Sport, Politics and the Olympics

In 1956, the Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia. Interestingly enough, during this time there was extreme tension between Hungarians and Russians. In fact, there was an attempt to overthrow the Soviet regime and as a result, around 200,000 Russian troops invaded Hungary and left over 5,000 dead. As a result of these unfortunate events, there was a lot of tension between the Hungarian and Russian water polo teams. During the match there were several fights and the athletes were overly aggressive with one another. Some of them put others in choke holds and others threw punches. The match was ended early when a Hungarian player, Ervin Zador, was punched in the face by a Russian player. The referees did not want a riot to start so they ended the match. The Hungarians went on to win the gold metal and this story has been known as "Blood in the Water" at the 1956 Olympics ever since. This would definitely be an example of sport as an Opiate of the Masses because even though Hungary was being invaded and thousands of Hungarians died, they still were able to defeat the Russians in the Olympics and it gave Hungary some pride. This is a perfect example where sports can be impacted by politics and I disagree with the statement "Sport is pure and devoid of political interference." Eitzen and Sage write a chapter on sports and politics and argues that there are five political uses of sport. These five include sport as a propaganda vehicle, sport and nationalism, sport as an opiate of the masses, the exploitation of sport by politicians, and sport as a vehicle of change in society.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/blood-in-the-water-at-the-1956-olympics-1616787/