The Olympics, an international sports festival held once every four years, is a historic event in which athletes representing various countries compete in a variety of sports, competing on the basis of their scores and performance. It is a historic event in which athletes representing various countries compete in a variety of sports, competing on the basis of their scores and performance.Olympic CharterThe fundamental principle of the "Olympic Games" stipulates that its purpose is "to use sport for the harmonious development of mankind in order to promote a peaceful society that places emphasis on the preservation of human dignity. However, the peaceful aspect of the Olympics has come to be emphasized mainly by the media, and the Olympics has come to be called a "festival of peace. Is this really true? There are aspects of the Olympics that cannot necessarily be called "peaceful. And can the media really be said to be projecting the true image of the Olympics? Let us find out in this article.

Monument of the Olympic mark (Photo: InspiredImages /) pixabay)

History of Olympics and Peace

The origin of the Olympics is about 2,800 years ago,776 B.C.The Olympics date back to the games held in the Olympia region of ancient Greece in Ancient Olympics were dedicated to Zeus, who was believed to be the father of the godsreligious celebrationand was held every four years, as it is now.

Were the ancient Olympic Games also considered a "festival of peace" as they are today? The answer may depend on the meaning of "peace. What does peace mean in the first place? Peace is not only the absence of violence, but also the perpetuation of that state through cooperation and dialogue.Definition.exists (*1). During the Ancient Olympics, thecease-fire dealwas concluded and all conflicts in the surrounding area were temporarily suspended. This would seem to indicate that peace is valued in the sense that violence does not occur. However, the convention conductedcontestwere often warlike, such as chariot races, horseback riding, and javelin throwing, which used vehicles, animals, and weapons actually used in war, as well as martial arts, mainly boxing and wrestling. In fact, the ancient Olympics were used as a preparation for warpointing outThere are also In light of these things, it will never be peaceful.

The ancient Olympic tradition continued for more than 12 centuries, with developments such as the addition of additional events and the expansion of eligibility. However393 A.D.The history of the city came to an end when the Roman Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the state religion and banned all "pagan" festivals.

Artwork depicting ancient Olympic martial arts (Photo: Antimenes painter / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0])

About 1,500 years later, a French educator namedMr. Pierre de CoubertinThe Olympics began its path of revival through the efforts of Mr. Coubertin set forth its purpose as not merely a festival of sport, but to contribute to the realization of peace through sport. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, this is also stated in the Olympic Charter. It can be said that this was the first time that the Olympics and peace were linked. This was the beginning of the modern Olympic Games.

Non-peaceful origins and mechanisms of the Olympics

Thus, the modern Olympic Games were revived with the plausible idea of "peace. But let me ask again. Is the Olympics really a "festival of peace"?

First, I would like to examine the significance of the establishment of the modern Olympic Games. As mentioned earlier, Mr. Coubertin set world peace as the purpose of the Olympics. However, one cannot help but question his depiction of "peace. In fact, he was quite a white supremacist, who believed that "each race has a different value, and all other races should pledge allegiance to the white man, who has a superior essence.proposalHe left the At the same time, Mr. Coubertin has described himself as a "Rabid colonialistsThe French also refer to it as "Rebronzerla France!" and "Restore France to its colonial glory! (Rebronzerla France!)".sloganHe was planning the expansion of the French colonies under the Furthermore, Coubertin was also an ardent supporter of the Nazi Party in Germany, and he described the 1936 Berlin Olympics as "a great event, brought about by Hitler's enthusiasm and leadership.rave reviewsThe company is doing so.

In light of the above, it must be said that Mr. Coubertin's vision of "peace" was highly biased. I believe that the purpose behind his revival of the Olympics was to demonstrate the superiority of the white race and to strengthen the unity of Europe and expand the empire.pointing outThere are also Thus, the modern Olympic Games were founded on a biased ideology.

