The concept of the Olympic Games dates back to 776 BCE, where they were athletic competitions held in Greece. It took many years of planning, but the first modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896, it was here where the idea of the torch was introduced, and the flame that never dies is still instituted in all of the Olympic games to this day. The modern Olympics movement from 1892-2002 was shaped by early factors such as; personal beliefs, and athletes views, however it was shaped most recently by generated wealth; each factor played a huge role in coming to the realization that the Olympic games were rapidly changing.
The influence or alteration of the modern Olympic Games directly correlates to the personal beliefs of many individuals. Pierre de Coubertin, the second president of the International Olympic Committee, and founder of the modern Olympic movement, address the athletic society of France, and asks them for their help in reviving the Olympic Games (Doc 1). Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement gave the speech to the athlete society who had a lot of leeway on the deciding of the Olympic games coming back, so Pierre may have been a bit too enthusiastic and would have exaggerated so it would make the plea appear stronger than it originally was. However in 1956 when the Olympic Games were held in Germany, their “Nazi” team used the ski slopes and got affiliated with them before the big race, trying to give them the upper hand (Doc 3). Arnold Lunn, a British Olympic team official, would have been biased because he would want his team to win and so he would have exaggerated the wrong doing of the “Nazi” team. Also, in Japan in 1972, the mayor of Tokyo, Ryotaro Azuma used the popularity of the games to try and rebuild the nation (Doc 5). Ryotaro Azuma, as mayor of Tokyo and as chairman of the 1964 Olympic games organizational committee, speaking in response to interview questions, would have spoken of the good that the Olympics did to japan, to try and show that the Olympics were a major factor in the realization of the rapidly changing Olympic games. According to the members of the Soviet Union press, “the fact that Moscow has been chosen to stage the 1980 Olympic Games is the result of the consistent and peaceful foreign policy pursued by the Soviet Union” (Doc 6). Because this information was published by the Soviet Union’s Olympic organizing committee, the information would have been exaggerated to make the harsh Soviet Union look more like a place that had, “peaceful and consistent foreign policy,” rather than a place that housed careless slugs. Throughout Pakistan’s Olympic journeys, they have risen to the top, until the 2000 Olympics where they were humiliated, and now the nation is entering the darkest period in its sport history (Doc 10). Because Ali Kabir, a sports writer for a Pakistani newspaper, is from Pakistan, he may be exaggeration the bad conditions of the current states of the team in order to promote change and pride among his people. An additional document that would help support that the idea of personal beliefs was one of the major factors in in the changing of the modern Olympics would be a survey showcasing answers that the public gave in response to the Olympics, because this would show that the people also know what is happing, and are noticing the change in the modern Olympics.
In addition to personal beliefs, the athlete’s views on the games also impacted the alteration of the Olympics. In 1908, the Olympics were held in Great Britain, and Sybil Newall, a very good archer was part of the 2% of women athletes (Doc 2). Because Sybil Newall, a former British competitor in the 1908 great Britain games, was one of only 2% of female competitors, she would have been trying to shown women everywhere that sports were not a man’s game, and she shows that through her posture and determination to archery. In the Finland games in 1952, Bob