Cold War Olympics

The Pride of Nations.

The leaders of the Olympic Games have always insisted that the Olympics are above politics, that the nations of the world can meet on the field of sport and allow political differences to be over-shadowed by the spirit of competition and fair play. Unfortunately it has never happened. When matters of national pride are displayed on a public stage for the whole world to see, even athletes become political tools. Avery Brundage himself, in the 1950s the president of the International Olympic Committee, had outraged many Americans when he chose to replace several talented Jewish sprinters in 1936, so as not to further embarrass the leader of the host German state, Adolf Hitler, when black American athletes, led by Jesse Owens, dominated the Munich Games.

Turned Away at the Gates.

In 1952 the world was facing the possibility of full-scale nuclear war. The United States and the Soviet Union were...

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