Open access
SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF UNETHICAL PRACTICES OF SPORTS POLICY DURING THE COLD WAR ERA
Michał Marcin KOBIERECKI1
Responsibility - Ethics
Publication language: Polish
Journal article
Transformations No. 1-2 (80-81) 2014, Publication date: 26 May 2014
Abstract Cold War was a time of a comprehensive rivalry between two blocks of states led by the USA and the Soviet Union. The confrontation had various dimensions, and one of them was sport, which most of all could be used for the sake of political propaganda. Winning over athletes representing a hostile ideology was meaningful, as it was often seen as a proof of supremacy of one system over another. The purpose of this article is to show how states tried to acquire an illegal advantage in sport and what were the political reasons for this. There were two ways by which states could help their athletes to perform better on an international level. Firstly, was violating the amateur principle. Communist states employed elite athletes in institutions like the army, although their only obligation was to train in sport. Western states, especially the USA, responded by implementing a system of scholarships. Another way of seeking advantage in sport was illegal doping. Some of the eastern countries, East Germany in particular, sponsored whole systems of doping. Such actions could not be seen in the West, where doping was a matter of individual initiatives of athletes and coaches. Nevertheless, western political leaders usually did not urge their national federations to tackle this aberration.
Wydział Studiów Międzynarodowych i Politologicznych, Uniwersytet Łódzki, Łódź
E-mail: michal.kobierecki@gmail.com