Its July 2021 and the Games of the XXXII Olympiad originally scheduled for Tokyo 2020 are now happening!

Up until a few months ago no-one was sure they would.

Many Games become ‘known’ for something.

Especially since 1968….

Mexico City 1968 was known for two African American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos each raised a black gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem.

According to Wikipedia[1] – “Smith and Carlos delivered the salute with heads bowed, a gesture which became front-page news around the world. As they left the podium they were booed by the crowd. Smith later said, “If I win, I am American, not a black American. But if I did something bad, then they would say I am a Negro. We are black and we are proud of being black. Black America will understand what we did tonight.”

Tommie Smith stated in later years that “We were concerned about the lack of black assistant coaches. About how Muhammad Ali got stripped of his title. About the lack of access to good housing and our kids not being able to attend the top colleges.”

One can only hope the public reaction would be more considerate in these times.

These Games were also know for the introduction of drug testing resulting in one athlete being banned. This was the the lowest positive drug testing count of all subsequent Olympic Games, and only one of three times the count was single digits (along with 1992 and 1996)

Munich 1972 was known for the group of Palestinian terrorists storms the Olympic Village apartment of the Israeli athletes, killing two and taking nine others hostage. Understandably this overshadowed the feats such as American swimmer Mark Spitz’s seven gold medals and teenage Russian gymnast Olga Korbut’s two dramatic gold-medal victories.

Montreal 1976 was marred by an African boycott involving 22 countries, protesting the New Zealand rugby team had toured Apartheid South Africa.  In addition, the locals financially supported debt from these Games for a number of decades.

Moscow 1980 was known for the United States led a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the late 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  Over 60 countries joined the US in this boycott.

Los Angeles 1984 was known for the Soviet Union boycotting the games.  Perhaps payback for 1980?

Seoul 1988 was known for the first high profile positive drug result given to Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson. The 100 m track sprint event  has since been notoriously referred to as ‘the dirtiest race in history’.

Barcelona 1992 became the first Olympics where athletes were disqualified for the use of the drug Clenbuterol (US athletes Jud Logan and Bonnie Dassie).  Tough calls, as this Games had the second lowest positive drug test numbers in the post 1968 history of drug testing (5 positives). Unlike Montreal, the locals appeared happy with the long-term impact of the Games.

Atlanta 1996 was known for the domestic terrorist pipe bombing attack on Centennial Olympic Park which killed one person and injured 111 others.  This overshadowed many of the results, however it was also the third lowest positive drug test Games with only 7 positives in the record books.

Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016 – all seemed relatively calm in comparison.

Then along came Tokyo – and the global pandemic of COVID-19.

Perhaps Tokyo will be known as the Games that were delayed for a year and nearly didn’t happen.

Tokyo may be one of only 11 cities that have hosted more than one Olympic Games (1964 and 2021), however they also cancelled an Olympics previously (1940).

Hopefully they will not also become known as the Games that were cancelled during the event….

 

References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Olympics_Black_Power_salute