In 1936 Germany hosted the Summer Olympics, looking to outdo the 1932 games held in Los Angeles, CA. Not only did they accomplish incredible architectural feats in doing this but they also forced a sense of Nazi nationalism onto the games. Hitler carried this out by initially banning all Jews and Blacks from participating in the games. Eventually the countries involved with the Olympics would force him to allow participants of all race/religion. Hitler was in fact showing a glimpse of what his future plans were and foreshadowing his hatred for everyone except German Nazis. To me this is representative of German Nationalism to project their views onto the rest of the world in a global event. They used this as a way to advertise their ideals and values which is wrong considering the Olympics are suppose to be unbiased.
Through this specific example one can clearly see how sports and politics can mix. So to say that sports are pure and devoid of political interference is completely false. Not only through the "Nazi Games" have a country's feelings been expressed but also in various other sporting events in history. Take even the NFL Super Bowl, where every year the US Air Force flies planes over the stadium. This is also a sign of nationalism as it shows our military strength to the fans watching the game. These actions have fused together the purpose of sport and the purpose of politics, making countries feel obligated to express some sort of nationalism during games. I believe this will continue to happen as long as sports and politics remain at the top of everyone's conversations.
Reference: Powerpoint
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