Study On Cold War Of Olympic Movement(1950s-early1990s)

The Yalta System defined the new international pattern after the World War Ⅱ,the US-Soviet confrontation turned out the key word of international politics.Cold War,which last more than forty years,had affected the most part of the world deeply. And the effect is not only on the relation between countries obviously, but also on many other parts,such as culture,economy and sports.As the most significant and influential international sports movement, the Olympic Movement became the battlefield of the US-Soviet confrontation at one time.The start and the ending time of this thesis (1950s-early1990s) is not completely the same of Cold War.And the history of the Olympic Cold War is composed of four major parts:the prophase period(1950s-1960s),the middle period(1970s),the climax period(the first half of1980s) and the later period(late1980s-early1990s). Including six Olympic Summer Games(14th-19th summer games),the prophase period basically focuses on the US-Soviet confrontation about the position on Olympic medal list after Soviet joined the International Olympic Committee(IOC) in1951.The20th Munich Summer Games and the21st Montreal Summer Games took place during the middle period. By the mitigation of international pattern,the US and Soviet began to contest hosting right of Olympic Games with each other outside the arena.And the sports of Soviet and East European Countries developed to an unprecedented golden period at that time.In the climax period,namely the third period, the political boycott became the theme of the22ed Moscow Summer Games and the23rd Los Angeles Summer Games.The US and Soviet boycotted each others’ hosting game.Therefore,the Modern International Olympic Movement fell into the biggest trouble throughout history. But with the changes of the international pattern of late1980s,the effect of Cold War gradually eased up during the the24th Seoul Games and the25th Barcelona Games in the later period.And the Olympic Cold War ended after the drastic changes of the East European Countries and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. At last, the conclusion summarizes the interrelation between politics and sports, Cold War and the Olympic Games.