36 Sports Issue 12 July 2024 The RGS Gazette Are the Olympics an Outdated Concept? In 2008, over 4.7 billion people, around 70% of the world's population at the time, viewed the Olympic Games in Beijing. In 2020, only 3.05 billion people across 98 countries watched the Games. Within these 12 years, viewership fell by 35%. There has been a rapid decline in the importance and popularity of the Olympics globally. But firstly, I will explain the history behind the competition. The Olympic Games are deeply rooted in tradition, as they were inspired by the ancient religious athletic festival held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, Greece, to celebrate the ancient Greek god. But now, the modern Olympics are a leading international sporting event, featuring summer and winter competitions with thousands of athletes representing their nations. There are 42 disciplines, ranging from weightlifting to synchronised swimming, with the inaugural, modern Olympic games being hosted in Athens, Greece in 1896. The first potential reason for the rapid decline in The Olympic's popularity is the mix between international politics and the sport. Throughout the Olympics' duration, several nations and territories have refused to participate in certain editions due to political reasons. For example, in 1980, the Olympic games were held in Moscow during the peak of the Cold War (1945 to 1991). The Cold War was a conflict primarily between the USA and the Soviet Union, which did not directly involve military action. Instead, it was a conflict waged through primarily economic and political actions. So, the USA, along with 65 other countries, decided not to attend the Moscow Olympics as a political stand. This resulted in only 80 countries participating, which was the lowest for 20 years. These boycotts continued to occur and still do to this day, as only 5 countries globally have attended every Olympics since its creation in 1896. These political stunts have negatively affected the popularity, as other political agendas sometimes overshadow the performers, creating poor publicity around the event. Another potential reason for the recent decrease in engagement with the Olympics may be a result of the increased use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) within the event. This is because the use of PEDs has now become commonplace in the Olympics, with the most infamous scandal occurring in 2008 with the Russian athletics team. After the Beijing Olympics in 2008, 50 Russian athletes were stripped of their medals as a result of doping violations. This is the largest number of athletes from one country to be stripped of their medals at one edition of the Olympics. The Russian team had four times more athletes disqualified during this Olympics than the next highest nation and these stripped medals accounted for around 30% of the global total points. These events caused trust to be lost between the viewers and the competition, since spectators were unsure as to whether medals and performances from athletes were legitimate or aided by the use of PEDs. Moreover, the negative social impacts on local residents and communities in the host country may also have contributed to the negative reputation. This is because in the period prior to the Rio Olympics, from around 20102016, over 77,000 local residents were displaced from their homes. These displaced residents would have to move away from the area, increasing unemployment rates locally and in the country as a whole. However, despite these negative effects, the Olympics still provides many commendable benefits to the host country and different sports as a whole. This is because the Olympic games also have a competition for disabled athletes, which is known as the Paralympics. The Paralympics allow disabled athletes to compete on the same stage as ablebodied athletes, with these sports being televised to a wider audience, resulting in higher revenue and publicity for the disabled athletes. Also, revenue generated by the Olympics can help to boost the economy of the host country and its residents. Altogether, I feel the Olympics has decreased in popularity due to a multitude of reasons, ranging from the effect on the host nation's residents to cheating and political interference. This has caused distrust between the viewer and the event which has decreased the Olympics overall popularity. Malachi Randolph (Year 10) explains the decline in popularity of the Olympics and whether they are outdated Paris 2024 Olympics Logo
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