Polityczne implikacje przypisywania politycznego znaczenia starciom sportowców w okresie zimnej wojny

Abstrakt

Sport has political significance in various ways, such as prestigious meaning of the amount of medals won by athletes from particular countries or political benefits standing behind organizing sports mega-events such as Olympic Games. The article is about another form of attaching political significance to sport - the particular sports competitions between representatives of geopolitical constellations that from different reasons are perceived from the political perspective.
There are different actors that tend to attach political significance to particular sports clashes, such as the athletes themselves, political leaders, followers or the media. In some cases athletes had greater desire to win in respect to the nation their counterparts were representing. Followers and journalists often referred to political background of the sports competitions. Politicians on the other hand sometimes encouraged athletes to fight harder as if it would matter in the Cold War.
There were no certain situation when sports competitions between Cold War rivals became politically important. It was connected with the equal progress of the competition or with the contemporary international relations. In some cases unexpected results also triggered attaching political meaning to rivalry between athletes.