No, the Olympic games are not scripted! You would have noticed that many headlines come and go about players trying to cheat by using performance-enhancing drugs. But it has never been found out that Olympic games are scripted in any way. Just like any multi-sporting event, the Olympic games are also organized with complete transparency.
And if they ever said that the Olympics are not scripted and some evidence were to be found against it the whole significance and relevance of this Multi-sporting event would collapse.
The strong argument about the Olympic games not being scripted is that: because it’s one of the biggest sporting events in the world where people from all around the world take part. Practically speaking it is impossible to Script a sporting event which is as big as the Olympics which the whole world is watching.
The sporting competitions that have the format of awarding the winners through a “judging system” are always biased. Unlike the Olympics, In the Olympic games winner is decided after statistically comparing the scores. For example: in a boxing match the boxers score a point by throwing clean punches which are judged by rules and in the end, the boxer who comes out to be the scorer of the highest number of points takes the medal with him home,
Is the Olympics fair?
As of now, it is safe to say that no nation has such power and influence for being able to commit such acts of scripting the games. IOC takes a tough stand against such acts. we talked about boxing in the above para that how a boxer win, but some events contradict that theory, back when the cold war was going on and during the Olympics games in those years one of the headlines line sparked in newspapers that American boxers were blatantly deprived of winning games.
Mary Kom a former member of Rajya Sabha surrounded herself with controversies after a misunderstanding took place when the match ended before few moments when results were announced, everyone on Mary’s crew thought that she had made it through because she dominated in the last 2 rounds but the results were rather disappointing when it was announced that she lost. Indian sports minister took it to Twitter by saying “For all of us @MANGTEC (Mary’s Twitter handle) was the clear winner but judges have their calculations”. Mary’s coach also spoke to the press about it that his crew were considering protesting against the authorities but he also insisted that it’s highly inadvisable.
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Scandals in Olympic games
Despite being considered one of the fairest and most clean major sporting events in the whole world, the Olympic games have somehow always found themselves at the centre of everyone’s attention because of the scandals or alleged controversies. Here we have brought the 5 most surprising scandals events by events for you to know about:
2020 Summer Olympics Tokyo, Japan
- In 124 years of the history of modern Olympic games, it was the first time happening that the Multi-sporting event was postponed due COVID-19 Pandemic. Organizing in 2020 but instead, it happened in 2021. Fethi Nourine, An Algerian judo athlete in the men’s category 73 kg class was sent back home after refusing to compete in his next match against Israeli opponent Tohar Butbul. Many alleged that it was scripted and many connected it to an Egyptian judoka who refused to shake his hands after getting defeated by him who was also Israeli.
2016 Summer Olympics Rio, Brazil
- This was one of the most controversial that happened in the history of the modern Olympics. In the frontier of the lists of controversies following this, it was Russian athletes who stood in front after doping scandals and participation restrictions.
- 4 US swimmers, Jimmy Feign, Gunnar Bentz, Jack conger and Ryan Lochte vandalized a bathroom gas station, and they were made to pay for the damages by two security personnel who used guns to scare them to do so. Later swimmers claimed that they were robbed by 2 men pretending to be a police officers. All the accusations made by swimmers were investigated by the Brazilian federal police and it was found to be foul all the swimmers were suspended and punished for their actions.
- Islam El Shehab made it to the headlines after he refused to shake his hands with an opponent after getting defeated.
- 9 Australian athletes were fined $3000 by Brazilian police after they were found to show fake and manipulated credentials for entering the arena and watching a basketball match.
2012 Summer Olympics London, England
- Greek triple and long jump athlete was barred and expelled by the Greek Olympic Committee after posting a racial comment on her social media handle.
- South Korean fencer Shin Alam was dissatisfied and saddened by the blunder of referees and authorities by allowing her opponent Heidemann to score after the time was over even when the time was over. Despite being heavily protested the request was rejected and Germany was allowed to compete for the gold medal. However, shin was offered a consolidation medal but she rejected it.
- During the women’s seminal match of football, an indirect free-kick was awarded to the United States after the referee penalised the Canadian goalkeeper for wasting time and that free-kick was later converted into a goal making US advance to extra time and where they won.
2008 Summer Olympics Beijing, China
- Swedish Wrestler Ara Abrahamian placed his bronze medal on the floor after it was put around his neck. This action is done by many athletes as they don’t want to celebrate their loss. However, it was found to be offensive by IOC and he was disqualified but his medal wasn’t automatically given to the 5th rank holder.
- The questions were raised about the ages of two Chinese female wrestlers: Jiang Yuyuan and He Kexin. This controversy was raised because they participated in 2007 youth games. After that many speculations were made, but none of them was considered solid by the investigation team.
- Cuban taekwondo athlete was banned for life from any international competitions for attacking a referee and kicking him in the face and also attacking another official.
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2004 Summer Olympics Athens, Greece
- Athens was the place where 1st ever modern Olympics were organized. Years later when this city again hosted another Olympic Games it was filled with scandals and controversies.
- Hungarian fencing official was suspended for committing 6 errors in favour of an Italian competitor. It was the match in which the gold medal was on the line which took no time in raising speculations if that was rigged or not.
- Another bizarre thing happened in a marathon when a Brazilian runner was attacked by a mob of an Irish priest and dragged into the crowd but he recovered and sealed the bronze medal, later he was awarded the sportsmanship award.
By evaluating many events mentioned above you can assess that it can’t be ignored that somehow there is a possibility still existing that can contradict the fact that Olympic games are not scripted. It is also noticed that many times the faults committed by referees are never fixed and instead the request to change the decision is rejected by authorities, which put us in doubt that is Olympics not scripted.
What Does IOC Do To Make Olympics Fair?
- Olympic truce i.e.; Safety of athletes: – The IOC has empowered the ancient concept of Olympic truce that allowed participants to travel in safety measures given protecting their interests in the sport. The IOC also encourages UN members to sign the Olympic truce to promote a violence-free state.
- Olympic solidarity: – This is aimed at promoting the value of sports all around the world and encouraging them to participate. This involves the sharing of broadcast rights.
- Gender equality: – The IOC commits itself to ensuring equality between athletes belonging to different gender categories and to protecting the oppressed class. Gender equality also fights the oppressions that are faced by women and people belonging to the LGBTQI+ community for years and years.
- Integrity: – The IOC is also responsible for protecting clean athletes by fighting against doping and keeping the competition fair. Not only doping but other kinds of cheating, IOC strengthens the ethics of athletes by educating them.
- Sustainability: – The IOC also have an approach to protecting the environment while organizing its activities. Recently happened summer games in Tokyo featured the medals that were made of Recycled thrown mobile phones, Rio used the theme of making medals made of 0% mercury contamination.
- Education through sports: – Pierre de Coubertin the founder of modern Olympic games believed that sports contributed to the harmonious and balanced development of the body, personality and mind. Interaction between sport, education and culture.
CONCLUSION
Olympics is most certainly Not scripted, but still, some events arouse out of nowhere to contradict our claim. Olympism is a philosophy that guides us in life with its values and potential educational practice. Olympic games bring people belonging from different Races, genders, countries and cultures together to put up a sign of solidarity. Blending the beautifulness of sports with cultural factors and education, Olympism primarily seeks to create a way of life based on the practices of efforts of achieving something in life, Olympics also gives opportunities to people who come from economically backward regions allowing stepping and living a good healthy life that they have achieved by all the efforts and hard works.
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