Revisiting Los Angeles: A Financial Look at the XXIIIrd Olympiad

Abstract

1896 a wealthy French nobleman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, dreamed about resurrecting the ancient Olympian Games. He envisioned a contest that promoted international peace and goodwill most important thing is not to win, but to take part, he later said, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle.1 Coubertin realized his dream on April 6, 1896, when he helped to organize the first of the modern Olympiads in Athens, Greece. The competition encountered a difficult start with only thirteen nations sending teams and the bulk of the financial support stemming from Coubertin. Despite this tenuous beginning, the 1st Olympiad of Athens ignited an international Olympic fervor and the popularity of the contest increased dramatically with each successive competition. Nations bid competitively for the honor of hosting the quadrennial Games. In 1972 the XXth Olympiad boasted a record 122 attending nations. International enthusiasm for the Games, however, masked the serious problems confronting the modern Olympic movement. Six years later, these problems not only diminished the popularity of the Games, but placed the future of the competition in jeopardy.