch, Ph.D.

Ancient Olympics: Greece

City states competition 776 B.C. (earlier)? Sparta, Athens, Corinth, Argos, Megara Men competed nude, winners received olive wreaths Wars were suspended for competitions every 4 years in August

1896 Athens
Founded: Pierre de Coubertin 14 nations, 43 events

1900 Paris
Coincided with Worlds Fair Stretched from May to October Women participated for first time Early sports merchandising:
John Flanagan (USA) hammer throw winner, featured on cigarette card

1904 St Louis
Held with St. Louis Worlds Fair Long again (July-November) Only 12 nations and 91 events

1908 London
White City Stadium- multipurpose site for swimming, track, seated 66,000

1912 Stockholm
First official poster, translated into 16 languages Jim Thorpe, gold medal winner in pentathlon and decathlon

1920 Antwerp (Belgium)

Introduction of 5 Olympic Rings Games hastily prepared after missing 1916 due to World War I

1924 Paris
Chariots of Fire movie based on these games Paavo Nurmi (The Flying Finn) won 5 gold's: 1500m, 5000m, individual cross country, team cross country, and team 3000m

1928 Amsterdam
First Olympic Flame 46 nations, 109 events Greece first to march into opening ceremony, with host nation last

1932 Los Angeles

First official Olympic Village Babe Didrikson won 3 medals in LA

1936 Berlin
Nazi Olympic Games Jesse Owens 4 gold: 100m, 400m, long jump, 4x100 relay

1948 London
1940, 1944 games out due to WWII Technology advances: cameras for finishes and electronic timers

1952 Helsinki (Finland)

USSR and Israel appear in first games Beginning of Cold War Olympic battles

1956 Melbourne
First games outside of USA and Europe

1960 Rome
TV coverage from US to Japan Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) gold medal in boxing

1964 Tokyo
First games in Asia Technological advances, color TV, show off a recovered new Japan

1968 Mexico City

Bob Beamon record long jump (8.9 m) Tommie Smith and John Carlos Black Power salute

1972 Munich
Mark Spitz- 7 golds in swimming, 7 world records USSR upset over USA basketball gold Terrorist attack- killed 11 Israeli team members

1976 Montreal
Economic failure Only Moscow and LA competed for games

1980 Moscow
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led to USA boycott Communist propaganda tool

1984 Los Angeles

Game-changer: organizers (Peter Ueberroth) relied on corporate financing rather than government money $200M profits! USSR boycott

1988 Seoul (S. Korea)

Ben Johnson (100m winner, Canada) eliminated due to steroids Complete games (USA, USSR)

1992 Barcelona (Spain)

US Dream Team Revitalized Barcelona

1996 Atlanta
Part of bigger economic plan Capital of the South

2000 Sydney
Again, part of larger economic growth plan

2004 Athens
Return to birthplace Cost overruns after 9/11

2008 Beijing
China welcomes the world The Michael Phelps show

2012 London

2016
Rio de Janiero, Brazil World Cup 2014 also 2020?

Olympic Impact
Economic, political, social, cultural, historical impact of games Innovation for sports coverage, sports marketing, training