̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Olympics

Paris 1924 exhibition at ̽��ֱ��Fitzwilliam: Beyond Chariots of Fire

ta385 — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 18:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��1924 Paris Olympics stars in a major Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition exploring the sport, art and bodies behind a pivotal Games. Exhibits speak of surprising partnerships, competing interests and unresolved tensions.

̽��ֱ�� volunteers to carry Olympic torch

sjr81 — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 14:20:11 +0000

Members of Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Officer Training Corps will also be taking part in the Torch’s arrival, providing a guard of honour as it travels through the city.

These students and recent graduates were nominated by Samsung, Olympic Torch presenting partner, and the ̽��ֱ��, in recognition of their inspiring charitable and volunteering activities.

Ed Roberts (Christ’s College) is a Junior Research Fellow and former doctoral student working on systemic effects of cancer development. Since 2005, he has been involved in Linkline, a student-run support phone-line for Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin ̽��ֱ�� students. He has been organisation co-ordinator as well as its public face. During his time with Linkline he implemented a constitution, re-wrote the training manual, recruited new volunteers and secured funding.

He has also been a volunteer for SexYOUality, a local lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) charity, since 2008, later becoming a Trustee. From 2009, Ed has volunteered for Cambridge and District Community Mediation Service (CDCMS), becoming part of a pilot project to expand the organisation’s homelessness mediation work, and researching into new areas of mediation required in the County. He has also been involved in numerous scientific outreach projects and volunteers for Centre 33, a Cambridgeshire youth charity, working with the Young Carers Project supporting 8-18 year olds looking after a family member.

Catherine Potterton (Wolfson College) graduated with a degree in Politics, Psychology and Sociology last year. In 2006 she became a Trustee of ̽��ֱ��Brittle Bone Society; a charity which supports those living with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), a condition which Catherine also has. Catherine worked to establish an annual event called VOICE which encourages young people with OI to work towards independent living through peer support, discussions and speeches from experts such as specialist doctors, Paralympic champions and TV personalities.

Mark Fliegauf (Emmanuel College), a PhD student at the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), has played a key role in the creation of the not-for-profit organisation Aiducation International UK during his time at Cambridge. As Trustee and former Chief Operations Officer for the NGO, his aim was to help students in developing countries pursue secondary education through one-to-one scholarship from donors in the UK. Aiducation international UK has so far been able to award 24 scholarships, each worth approximately £1,400, to gifted Kenyan school students since 2009.

Up to 60 members of Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Officer Training Corps (CUOTC) will line the Torch’s route in pairs, falling-in behind the Torch as it passes them by.

̽��ֱ��Torch reaches Parker’s Piece at around 6.50pm on Saturday 7 July, after a full day of cultural events including a Fun Lab for all ages organised by the ̽��ֱ��’s Public Engagement team.

CUOTC will have a presence at the Olympic Film Tent from 11am to 11pm on Parker’s Piece, where all-day screenings of short, feature length and community films from local film-makers will be screened.

On the morning of 8 July the Torch relay begins early with a private event in Great Court, Trinity College, before the torchbearer takes the flame on to a punt at 6.35am.

̽��ֱ��relay continues by punt down the river from Trinity towards Magdalene Bridge, where the torch route will continue up Castle Street, towards Huntingdon Road and out of the City.

Due to capacity and safety constraints, Trinity College regrets that it will not be possible for the public to view the run of the Olympic Torch around Great Court in Trinity College on the morning of Sunday 8 July, but the event will be broadcast live on BBC television.

Members of the public are welcome on the Backs to view the passage of the Torch down the river by punt from Trinity towards Magdalene Bridge.

Entry to the backs of Trinity College will be through the Avenue Gate from Queen's Road from 5am onwards. Entrance to the backs of St John’s College will be through the gates on Queen's Road only, from 5.45am onwards.

In both cases, numbers will be limited for safety reasons and viewing will be restricted of the passage of the Torch.

Attendees who are wheelchair users are asked to enter via the St John’s College gate on Queen’s Road.

