Olympics Document Based Question

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Olympic DBQ Hunter Toney AP World History The Olympic Games have mostly revolutionized from 1892 to 2002 because of three factors; Economic/renown competition (documents 5, 6, 7, and 9), the international political competitiveness (documents 1, 3, 4, and 10) and the social aspect of competitiveness, primarily in women (documents 2 and 8). Through what I have observed, the Olympic Games have increased the economic stability of many countries, allowed for a less hostile form of competition among countries, and have introduced a sense of equality upon mankind. Document 1 is written by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement. He goes on to explain how the Olympics have given the world a “reduction of the chance of war.” He describes how trading athletes internationally is the “true free trade” among men, and how if this form of trade was introduced in Europe, that peace would soon be formed. He is trying to persuade people to bring back the Olympics for the good of the world. Personally, I find this document to be biased, seeing that it was written by the original founder of the modern Olympic movement, so of course he supports anything that has to do with making the revival of the Olympics sound so lucrative. An additional document from a historian, who has had vast study on the ancient Olympic Games, would be beneficial to compare/contrast this document. What if the Olympics were the cause of major violent struggle among opposing countries? What if the revival of the Olympics wouldn’t be as beneficial as Coubertin is trying to make it seem? Document 3 is written by Arnold Lunn, a British Olympic team official for the 1936 games. This document exemplifies political competitiveness in a great way. This discusses the Nazi party’s participation in the ski portion of the Olympics. Arnold acknowledges the Nazi’s strong desire to be superior
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