The Olympics are always political

Plus: Mark Kelly and the history of astronauts in politics |

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By Made by History / Produced by Olivia B. Waxman From the games’ 1896 founding, Olympic organizers have always claimed that they were apolitical — designed to create cross-cultural understanding and promote peace among nations. Yet, as Debbie Sharnak and Yannick Kluch explore in Made by History, that has always been a myth. With the complicity of American Olympic officials, for example, Adolf Hitler used the 1936 games to promote his vision of Aryan superiority. Subsequently, the International Olympic Committee passed rules requiring host cities to ban political demonstrations and outlawed athlete protests. But competitors often ignored these rules. Finally, ahead of the Tokyo Games in 2021, the IOC softened its ban on protests. With the Olympics in full swing, we don’t know for sure what this will mean for the Paris Games. What is certain, however, according to Sharnak and Kluch, is that athletes have long challenged the foundational Olympic myth of neutrality.

HISTORY ON TIME.COM Mark Kelly and the History of Astronauts Making the Jump to Politics By Jeffrey Kluger From one high-stakes career to another Read More » The Nazi-Era Myth Behind Olympics Gender-Testing Rules By Michael Waters / Made by History The story of Heinz Ratjan has been used to justify gender testing at the Olympics—but we've gotten it all wrong. Read More » The Surgeon General—Not the Supreme Court—Understands the Founders’ Vision for the Second Amendment By Saul Cornell / Made by History Consequences mattered to the Founders—and that meant early American judges upheld major gun restrictions despite the Second Amendment. Read More » History Suggests How to Save California’s Beaches From Climate Change By Elsa Devienne / Made by History The history of how California's beaches suggests that working against nature does more harm than good. Read More » When History Tourism Puts Profit Before the Past By Seth C. Bruggeman / Made by History The history behind the Trail shows what gets left out when profit, rather than the public, drives historical tourism. Read More »

FROM THE TIME VAULT This week in 1976: Nadia Comaneci JOHN G. ZIMMERMAN The Aug. 2, 1976, cover of TIME “She leaps, twists, spins, and the 18,000 people in Montreal's Forum realize that they are witnessing an exhibition of individual achievement that is truly Olympian. The judges agree. Their verdict on Nadia Comaneci 14, of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Rumania: she is perfect. Never before in the modern Olympic Games, which date back to 1896, has the performance of a gymnast been judged perfect. But within five days last week Comaneci earned the 10.00 mark seven times.” Read More » This week in 1981: Charles and Diana TIME The Aug. 3, 1981, cover of TIME “Movie stars have become princesses before. Never, however, has a Princess looked so much like a movie star; certainly no Queen-to-be has ever done so much for a pair of blue jeans. Lady Diana's seemingly paradoxical quality of patrician funkiness has caught the spirit of a generation that fancies itself a little more romantic than those of the '70s and '60s and acts, at least outwardly, a good deal more conservatively. She is already widely imitated—the hair, the clothes, the ruffled collars —but never duplicated. Certainly the reason is that she is unique, as thousands of desperate Di-clones and all the merchants who minister to them have discovered.” Read More » This week in 2012: London Olympics The July 30, 2012, cover of TIME “Lochte and Phelps are linked together like Olympic rings. It's inevitable in any contest of the world's best athletes--even one that occurs once every four years--that the same competitors will meet, vying in a tug-of-war for records, medals, sponsors and bragging rights, pushing one another in an ever escalating battle to be on top. London, Lochte has said, is "my time," and despite his admirable respect for Phelps' accomplishments, both admit that the chummy feelings end on the starting blocks.” Read More »

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