Politics and the Olympics: a comparison of the 1936 Berlin and 2008 Beijing games

Despite the fact that much research exists on the Olympics, limited publications address the relations between multiple Games. Furthermore, although the Olympics have been intertwined with politics from the founding of the modern movement, public perception of the 2008 Beijing Games was that of a political event unique to the Olympic experience. The aim of this study was to explore issues and controversies surrounding the 1936 and 2008 Olympics to determine if the political aspects of the Beijing Games were similar to or different from those of the Berlin Games. Information was obtained from scholarly literature on the Berlin and Beijing Games. Eight major themes with respect to similarities and differences between the political factors of the Berlin and Beijing Games were identified. They included reaction to host city decision, negative public perception, efforts to boycott, torch relay, opening ceremony, Olympic stage, importance of winning gold, and impacts of the Games