There will be no access via other Cambridge college grounds or along bridges on the punt route.

More information on viewing points throughout the city is available here.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� will also be keeping the public updated on the latest viewing positions and Torch movements via the Twitter hashtag #london2012torchrelay

Three members of the ̽��ֱ�� who have excelled in volunteering activity: Ed Roberts, Catherine Potterton and Mark Fliegauf, will be among the Torchbearers when the Olympic flame arrives in Cambridge this weekend.

These students and recent graduates were nominated by Samsung, Olympic Torch presenting partner, and the ̽��ֱ��, in recognition of their inspiring charitable and volunteering activities.

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge/Sir Cam

Sunday's procession will see the Olympic torch travel on the River Cam

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Yes

Millennium Mathematics Project celebrates London 2012

sjr81 — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 15:45:00 +0000

An exciting project from the award-winning Millennium Mathematics Project (MMP) at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge is helping young people in particular to answer these questions. Maths and Sport: Countdown to the Games, created to celebrate the London 2012 Olympics, is designed to educate school pupils and the wider public about the links between sport and maths. It features a wealth of online materials on the mathematics of sport, including activities for Key Stages 1 – 5 and articles aimed at older students and the interested public. As part of the project the MMP also created a Maths of Sport Schools Roadshow suitable for ages 7 – 18 which has visited schools across the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Gibraltar this year. ̽��ֱ��Maths and Sport: Countdown to the Games project is part of Get Set +, the London 2012 education programme, featured in the Practical Learning strand.

With input from the Millennium Mathematics Project, BBC Two Learning Zone recently commissioned ‘3, 2, 1 GO!’; a series of video challenges for Key Stages 1 – 3. ̽��ֱ��videos feature athletes who set problems relating to various Olympic sports, including rowing, cycling and football as a means of teaching young people about key branches of mathematics such as probability, geometry, and algebra. One athlete who features in the videos is Anna Watkins. Anna, who started to row during her time as an undergraduate at Newnham College, won Bronze in the Women’s Double Sculls in Beijing and will be competing for Team GB at the London games. Also involved are Arsenal footballers Per Mertesacker and Tomas Rosicky.

These clips are now up on the Maths and Sport website for individuals or for schools to use in the classroom. To view them, click here .

̽��ֱ��Millennium Mathematics Project was founded in 1999 in collaboration with the ̽��ֱ��’s Faculty of Mathematics and Faculty of Education. In 2005, it was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education. In the 2010/11 academic year, MMP’s web-based resources attracted 19.9 million page views, and over 35,000 pupils were involved in their face-to-face activities and events.

How many medals might the UK win in the 2012 Games? Does the host country have an advantage? Can you help a heptathlete plan her training programme? How does the geometry of the Velodrome contribute to speed? What is the perfect shape for a football?

What is the perfect shape for a football?

Keith Finlay

Millennium Maths/London 2012

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Yes

One hundred days until London 2012

sjr81 — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:47:32 +0000

Join the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge in one of the many cultural events, from track and field to maths and materials. Be inspired by London 2012 and see the treasures from China, the science of sport and explore our local heritage through excavations and 2012 tours of the City.

Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge said: “We have a proud history of achievement in sports, from the long-running Varsity rivalry to the generations of Olympians we have produced. People at Cambridge strive for academic excellence and some go on to achieve sporting greatness. Our alumni and current students brought home a larger medal hoard at Beijing 2008 than 30 countries. We are all hopeful this accomplishment can be matched this year. I am delighted that the ̽��ֱ�� can celebrate London 2012 with such a broad programme of activities.”

As part of the Cultural Olympiad, ̽��ֱ�� Museums will be welcoming new exhibits. From 5 May, the Fitzwilliam Museum will host ‘ ̽��ֱ��Search for Immortality’. ̽��ֱ��exhibition will feature over 350 treasures from the Han Dynasty and the Kingdom of Nanyue, making it the largest and most remarkable collection of ancient royal treasures ever to travel outside China. On 21 June, the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology will be opening Unlimited Global Alchemy, a series of sketches, large scale paintings and portrait films. It is a collaboration between British and South African artists, focusing around the themes of a shared positive survivalist instinct, human frailty and resilience.

