Olympic Motto: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well".
The Olympic Motto endeavors to promote unity and idealism in a world that is not so idealistic. For many nations, the Olympic Game is simply an event in which the struggles and triumphs are featured. For some countries, winning supersede the idealisms of unity and sportsmanship.
In addition to the motto, symbols are also utilised in an attempt to convey representations illustrating unity and collectivism. The five rings consisting of the colours white, red, blue, green, yellow and black represent a colour used in every nation's national flag. The rings thus represent the unity of the five inhabited continents and the countries comprised within these continents.
Subsequent symbols such as the torch relay and the nation's mascot are also used in order to encompass the 'unified' approach of the games. Whilst these symbols are widely used within the games, the proposed meanings affiliated with 'unity' fail to emerge. Rather than creating unity, the Olympic Games highlight the controversies and political agendas of the very nations that represent the Olympic ideals. Such political agendas can be signified by the 1936 Olympics in Berlin whereby the German Nazi Party employed the games as propaganda to illustrate the supremacy of the Aryan race and the facist political structure. Similarly, the Soviet Union refused to participate in the Olympic Games until 1952 and instead created their own games consisting of athletes who supported the Communist organisations.
In 1968, the so called 'unity' of the Olympic Games was highlighted when two American track and field athletes rewarded viewers with the Black Power salute after receiving their medals. In response to the unanimity of the athletes, the International Olympic Committee ordered the athletes home. Nations throughout the world have also embraced the Olympic ideals by successfully boycotting certain Olympic Games. The Melbourne Olympics in 1956 was the first Olympic game to be boycotted by Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland due to the repression of the Hungarian uprising by the Soviet Union. This became a unanimous approach when Cambodia, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon also boycotted the same game due to the Suez Crisis.
In 1972 and 1976, further boycotts occurred from a number of African countries who had requested that the IOC ban South Africa, Rhodesia and New Zealand. When the IOC failed to concede, the African countries withdrew their athletes from the games, despite the fact that some of the athletes had already competed. Further boycotts occurred in 1980 whereby sixty-five nations refused to participate at the Moscow Olympics due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Only just recently, the 2008 Olympic Games in Bejing encompassed a growing number of threats to boycott the games due to China's poor human rights record and response to the recent issues in Tibet, Darfur and Taiwan.
Additionally, controversies have also emerged criticizing the International Olympic Committee as being autocratic and corrupt. In 1998, it became widely known that certain IOC members had taken bribes in exchange for votes to elect the upcoming host city. This resulted in four members resigning and six members terminated.
Whilst the Olympic Games have grown to include thousands of competitors participating in hundreds of events, it is becoming increasingly evident that the very ideals upheld by the 'Olympics', are failing to be represented by the participating nations. Whilst the Olympic motto provides an idealistic representation of the Olympics, it fails to represent the reality of the games.
