Olympic Competitions

 

In the arms race, the one with the best weapons would be viewed as the best country.  They also believed that if their athletes were the strongest, then their country would be viewed as the strongest.  As the Soviet gymnasts Natasha Kuchinskaya said during an interviw on a PBS special "because sport was considered the prestige of the government, if sport was storng, government was stron."  They entered the 1952 Helsinki Games as one of 67 nations.  When they left, they took 69 medals with them.  The US Team won only seven more (76).  Now that the world knew of the USSR Team, a new race would begin.  The arms race between the US an the Soviet Union started in 1949, to prove themselves social system superior through sports, the US would fight back strong to prove that they were the stronger nation.

By 1956, the USSR had become the world's leading medal winer-in both the summer and winter games.  The 1960 Olympics went on without many political issues.  In 1962 the world watched as the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred.  After the Cuban Missile Crisis "Moscow vowed to strain every nerve to catch up with the United States so as never to suffer another such humiliation"  The Soviets renwed their vow to "race" with the American's; not only in weapons and technology but in athletics too.

In 1972 a victory of the Soviet Men's Basketball Team over the US Team was highly unexpected.  Between 1936 and 1972 the US Team hadn't lost one of its matches.  During the 1972 game, competition was intense in the final game but the Soviet Team came through in the end to upset the Americans.  This kind of upset was exactly what Stalin envisioned when he sent his first Olympic Team to Helsinki to compete: to come out as the victor in the capitalist's own game.  But less than 10 years later, in 1980, the inexperienced American hockey team defeated the well-prepared Soviet team in the Winter Olympics. Stalin may not have been so happy about that.

Because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, over 60 nations boycotted the 1980 Olympics-which were to be held in Moscow.  The Soviets retaliated and did not attend the Summer Games of 1984-which were held in Los Angeles.

The Cold War shaped the history of the Olympic Games.  Perhaps, if the competition was not so intense, then the victory would not be so sweet.  The Olympic competitions during the COld War instilled a sense of rivalry and pride that still exists today.

"How the Cold War Affected the Olympic Movement."  Google.  25 April 2009