The Soviets were a dominant force in the Olympics. In their very first Olympics, the Helsinki Olympics of 1952, they matched the Americans in the medal count. This dominance continued through most of the Soviet era. However, this dominance was not free from politics. There were instances of boycotts, during the ‘80 and ‘84 Olympics, from both the USA and USSR due to political tensions abroad. Many decades later, these same political tensions are still present during the Olympics.When Russia went to build the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Putin wanted to paint an image of Russia being a good place to live. According to a journal article by Martin Müller, he quoted Putin saying “‘... they are certainly a general judgment of our country’” in
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According to an article by Jenifer Parks, Russia openly stated that the “The IOC as a closed group of Western capitalists hostile to the Soviet Union and Other Communist countries ” (Parks 1556). All they cared about was dominating in the Olympics which showed that they were the best country in the world. Here, however, dominating the Olympics is not good enough for Putin and the others. They also have to do image building and adopt liberal values which they may not internally agree with. This image building ideology has also been done by other countries such as Brazil in order to be recognized by the first world countries. However, it did not work out so well for them. Due to this new image building ideology, Russia set out to build the most expensive Olympics ever. According to the same journal article by Müller, the most common figure cited for the Olympics are “around $55 billion”(Müller 628). In order to source the money for building the infrastructure, Putin sent for many private investors to put their money into the megastructures. According to an article written by Robert Edelman, when “the head of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC), Peter Ueberroth, proposed a ‘private enterprise’ …show more content…
They did not care about such matters because their ultimate goal was to improve the vision of Russia in the world’s eyes. This same privatization was also seen in the soccer leagues that populate modern day Russia. While this privatization of the Olympics was different from the Soviet times, Putin has also wanted to implement some old Soviet practices as well. According to an article from Anna Alekseyeva, “the government has pointed to the need to rebuild the youth infrastructure that was destroyed during the 1990s”(Alekseyeva 163). The government most likely wants to rebuild these youth sporting buildings because they were part of the Soviet domination of the Olympics. Furthermore, building these structures echoes Putin’s comments in the 2002 winter Olympics where he stated “New skiing lanes and other infrastructure must be built” because “Russian athletes are lagging behind”, according to an interfax article (Interfax 6). Another interesting development found unique in Russian culture is the promotion of former Olympic athletes into the government. One example, is the Russian gymnast Khorkina. She was a famous Olympic gymnast who was dominate in her
According to an article by Jenifer Parks, Russia openly stated that the “The IOC as a closed group of Western capitalists hostile to the Soviet Union and Other Communist countries ” (Parks 1556). All they cared about was dominating in the Olympics which showed that they were the best country in the world. Here, however, dominating the Olympics is not good enough for Putin and the others. They also have to do image building and adopt liberal values which they may not internally agree with. This image building ideology has also been done by other countries such as Brazil in order to be recognized by the first world countries. However, it did not work out so well for them. Due to this new image building ideology, Russia set out to build the most expensive Olympics ever. According to the same journal article by Müller, the most common figure cited for the Olympics are “around $55 billion”(Müller 628). In order to source the money for building the infrastructure, Putin sent for many private investors to put their money into the megastructures. According to an article written by Robert Edelman, when “the head of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC), Peter Ueberroth, proposed a ‘private enterprise’ …show more content…
They did not care about such matters because their ultimate goal was to improve the vision of Russia in the world’s eyes. This same privatization was also seen in the soccer leagues that populate modern day Russia. While this privatization of the Olympics was different from the Soviet times, Putin has also wanted to implement some old Soviet practices as well. According to an article from Anna Alekseyeva, “the government has pointed to the need to rebuild the youth infrastructure that was destroyed during the 1990s”(Alekseyeva 163). The government most likely wants to rebuild these youth sporting buildings because they were part of the Soviet domination of the Olympics. Furthermore, building these structures echoes Putin’s comments in the 2002 winter Olympics where he stated “New skiing lanes and other infrastructure must be built” because “Russian athletes are lagging behind”, according to an interfax article (Interfax 6). Another interesting development found unique in Russian culture is the promotion of former Olympic athletes into the government. One example, is the Russian gymnast Khorkina. She was a famous Olympic gymnast who was dominate in her