Olympic controversies in history

Olympic controversies have always marred the history of modern Olympic. Take for example 1900 in Paris, France; the track and field finals were scheduled at Saturday, which coincidentally was Bastille Day, an important day for the French. The French refused to compete and rescheduled it on Sunday. However, Sunday is Christian day although the opening ceremony was to be on a Saturday, the actual competition was to begin the following day, a Sunday. Once again many American refused to compete.

The Olympic achievements of the great American athlete Jim Thorpe were long disqualified. A year after he won both the pentathlon and the decathlon at the 1912 Games, it was discovered that Thorpe had played semiprofessional baseball. Thorpe's gold medals were taken from him. Sixty-nine years later, however, the International Olympic Committee reinstated Thorpe's achievements and returned his gold medals to his children.

At the 1936 Games, Adolf Hitler refused to meet Owens following the 100 meters, after Hitler had personally congratulated three earlier gold medal winners. The next day the chairman of the International Olympic Committee, Balillet Latour, approached Hitler early in the morning and told the German leader that he had violated Olympic protocol. In fact, during the very first day of Olympic competition, when Owens did not compete, Olympic protocol officers implored Hitler to receive either all the medal winners or none, and he chose the latter. Avery Brundage , president of the American Olympic Committee, opposed a boycott, arguing that politics had no place in sport.

In 1956 Melbourne Australia, the flag of Taiwan was accidentally raised over their camp, mainland China then withdrew form the Games.

Prior to the games in Mexico 1968, many students took the occasion to protest that the money spent on the Olympics could be better spent on things that would help the people and improve the quality of life. Also in Mexico, one of the most controversial events where the Olympics, in this case the victory stand was once again used for a political stand. After finishing first and third in the 200 meters run, Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood on the podium to receive their gold and bronze medals. As the American anthem was played, they raised their black-gloved fists in a "black-Power" salute. However, both men were consequently suspended from the games and expelled from the Olympic village.