WThe Olympic Games is a major international multi-sport event. During its history, both the Summer and Winter Games have been a subject of scandals and controversies, including the use of performance enhancing drugs.
WDuring their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner". While on the podium, Smith and Carlos, who had won gold and bronze medals respectively in the 200-meter running event of the 1968 Summer Olympics, turned to face the US flag and then kept their hands raised until the anthem had finished. In addition, Smith, Carlos, and Australian silver medalist Peter Norman all wore human-rights badges on their jackets.
WThe 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and its allies later boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
WThe boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles followed four years after the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The boycott involved 14 Eastern Bloc countries and allies, led by the Soviet Union, which initiated the boycott on May 8, 1984. Boycotting countries organized another major event, called the Friendship Games, in July and August 1984. Although the boycott led by the Soviet Union affected Olympic events that were normally dominated by the absent countries, 140 nations still took part in the games, which was a record at the time.
WThe opening ceremony of the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 23 July 2021 at Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, and was formally opened by Emperor Naruhito. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal and ceremonial opening of this international sporting event, including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture and history. The vast majority of the artistic spectacle was pre-recorded, with live segments performed with a small VIP audience and performers adhering to social distancing. The ceremony marked the 125th anniversary of the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens—the inaugural edition of the modern Olympic Games.
WThe women's 1500 metres competition was an event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The competition was held at the Olympic Stadium from 6–10 August. The top two finishers were later found to have used prohibited drugs during this period, and subsequently disqualified. The current silver medalist, Tatyana Tomashova, had served a two-year doping ban (2008-2010) for manipulating samples; and the 7th-place finisher Natallia Kareiva and the 9th-place finisher Yekaterina Kostetskaya were later disqualified after being found guilty of doping.
WThe 1972 Olympic men's basketball final was one of the most dramatic events in Olympic history and was the first ever loss for Team USA since the sport began Olympic play at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The United States team had won the previous seven gold medals at the Olympics, and was among the contenders to win another in Munich at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Both the U.S. and the Soviet Union convincingly won their first eight games of the tournament. The US team put its overall Olympic record at 63–0 and advanced to the final against the USSR.
WOn 1 August 2021, it was reported that Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was in the process of being repatriated to Belarus from Tokyo, Japan, against her will, and had been removed from competing at the 2020 Summer Olympics, for posting a video on social media that was critical of her coaches.
WBerlin 36 is a 2009 German film telling the fate of Jewish track and field athlete Gretel Bergmann in the 1936 Summer Olympics. In the movie she was replaced by the Nazi regime with a fellow athlete which she befriended. The film, based on a true story, was released in Germany on September 10, 2009.
WTohar Butbul is an Israeli judoka. He competes in the under 73 kg weight category, where he won silver medals at the 2019 Judo World Masters and the 2021 European Championships, and won bronze medals in the 2017 Paris Grand Slam and 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam. As of March 2018 he was ranked #9 in the world in the U73 kg division.
WCases of COVID-19 at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, are part of a cluster of SARS-CoV-2 infections within the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan that began in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Village in July 2021, prior to the Opening Ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics on 23 July 2021. The Olympics ended on 8 August 2021 before the Opening Ceremony of the 2020 Summer Paralympics started on 24 August 2021. The Paralympics ended on 5 September 2021 before the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China started a few months later.
WNodar Kumaritashvili was a Georgian luge athlete who suffered a fatal crash during a training run for the 2010 Winter Olympics competition in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, on the day of the opening ceremony. He became the fourth athlete to die during preparations for a Winter Olympics, and the seventh athlete to die in either a Summer or Winter Olympic Games.
WThe mechanics of the running blades used by South African Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius depend on special carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer prosthetics. Pistorius has double below-the-knee amputations and competed in both non-disabled and T44 amputee athletics events. Pistorius's eligibility to run in international non-disabled events is sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
WThe Munich massacre was an attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September, who took nine members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage, after killing two more. Black September called the operation "Iqrit and Biram", after two Palestinian Christian villages whose inhabitants were expelled by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Black September commander was Luttif Afif, who was also the negotiator. West German neo-Nazis gave the group logistical assistance.
WThe 2028 Summer Olympics are an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from July 21 to August 6, 2028 in Los Angeles, California, United States. It will be the first Summer Games to be held in the US since the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, and the first Olympics in the US since the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
WOlympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) was the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) designation of select Russian athletes permitted to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The designation was instigated following the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee after the Russian doping scandal. This was the second time that Russian athletes had participated under the neutral Olympic flag, the first being in the Unified Team of 1992.
WThe Olympic Games is a major international multi-sport event. During its history there have been boycotts on six occasions, all of them Summer Olympics. The first boycott occurred at the 1956 Summer Olympics and the most recent was at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
WThe Principle Six campaign, also Principle 6, or P6, was launched in January 2014 as an Olympic protests of Russian anti-gay laws in conjunction with the 2014 Olympics being held in Sochi, Russia. Principle 6 refers to the sixth principle of the Olympic Charter that says any form of discrimination "is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement."Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.
WSally Robbins is an Australian sportswoman. Originally from Perth, Western Australia, she attended the rowing program at the Western Australian Institute of Sport, and later represented Australia at the women's four at the 2000 Olympics and the women's eight at the 2004 Olympics. At the 2004 Olympics she stopped rowing due to exhaustion during the final part of the race, for which she was heavily criticised. After the conclusion of her rowing career, Robbins attempted to become a professional cyclist.
WIslam El Shehaby is an Egyptian former judoka.
WFollowing a summer of increasingly large demonstrations protesting against the 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City, the Mexican Armed Forces opened fire on 2 October 1968 on unarmed civilians, killing an undetermined number, in the hundreds. It occurred in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City. The events are considered part of the Mexican Dirty War, when the US-backed PRI government violently repressed political and social opposition. The massacre occurred 10 days before the opening ceremony of the Olympics, which were carried out normally.
WThe Whistler Sliding Centre is a Canadian bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track located in Whistler, British Columbia, that is 125 km (78 mi) north of Vancouver. The centre is part of the Whistler Blackcomb resort, which comprises two ski mountains separated by Fitzsimmons Creek. Located on the lowermost slope of the northern mountain, Whistler Sliding Centre hosted the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton competitions for the 2010 Winter Olympics.