Dr Carenza Lewis, of the Department of Archaeology and presenter of ‘Time Team’, will lead a programme of region-wide excavations as part of the Cultural Olympiad event ‘On Landguard Point’, inviting members of the public to search for traces of historical homes.

Cambridgeshire Competes, a cooperation between museums and sports centres across the region, aims to explore the county’s history and connections with past and future Games, providing inspiring collections giving insights into different aspects of Olympic History. ̽��ֱ��Museum of Classical Archaeology will tell the story of the classical Olympics, whilst the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences will explore how raw materials can be used for different sporting equipment, such as rowing boats or bicycles.

On its journey toward London, the Olympic Torch will pass through the city during ̽��ֱ��Big Weekend, an annual weekend of festivities at which the ̽��ֱ��’s Public Engagement Team will be running Fun Lab, featuring hands-on science and sports related activities. ̽��ֱ��Torch will then set off again the next day starting at Trinity College, travelling in a punt down the Backs. King’s College Choir will perform the premiere of a new work to mark the Torch’s passage, performed in the world famous College Chapel on 6 July.

Walk Cambridge in 2012 will be showcasing the Olympic history of the city. A series of walking routes will highlight the characters and histories of some of the ̽��ֱ�� members who have competed in the Games. Ranging from the ‘Black Route’, stretching over 11 miles long, to the shorter ‘Yellow Route’, there are walks for all members of the family, including those requiring level access.

Maths and Sport: Countdown to the Games, from the award-winning Millennium Mathematics Project, is on-going throughout the year. An exciting project designed to educate young people about the links between sport and maths; it includes both online resources and a Schools Roadshow suitable for Key Stages 2-5. ̽��ֱ��first modern Olympic Games in 1896 featured a Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� athlete. This long connection with sport has flourished, with the ̽��ֱ�� being associated with over 300 Olympians and 123 medal winners, including Max Woosnam, often regarded as Britain’s greatest sportsman. Eleven current and former students competed at Beijing 2008, winning six medals. Join us in cheering on the 24 current and former students hoping to bring home gold from London 2012; for more information, please click here.

̽��ֱ��one hundred day countdown to the Olympic Games has begun.

I am delighted that the ̽��ֱ�� can celebrate London 2012 with such a broad programme of activities.

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz

Cambridge ̽��ֱ��

London 2012 is now just 100 days away

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Yes

How Usain Bolt can run faster – effortlessly

bjb42 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:58:52 +0000

̽��ֱ��study is published today in Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society and the American Statistical Association. In it Professor Barrow illustrates how, based on concrete mathematical evidence, Bolt could cut his world record from 9.58 seconds to 9.44.

It is part of the Millennium Maths Project's Maths and Sport programme which highlights the hidden maths behind the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Usain Bolt holds the current 100m world record, at 9.58s, and has been described as the best sprinter there has ever been, dramatically reducing his running times since he first won the world record in 2008. Previous scientific studies have been carried out aiming to predict his maximum speed, yet have failed to take all the relevant factors into account, and Bolt has already surpassed the speeds they predicted.

Today’s Significance study highlights the three key factors instrumental in improving Bolt’s performance, which combined produce an improvement of 0.14s.

Firstly Bolt’s reaction time is surprisingly poor, in fact one of the longest of leading sprinters. By responding to the gun as quickly as possible without triggering a false start, with 0.10s, he would shave 0.05s off his world record to 9.53s.

Secondly, advantageous wind conditions can help an athlete improve their time, although this is supposedly taken into account. According to Professor Barrow, “the accuracy of wind speed measurements is currently much lower than is generally believed because only a single anemometer is used, and wind speeds vary with position on track”. Bolt’s Berlin record of 9.58s benefited from a modest 0.9m/s tailwind. If he were to benefit from a maximum permissible tailwind of 2m/s, he would expend less effort on beating wind drag and reduce this record further by 0.06s to 9.47s.

