“Discuss Something That You Learned This Semester”.

Background and History of the Soviets in the Olympics

Russia became the Soviet Union after the revolution , which coincided with the events of the First World War , and since that time the nation had been isolated from all the events concerned with the Olympics Within the period between the two wars , relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC ) and the Soviet government were strained . The IOC displayed no interest in the Soviets ' participation in the games , while the Soviets themselves were highly critical of the celebrated event . They criticized the Games as

being representative of the despised capitalistic societies of the West . The Soviet Union also described the Olympics as showing out-of-date idealism toward a British gentleman and amateur who no longer existed to any great measure in modern society (Senn , 84 . The IOC rarely answered such attacks or even acknowledged the Soviets , whom they considered unable to contribute much athleticism to the Olympic events

However , the events of World War II acted as a catalyst beginning the series of events that threw the Soviets into the center of the Olympic Games . The War proved very destructive to the European states , and led to a rise in the status of the Soviet Union as an international power This status was also accorded to the United States during this period and a heightened sense of rivalry attended the two emergent super powers . Furthermore , the war had itself prevented the IOC from convening its traditional games , causing an eleven year span in which no Olympic Games at all were held . By the 1950 's , things began to change in the IOC . This organization had up to this point been one that was dedicated to serving North America and the western region of Europe , but had been in the habit of periodically granting the entrance of new countries and territories into the competition . However , since World War II had led to a new international balance of power , the IOC became persuaded to adjust its policies to fit the new state of things (Senn , 84 . The Soviet Union would therefore need to be approached and negotiations carried out in to achieve an agreement between them

Sigfrid Edstrom and Avery Brundage were instrumental in the negotiations that led to the inclusion of the Soviet Union in the Olympic Games . This president and future president (respectively ) of the IOC were in charge of the directions taken by the organization regarding its policies toward the Soviets . These two leaders were by no means completely trusting of the policies and motives of the Soviet Union , but because of the place to which that nation had risen on the international scene Edstrom and Brundage were aware that it was no longer prudent to keep that country on the fringes of the organization . Edstrom himself was under the impression that the army commanded by the Soviet Union posed a threat to the international security , and he concluded that such a threat could neither be ignored nor encouraged . Brundage too...