1936 Berlin Olympics. Nazi salute at the awards ceremony. (Photo: Stempka / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0])

In addition, I would like to mention the non-peaceful origins of the torch (*2). Today, the torch relay is a major event essential to the excitement of holding the Olympic Games. However, it was not implemented from the beginning of the modern Olympic Games, but was introduced from the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Why is that? One reason is that it enhances the excitement of the Games, just as it does today, but in fact, it had another important purpose. The Nazi regime wanted to use the torch relay as a propaganda tool to attract the German people, especially young people, to the Nazi Party, while at the same time demonstrating Germany's dignity to the world.speculationThe reason for this is that there was a In this connection, NBC, which has recently acquired the rights to televise the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to be held in the United States in 2021 (as of May 20, 2021), complained about the torch relay, saying that such a tradition, which originated in Nazi propaganda efforts, should be abolishedcontributed articleand became a hot topic of discussion.

Next, let us look at the structure of the Games. By the very nature of sports, the Olympics is an arena for competition, not cooperation with others. Having athletes compete, revealing winners and losers, and assigning rankings would be at odds with "peace," which implies harmony and cooperation.

Furthermore, it is necessary to consider the disciplines. The modern Olympics also has events associated with warfare, as seen in the ancient Olympics. Although chariot races have disappeared, events that use weapons such as shooting, archery, and fencing still exist. There are also various martial arts that involve violence in the sense of attacking the opponent, such as wrestling, boxing, judo, karate, and taekwondo. This is not to deny the value of martial arts as a sport in which people compete for skills. However, there seems to be a big contradiction in holding an event with the slogan "peace" as its slogan and holding a competition that involves violence and can be associated with war.

A view of the Olympic shooting events (Photo: The U.S. Army / Flickr [CC BY 2.0])

Olympics to encourage nationalism

The non-peaceful aspects of the Olympics go beyond its origins and structure. There is also the very serious issue of promoting nationalism (*3). The Olympic Games introduced the 2016refugee camp（All athletes, with the exception of (*4), must participate as representatives of a country, not as individuals. Each country competes on a national basis, and the number of medals is ranked by country. Spectators also regard other countries as "rivals" or "enemies" and cheer for athletes from their own country. Governments, the media, and corporations also encourage the support of their own countries. It is as if they are competing for national virtues.pointing outThere are also

This nature of national teams and the sense of belonging among athletes and spectators is common to war. The fact that international sporting events tend to increase the sense of national unity and antagonism toward other countries is a common theme in manyresearchThis is shown in the following table. The Olympics are the first time that the "Olympic Games" have beenwar without firing a shotThis is the reason why the event is derisively called the "World Cup. At the same time, the host country is promoting itself to the maximum extent possible through the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the awarding ceremonies, thereby enhancing its own dignity. This is one of the factors that promote nationalism. The distinction between "ourselves" and "others" is not necessarily limited to nationality. It is also race, gender, etc. Historically, the Olympic GamesracismThe company has had many problems related to the And it continues to do so.

People waving flags in support of their country (Photo: s.yume / Flickr [CC BY 2.0])

Fortunately, until now, there have been no cases in which the fostering of nationalism by the Olympics has directly led to war. However, the possibility of heightened tensions between nations cannot be denied. In fact, there have been cases in which heightened nationalism at sporting events, although not at the Olympics, has led to conflicts and riots, such as the 1969 World Cup soccer qualifying match between El Salvador and Honduras, which triggered a "war" between the two countries.soccer warThe conflict, known as the Also, the 2014 European Championships soccer qualifying league andSerbia vs. AlbaniaIn the "World Cup of Nations," a riot broke out during a match when a spectator interrupted the game and involved the athletes. There have been many cases in which sporting events have sparked conflicts between countries, and it can be said that international sporting events have the potential to cause non-peaceful wars and incidents. This naturally includes the Olympics.

Conversely, already existing conflicts and political rivalries have been brought into the Olympic Games: the 1972Munich Olympics (1938)In the 1979 Olympics, a Palestinian terrorist group broke into the athletes' village and killed 11 Israeli athletes who had been in a confrontational relationship with the Palestinians, resulting in a catastrophe. Also, at the 1980 Moscow Olympics during the Cold War, the Western nations held the games as a protest against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.boycottIn the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the Soviet Union and other eastern countries boycotted the games in retaliation for the Olympics, and there have been many other incidents in which the Olympics were used as a tool.

