The Evolution of the Modern Olympics
Like Cornell sports venues in Ithaca, the ancient Greeks held the original Olympic games in the rural town of Olympia. The original Olympics, which were conducted every four years from the 8th century BC to the fourth century AD, were very merit based. Only the winner was honored with an olive wreath. There were no awards for second or third place. For most of its time, the wreath was the only award, but in later years the winners also received cash prizes.
The basic idea, wrapped in symbolism and mythology, was that the various Greek city states would be better off flexing their military and athletic skills in a periodic public competition rather than armed warfare.
By the 19th Century, in a world without mass athletic competitions, the Olympics became a historic oddity studied by only Classics professors at elite universities which still taught Greek and Latin.
Most Olympic revivals had a local or national scope, but the idea of a modern international competition caught the public’s imagination, and the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.), funded by a group of idealistic wealthy donors, formed in 1894. The first modern Olympics were held in Athens Greece in 1896.
The modern Olympics, like intercollegiate sports, were organized around the idea of amateurism. Athletes were independently wealthy and did not need funding to train or travel to competition. The U.S. Olympic movement was tied to well-healed Ivy League schools and their network of student-athletes.
A good example of this was Richard Parke ‘16 who was traveling in Europe and read a notice that the US Olympic team was looking for athletes to “walk on” its bobsled team. Parke briefly practiced with the team, won a gold medal in the 1928 St. Moritz Olympics, and never bobsled again. Today, his achievement is only celebrated by Cornell Sports Information and his fraternity brothers.
Perhaps Cornell’s biggest Olympics booster was Robert J Kane ‘34 who served as manager of the 1936 Olympic track and field team. He continued in various roles at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and ultimately was elected President of the US Olympic Committee. While USOC President, he fought President Jimmy Carter over the US boycott of the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics.
The Paris Summer Olympics
The Olympics have evolved from an amateur event to a high-stakes competition. In addition to receiving a physical medal, U.S. athletes receive a medal bonus of $37,500 for a gold medal, $22,500 for a silver, and $15,000 for a bronze from the USOC. Country or specific sports federations also add payments. For example, World Athletics, the international governing body for track and field, pays out an additional $50,000 to each track gold medal winner. Even more money is available through endorsement deals.
However, Olympic status is not measured in terms of payout, but rather medal counts. The U.S. finished the Paris Games on top of the national medal count with 40 gold, 44 silver, and 42 bronze. When these are broken down by universities, Stanford finished first with 39 medals (12 gold, 14 silver, 13 bronze) , followed by Harvard with eight gold medals, one silver, and four bronze medals .
Cornell was far behind, with one gold, one silver and one bronze. On August 1, Michael Grady ‘19 won a gold medal as a part of the men’s four rowing team. This was the U.S.’s first such medal in 64 years.
On August 5, Taylor Knibb ’20 anchored the U.S. triathlon mixed relay team to a silver medal, missing the gold by 1 second in a three-athlete sprint to the finish. Knibb won silver with Team USA in the same event three years ago in Tokyo.
Kyle Dake ’13 secured his second consecutive Olympic bronze medal on Aug. 10 with a 10-4 victory over Hetik Cabolov of Serbia in the 74 Kg freestyle category. Dake is the son of the Lansing HS wrestling coach and competed on the Cornell varsity wrestling team for four years.
Two other Cornellians competed without winning medals. In the two-man scull, Sorin Koszyk ’20 finished fourth. Rudy Winkler ’17 finished sixth in the hammer throw. Winkler had also competed in the hammer throw in the Tokyo Olympics.
Moving Away From Merit
For most of its history, the Olympics represented the ideal of merit-based competition. The official motto was Citius, Altius, Fortius (“faster, higher, stronger”) in other words, awards based upon pure merit. In 2021, the I.O.C. changed the official motto to “Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter” adding the Latin word for “together.” In fact, as the Olympic teams cleared out of Paris, the International Paralympic Games for athletes with disabilities took over. These games are run by the I.O.C. and are included as an integral part of the hosting deal. Although the paralympians get to use the same Olympic venues, they do not attract the same degree of public attention or media coverage.
Also, Paris added a mass-participation marathon drawing over 20,000 runners on the official Olympic course an hour after the official race. Each paid an entry fee for running 26.2 miles. Mass-participation 10K runs on the street were also featured.
While any personal commitment to fitness is admirable, the Greek ideal of recognizing the absolute best through fair competition, should not be abandoned lightly.
