The United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a global ideological struggle for the latter half of the twentieth century. The Olympics were the perfect venue for yet another proxy war in this conflict.
The tensions between amateurism and professionalism were exposed by the Soviet Regime, and their introduction of state-sponsored performance-enhancing drug programmes further subverted de Coubertin’s ideals. None of these issues have been conclusively resolved either – from the NHL barring their athletes from the 2018 Winter Games to Russia’s comprehensive ban for doping.
The Soviet state had been experimenting with performance-enhancing drugs since at least the 1950s. Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs), have long been a feature of the Olympics. The winner of the marathon at the Olympics in 1904 used a combination of whiskey and strychnine to improve his performance. His success led people to believe in the power of PEDs, without any ethical concerns. The Nazi regime extensively experimented with Benzedrine on their athletes during the 1936 Olympics. This attitude shifted in the 1960s, when a Danish cyclist died two hours after a race at the Rome Olympics with traces of speed in his system. Mandatory drug testing was introduced at the Olympics in 1968.
The Communist East German state was especially comprehensive in its use of PEDs, with a state-funded doping program with thousands of scientists and physicians. One East German reporter compared the preparations for the 1976 Olympics to mission control prepping an astronaut for space. In fact, the East German secret police – the Stasi – were charged with ensuring that neither physicians nor athletes resisted using PEDs. East Germany was disproportionately successful at the Olympics in the 1970s, finishing second in the medal charts to the Soviet Union twice.
Western nations soon joined this drug-fuelled arms race. Famously, Canadian runner Ben Johnson was caught with PEDs in his system at the 1988 Olympics, after winning gold in the 100-metre sprint. Indeed, many medal winners over the last forty years have been retrospectively banned for PED use – from Marion Jones to Justin Gatlin to Lance Armstrong.
Lance Armstrong (pictured racing in the 2010 Cancer Council Hotline Classic, Adelaide) is among several Olympic athletes caught using performance-enhancing drugs to compete. (Photo by Wayne England)
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been slow to react. They established the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999, which was meant to monitor the use of drugs in sport. However, drug testing agencies have always been playing a game of catch-up.
It is clear now that, despite de Coubertin’s idealistic intentions (ones that are still outlined in the Olympic Charter), nationalistic competition trumps all other considerations at the Olympics. The Olympic motto is, “Faster, higher, stronger,” and PEDs are guaranteed to help achieve that goal.
Western nations soon joined this drug-fuelled arms race.
The professional and amateur of the Olympic Games
Reconciling the tensions between professionalism and amateurism (that is, who should be a paid athlete and should paid athletes compete?) had long been a feature of the Olympic Movement. The Cold War conflict put these tensions in sharp relief.
Back in the nineteenth century, de Coubertin and his aristocratic friends were clear about amateurism. In their view, professional athletes were an unsightly rabble. The Olympics were meant to be for gentlemen aristocrats, the type of person that could afford to train for a sport while not worrying about a job.
The administrators of the IOC fought long and hard to maintain this ethic. Take dear old Avery Brundage, an independently wealthy man, who used his own largesse to pay for his training back when he was an Olympic athlete in the early twentieth century. Brundage banned Jesse Owens for life when it was revealed Owens was given a stipend for a trip abroad. Owens was poor and black, and was not able to use his athletic talent to improve himself financially. Today, that seems absurd.
Jesse Owens at the starting line of the 200-metre race during the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin. Owens broke a world record in this run.
The Soviet State had a novel approach to circumventing the amateur ethic. Athletes would be nominally employed in the military or as food workers, for example. In reality, they were full-time athletes training year-round. American sports fans may recall the Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Winter Olympics. It was called the Cold War on Ice. The American team was composed entirely of amateurs and still beat the Soviets.
By the 1980s, international television deals had expanded the financial reach of the Olympic games. It became harder and harder to sell the notion of amateurism to athletes when there were millions of dollars in marketing sloshing around. Plus, global television audiences wanted to see the best athletes in the world. Professional athletes were allowed to compete in 1988.
In 1992 the Americans trotted out the Dream Team in basketball, composed entirely of the best players in the world, and won their games by an average of 44 points, en route to the gold medal. Michael Jordan and company soon became global icons, paving the way for such marketing luminaries as Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt.
The world was changing quickly with the growth of international television and marketing contracts and the IOC had to adjust to these new realities.
Tomorrow, we will look at the evolution of the IOC from a non-profit organization to a global financial behemoth.
By Rashid Mohiddin
Rashid Mohiddin is Chief Executive with Pressed Magazine, a society and culture magazine in Toronto, Ontario.
This is the third article in #OlympicOpinions, an Opinions takeover week that explores everything about the Olympics.
Please note that opinions expressed are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and values of The Blank Page.