As mentioned above, in the ancient Olympics, a cease-fire agreement was signed at least during the period of the Olympics, and peace was guaranteed. In contrast, in the modern Olympics, conflicts never cease even during the event, and in fact, there have been cases where the Olympics have been canceled due to war.5 timesThere are also In light of these numerous examples, one cannot help but feel a sense of discomfort in calling the Olympics a "festival of peace.

Of course, the Olympics are not entirely non-peaceful: at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea and North Korea will have a women's ice hockeyjoint teamThe fact that the two Koreas participated in a joint march at the opening ceremony is still fresh in our minds. It is no exaggeration to say that this was a step toward friendship between South and North Korea, using the Olympics as an opportunity. However, it seems to have been a passing phase, as no further progress was made after the Olympics. After all, it is probably not enough to uphold peace.

However, some may argue that it is peaceful in itself to have athletes of various origins come together and compete in the same sport. If this is the case, it is necessary to devise ways to prevent nationalism from arising, such as forming joint teams that transcend nationality rather than competing on a country-by-country basis. Also, by abolishing the display of national flags, the playing of the national anthem, and the ranking of medal counts by country, it might be possible to say that the games are a little more peaceful.

Olympic coverage emphasizes "peace

So far we have looked at the non-peaceful nature of the Olympics. So, do the Japanese media report on them? In this study, we looked at articles reported in the morning and evening editions of the Mainichi Shimbun over the five-year period from 2016 to 2020 that mentioned the relationship between "peace" and the "Olympics" (*5). As a result, 156 articles were applicable. In light of the various non-peaceful aspects mentioned thus far, one can see that this number is not small. The following graph examines the meaning of the word "peace" as it appears in Olympic coverage and shows the percentage of such usage (*6).

The most common was an article that referred to "North Korea's cooperation" as peaceful, accounting for 24.41 TP3T of the total. Specifically, these included "The PyeongChang Winter Olympics must be a turning point for improved inter-Korean relations and peace on the Korean Peninsula" (1/11/2018) (*7). All 38 relevant articles were related to the joint South and North Korean teams in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics mentioned earlier and were concentrated between 2016 and 2018.

The next most common response referred to "world peace. This may seem like a classification lacking in specificity. That is precisely the case. The classification was based on the use of the term "peace" as a vague concept rather than referring to a specific state or region. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), in its Charter and other documents, calls for the promotion of peace through sport, the realization of gender equality, and consideration for the environment, among other things. In this year's tally, this was only the second most common classification, 14.71 TP3T of the total. However, the articles that fell into this classification were scattered regardless of the time of year, whereas "North Korea's cooperation," which was the most common, was concentrated at a specific time of year. This suggests that if the aggregation period is extended, the number of articles falling under "World Peace" may become the most common.

This was followed by 14.41 TP3T used to mean "no more war. This was often used to imply that the Olympics can be held only because there are no more wars. In reality, wars and conflicts are still continuing in many parts of the world today, but in many cases, "the end of World War II = the end of war" was used.

The fourth most common was "no nuclear weapons" as peaceful, accounting for 8.01 TP3T of the total. The use of this term was particularly concentrated around the time of the Summer Olympics. The reason for this may be that the anniversary of the atomic bombing coincided with the summer Olympics (the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the Tokyo Olympics in this survey). The "World without Nuclear Weapons" appeal to the world on the occasion of the Olympics, a festival of peace (2020/1/7) is an example of this. Some articles also used the same word "nuclear weapons" to mean "no nuclear tests".

Next were articles that were used for the purpose of "no political intervention" and the state of "consideration for refugees" as "peaceful" at 5.81 TP3T each. Of the nine articles that fell under the category of "consideration for refugees," six were related to refugee athletes. This was followed by 5.1%, meaning a state of "no conflict between nations.

