FROM THEIR armchairs people will be able to see their country's athletes competing in various events when we consider the size, the spectacle and the commercialism of the modern olympic it is difficult to remember that they started in olympic in greece in 776 bc with only one race, a sprint for which the prize for the winner was an olive wreath therefore it is appropriate that the frist modern olympic games opened in athens in 1896 the games have also become politically important the can now be seen by nearly every country in the world and are therefore an ideal platform for political statements
when soviet troops invaded afghanistan in 1980 many countries in the west boycotted the moscow games. in 1989 some countries decided not to send teams to the lA games because they felt
they were too commercial
in circumstances like these,the olympic ideal and spirit comes into question and for athletes there is less value in winning a gold medal if the best of the world's athletes are not competing the question is how much longer will the games survive if nations continue to use them as a political platform