DBQ on effects of modern day olympics
The Olympics Games were athletic competition held in Greece from 776 BCE to 393 CE. They took a hiatus before starting up again in 1892. Once the modern Olympics had begun in 1892, it had effects on society. These effects include a social change of unifying people across the world of the same and different genders, a cultural change of a strong passionate desire to beat the other countries to win the gold, and an economic change of the Olympics costing billions of dollars to the host city. In 1892, Pierre de Coubertin founded the modern Olympic movement with intentions of unifying the world as one. When he spoke to the athletic society of France, he knew that something amazing was going to come out of bringing the Olympics back to life (Document 1). Although he could have some unknown selfish motive for starting the Olympics again, he is a reliable source. When the games had only been going for a few years in 1908, a mere two percent of the athletes participating were women, one of which being a British archer names Sybil Newall (Document 2). Coubertin’s original goal being to unite people across the world was successful because the percentage of women athletes grew to 29 percent in 1992 (Document 8). Women’s perspective also changed about the Olympics. Hassiba Boulmerka, an Algerian female competitor, discussed how winning in the Olympics gave her self confidence and pride to her country. The Olympics also united countries together for friendly competition, as show from a quote by Bob Matthias, an American competitor, who discussed the intense rivalry between the USA and the USSR (Document 4). Not only did the Olympic games unite genders from within a nation, but also it united both genders with the people of the world. The Olympics were the begging of a strong passion for completion and rivalries between nations across the world. Arnold Lunn, a British Olympic team official in the 1936 games, notices how the German soldiers where not just there to win,