12/12/2023 0 Comments When does the olympics start( The Economist argued, in August 1980, that only full professionalisation would stop sport from falling “into communist hands”.)Īnd so, in the late 1980s, having spent decades ignoring de facto professionalism, IOC federations began dropping their formal amateur requirements, letting the governing bodies of each sport decide who could compete. Western countries saw ending amateurism as a way to nullify the methods of Eastern Bloc regimes. Sportswear brands such as Adidas and Puma began paying competitors to wear their goods. Athletes, understandably, wanted their share. Ever more people came to believe that amateurism had run its course.īy the 1960s, television companies-able to broadcast live and in colour-were shelling out large sums to screen the games. Athletes behind the Iron Curtain were nurtured from a young age, given spurious jobs, allocated full-time coaches, and were prepared under the direction of state scientists (who were not averse to doping). Communist Bloc countries, for example, pushed “state amateurism” to its limit. But it was authoritarian regimes that saw the biggest opportunity to prove their superiority to the world. ![]() Such “shamateurs” may not have been paid to compete, but they were making a living from their sports nonetheless. Other athletes were rewarded for personal appearances or for writing newspaper columns. In an early example, the “Flying Finns”-Finnish runners who gobbled up long- and middle-distance medals in the 1920 Games-had been given cushy jobs in factories and allowed plenty of leave to train. As governments started to see Olympic success as a gauge of national prowess, the rules became stretched. When the Olympic movement began spreading around the world, it was left to national Olympic committees and individual sporting federations to define what amateurism meant. But amateurism meant that the games were open only to those of independent wealth. What is more, the Olympics aimed to be open to all and judged on ability. And the winners in some of the more aristocratic sports, including automobile racing, equestrianism and motor-boat racing, were in fact awarded prizes of money or objets d’art. Some of the early games, such as in Paris in 1900, were attached to world trade fairs, shrines to capitalism not classicism. Yet from the start, as Matthew Llewellyn and John Gleaves describe in their book, “The Rise and Fall of Olympic Amateurism”, the Olympic committee was accused of hypocrisy. Jim Thorpe, one of America’s most famous athletes at the time, was stripped of his decathlon and pentathlon gold medals, won in 1912 in Stockholm, after it was discovered he had been paid (a pittance) for playing semi-professional baseball while he was in college. The rules stated that participants must never have competed for money nor, indeed, ever would. ![]() The early modern games-the first of which were held in Athens in 1896-reflected this. He wanted his Olympic games to spread that ideal. De Coubertin thought this attitude, drummed into the ruling class in Britain’s posh boarding schools, was the pillar on which its empire was built. That meant noble amateurism, underpinned by values such as fair play, stoicism and self-improvement for self-improvement’s sake (all infused, no doubt, with a snobbish disdain for working-class professional footballers, cricketers and the like). These saw athletic pursuit in classical terms. The Frenchman was deeply influenced by British attitudes to sport, or at least those of the British upper classes. Olympic gymnastics competition takes place in four phases, with qualification first followed by team finals, all-around finals, and event finals.WHEN BARON PIERRE DE COUBERTIN had the idea of reviving the Olympic games of ancient Greece, he envisaged a strictly amateur affair. ![]() In addition, 100 individual competitors are permitted to compete, with a maximum of 98 men and 98 women for a total of 196 participants. The competition format for gymnastics is comprised of twelve men's teams and twelve women's teams, with a maximum of four athletes per team. In this edition of the Olympics, there will be a total of 14 medal events in gymnastics: Team events and all-arounds for both men and women, and 10 event finals. This year is no different, as men's and women's gymnastics alike are set to be among the featured competitions in the Tokyo Olympics. Thanks to its displays of uncommon athletic ability, flexibility, and coordination, gymnastics have long been one of the most popular and anticipated events in the Summer Olympics.
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