Skip to main content

News Tip: Olympics Reflect Culture of Times, Duke Professor Says

"There's an idea of the Olympics as a pure expression of international brotherhood when, in fact, the Olympics are a multi-billion-dollar business," says Orin Starn

From political upheaval to corporate shilling, the modern Olympic Games have reflected the times in which they were staged, says a Duke University cultural anthropologist.

"The myth is that the Olympics are a timeless idea going back to ancient Greece, and they represent pure, unadulterated expression of the human spirit. In fact, the Olympics have always reflected the culture and the times," said Orin Starn, an associate professor of cultural anthropology who teaches a course on the anthropology of sports.

"There's an idea of the Olympics as a pure expression of international brotherhood when, in fact, the Olympics are a multi-billion-dollar business that are dependent on an array of corporations to operate," he said.

He notes that the modern games were created in the 19th century, a time when the idea of the nation was coming into existence. That helps explain why the Olympics are "a theater of nationalism," he said.

"The very structure of the Olympics is all about reinforcing the idea of each nation as a separate entity," he said.

Recent Olympics illustrate the ways in which the Games are tied to the times: In the 1960s and 70s, political upheaval in the United States and abroad was reflected in the 1968 black power salute on the medal stand and the killings at the 1972 Games. The Cold War era resulted in the American boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow and subsequent Soviet boycott of the Los Angeles Games in 1984. The corporate Olympics were exemplified by the 1992 "Dream Team," when some U.S. basketball players who were Nike pitchmen draped themselves in American flags to cover up the Reebok logo on their uniforms, he said.

The upcoming 2004 Games in Athens are no different. Organizers now struggle with the fears of terrorism as well as performance-enhancing drugs and advances in biomedicine that are turning modern athletes into a kind of cyborg, Starn said.

"They reflect the anxieties and difficulties of the times," he said.