“Each Olympic Games is a sounding board for the upheavals in the world, for geopolitical disruptions, social movements, (and) the fight for rights,” said Bedoin.
“Each Olympiad is marked by the political colours of the time. It was the case in Athens in 1896, and in Helsinki in 1952, and it will probably be the case this time in Paris 2024.”
The IOC has stated that it is politically neutral and is strongly against the politicisation of sport, but this is a position that some experts question.
“The International Olympic Committee, like governments, businesses or media, has its own political agenda,” said Lukas Aubin, senior research fellow specialising in the geopolitics of sport at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations, a French think tank.
“The IOC’s political agenda is to create a form of sporting hegemony on a global scale through the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
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