Others described a world without racism, sexism, earthquakes and other disasters, terrorism, incidents, and doping as "peace," while others referred to the convergence of the novel coronavirus from 2019 to 2020. This is to say that "a world with a convergence of new coronaviruses = peace". In addition, there were seven articles in which the word "peace" was used regardless of the context. For example, "Due to the spread of the new coronavirus, the Olympic Games in Tokyo, known as the 'festival of peace,' has been postponed" (2020/8/24), an article that has no necessity to mention peace. There were also 14 articles that described the torch as a "symbol of peace," "fire of peace," or "light of peace," despite the torch's non-peaceful origins.

As can be seen here, there were many cases where the word "peace" was used differently from its original meaning, or where it was very vague and lacking in specificity, such as "world peace. This may be due to the fact that the word "peace" is used easily because the image of "Olympics = peace" precedes the Olympics.

Flags lined up in front of the Olympic Stadium in Canada (Photo: Márcio Cabral de Moura / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])

Is what the media is reporting the true Olympics?

Next, let us look at how the media, when they link peace to the Olympics, report it "how" it is presented. Do some articles question the emphasis on "peace," or do they assert that "Olympics = peace" without questioning it? In this chapter, we will categorize and discuss the ways in which the press uses these expressions.

First, not a single article in five years referred to the non-peaceful aspects of the Olympics as described in this article. All of the articles affirmed the relationship between peace and the Olympics, but the way they expressed it can be categorized into three types (*8).

First, "assertion". This refers to assertions about the peaceful nature of the Olympics, such as "The Olympics are a celebration of peace" (1/6/2020) or "The purpose of the Olympics is to establish and maintain peace in the world" (2/11/2016). Next is "hearsay." The second category is "hearsay," which is in the form of hearsay, such as "The Olympics will be called a festival of peace" (2020/8/14). Although this is not as strong a statement as "assertion," it is possible to read the newspaper's stance in support of the peaceful nature of the Olympics. The third category is "quotations and opinions. This refers to reporting as the words of a third party, regardless of the newspaper's stance. We defined "quotes/opinions" as any personal thoughts, including not only statements made at press conferences or interviews, but also opinions expressed in columns written by athletes.

The most common type was "assertion," with 86.5 of the 156 articles using assertive language, or 551 TP3T of the total. Next, 62.5 articles, or 401 TP3T of the total, were "quotes/opinions. Only 7 articles, or 51 TP3T of the total, fell into the category of "hearsay.

As can be seen from this, in many of its articles, the Mainichi Shimbun categorically reports that the Olympics are a festival of peace. This indicates that the media has no doubts at all about its peaceful nature. The lack of neutral articles that use "hearsay" confirms this trend. And the second most common type of article was "Quotes and Opinions. Why are there so many articles that fall into this type? Even though the words "festival of peace" and "symbol of peace" do not appear in the Olympic Charter, many people use these words. There is no doubt that the influence of the media is behind this. It is believed that many people use expressions they have seen and heard in the media. Therefore, it can be said that the more the media write "definitive" articles and spread the "common sense" that "Olympics = peace," the more people enjoy it and the more "quotations and opinions" increase.

Flag hoisting (Photo: Sander van Ginkel / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0])

The State of the Media in Olympic Coverage

What is essentially required of the media is neutral and objective reporting. Rather than emphasizing "Olympics = peace," they have a responsibility to look at the Olympics from various perspectives and reflect the true image of the Olympics.

However, there are two major barriers to this. First, there is the media.egocentrismThe fact that the ideology of the company is heavily influenced by the ideology of the government of the country. The decision to report any accident or incident that occurs outside the country is not based on the severity or scale of the event itself, but on whether or not the citizens of the home country are involved. This tendency is particularly evident in sports coverage, which is strongly focused on, praising, and cheering for athletes from one's own country. This is in response to the demand of readers and viewers for information about their own country, and in responding to that demand, it can be said that they are creating additional demand. Unless this structure is changed, neutral and objective reporting will not be possible.

Another barrier is that the Olympics are a major business opportunity for the media. The Olympics, which are of great interest to the public, are an opportunity to increase viewership and readership, and demand for advertisements and commercials from companies and other organizations is extremely high. In other words, the Olympics are a good source of income for the media. For this reason, many media organizationsOlympic sponsorsThe Asahi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, and Yomiuri Shimbun are "Official Partners" of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and the Sankei Shimbun and Hokkaido Shimbun are "Official Supporters. Needless to say, TV stations affiliated with the same newspapers are also under its influence.

Mainichi Newspapers website (Photo: Kyoka Maeda)

Because of these circumstances, the media do not write articles that take an objective view of the Olympics or point out its non-peaceful aspects. Rather, they play the role of uncritically accepting and even enlivening the Games. No one has pointed out the contradiction in the fact that the media, which should be neutral, is a sponsor. We will not delve deeply into the pros and cons of media sponsorship here, but it is easy to imagine that this is an obstacle to neutral and objective reporting.

Reporting on the current situation surrounding the Olympics from various angles will help to highlight its problems. At first glance, this may seem like an attempt to make people excited about hosting the Olympics. However, if we can find out the issues to be addressed in the future, we will be able to see what true peace is and what a peaceful world looks like. We will continue to keep a close eye on the media trends in Olympic coverage.

1 Peace scholar Johan GaltungpeaceThe report identified two types of peace. Negative peace" (Negative Peace) is a state of absence of all violence, and "Positive Peace" (Positive Peace) is a lasting state of cooperation, equality, and dialogue. In this article, "Peace" is defined as a state in which both of these are realized.

2 In Japanese, the word is "torch," but in English and other languages it is called Olympic Torch or Olympic Flame, which does not have the meaning of "sacred object" (torch: torch, flame: flame).

*3nationalismis an ideology that emphasizes the promotion of national or ethnic unity, independence, and development, with the goal of securing uniqueness and superiority over other nations and other communities. It is generally distinguished from patriotism, which implies devoted love, support, and defense of one's country. However, there are so many similarities between the two that it is difficult to distinguish between the twoopinionThere are also

4 Refugee Olympic Athletes are multi-regional mixed teams made up of athletes who are refugees and unable to compete from their home countries.

5 The Mainichi Shimbun My Index, an online database of the Mainichi Shimbun, counted morning and evening editions published in Tokyo from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2020. Articles containing the two keywords "Olympics" and "peace" or "Olympics" and "peace" in the headline or body text were counted, excluding those for which the body text could not be displayed or those that could be read as unrelated to the peaceful nature of the Olympics.

6 In order to count each article equally, when two meanings of "peace" were used in one article, each was counted as 0.5 article. For example, if "peace" was used in two meanings in one article, "North Korea's cooperation" and "no war," "North Korea's cooperation" was counted as 0.5 articles and "no war" as 0.5 articles. Note that there were no articles in which "peace" in three or more meanings appeared in this tally.

7 The articles cited in this article are as follows (in order of citation, all in Mainichi Shimbun).
2018/1/11(Tokyo Morning News) "South Korean President Moon: Comfort women agreement 'difficult to accept,' framework unchanged."

2019/12/31(Tokyo Morning News) "Question Naruhodori: Why SDGs at the Olympics?" (Answer: Kazuhiro Tahara)

2016/8/6(Tokyo Morning News) "Feature: Wind from Hiroshima: Ryota Yamagata, 24, third-generation A-bomb survivor, runs for the 9-second mark in track and field" (Tokyo Morning News)

2020/8/24(Tokyo Morning News) "Take the News Test, Level 2 this time: Which games were once scheduled to host the Olympics but were not held due to the war?"

2016/8/12(Tokyo Morning News) "AMIGO, A Celebration of Diversity: Rio Olympics Shooting, Georgia Nino Sarkwadze (47), Tsotone Machavariani (18)"

2020/2/15(Tokyo Morning News) "Boxing: Women's boxing: Kito aims for Olympics with fighting spirit in both research and competition" (Japanese only)

2020/8/14(Tokyo Morning Post) "Question Naruhodori: Why do pigeons symbolize peace?　(Tokyo Morning Post) "Question Naruhodori: Why do pigeons symbolize peace?

8 As with the tabulation of the meaning of "peace," when two expressions were used in one article, each was counted as 0.5 articles. In this tabulation, there were no articles in which all three expressions appeared in one article.

Writer: Kyoka Maeda

Graphic: Kyoka Maeda

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