Thirdly, running at altitude reduces the air density in the wind drag calculation, as was witnessed at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City (2240m above sea level), where significant improvements over short distances were displayed. As a result, athletics world records are only permitted at altitudes of up to 1000m, but this still allows Bolt to reduce his time by a further 0.03s to 9.44s if he runs at this altitude.

“With the relatively big chunks we’ve seen Bolt take out of world records, we are still a long way from understanding the limits of his, and others’, sprinting speeds” said Professor Barrow. “What this study serves to illustrate is the insight maths can give into sports performance, which has not been done previously to such a degree of accuracy.”

̽��ֱ��Maths and Sport: Countdown to the Games programme, which has been awarded the Inspire Mark, the badge of the London 2012 Inspire programme, forms part of the education legacy of the London Games. It features in the Practical Learning strand of Get Set +, the London 2012 education programme and includes online maths resources for teachers and students as well as a Maths and Sport roadshow.

Usain Bolt can achieve faster running times with no extra effort on his part or improvement to his fitness, according to a new study by Professor John Barrow, Director of the Millennium Maths Project at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

With the relatively big chunks we’ve seen Bolt take out of world records, we are still a long way from understanding the limits of his, and others’, sprinting speeds.

John Barrow

Pirano Bob R from Flickr.

Usain Bolt

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Yes

Maths + Sport: exploring the hidden maths behind the Olympics

th288 — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:01:13 +0000

By what length would Usain Bolt beat you if you raced him in the 200m? Are the long jump or shot put world records more likely to be broken in some Olympic host cities than others? Does the host nation for the Games have an advantage when it comes to winning medals? How does the geometry of the Velodrome contribute to speed?

Children around the country are exploring the answers to these questions by taking part in an inspiring programme highlighting the hidden maths behind the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It has been devised by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge's award-winning Millennium Mathematics Project and features in the Practical Learning strand of Get Set +, the London 2012 education programme.

̽��ֱ��free Maths and Sport website hosts a wide range of activities designed to give students in primary and secondary schools the chance to engage with maths in exciting real contexts.

̽��ֱ��resources explore how maths plays a part in every aspect of the Games, from the sports themselves to the architecture of the Olympic venues.

For primary school children, activities range from using multiplication and fractions to work out how much performance in the long jump and high jump improves after training, to practical activities using schools’ sports equipment – basketballs, hockey balls, tennis balls - to help learn about the properties of circles and develop mathematical reasoning skills.

Sample activities for secondary students include helping to design a heptathlete’s training schedule, exploring the best ways for coaches and competitors to present sports data through diagrams and graphs, and investigating the mechanics involved in the pole vault.

Older students can work out what the probability is that an athlete who fails a drug test is actually innocent.

Challenges exploring how maths underlies Olympic architecture include designing the tiered seating for a sports stadium and working out the staggered starting positions for the 400m running track, where students put the geometry they learn in the classroom to practical use.

In addition to the classroom activities, the site includes feature articles of general interest about the role of maths in sport. For instance, Professor John Barrow, director of the Millennium Mathematicss Project and himself a former athlete, discusses how the wind can affect timings in races and what athletes can do to counter it.

Other articles look at engineering in Olympic and Paralympic sports equipment, and whether, after Usain Bolt’s amazing 100m performance in Beijing, mathematical models can help predict if there’s an ultimate lowest limit for the 100 metre world record which no human could run fast enough to break.

̽��ֱ��resources for Key Stages 1 to 5 include detailed teachers’ notes giving ideas and suggestions for introducing the activities in the classroom.

̽��ֱ��online resources are complemented by a Maths and Sport Roadshow, suitable for Key Stages 2, 3 and 4, which is visiting schools all over the UK to run special Maths and Sport events.

̽��ֱ��Maths and Sport Roadshow has also recently worked with schools in Ireland and Gibraltar and will run several events in France during March and April in partnership with the British Council.

Professor John Barrow, director of the Millennium Maths Project, said: “ ̽��ֱ��London 2012 Games offer a unique opportunity to harness the excitement about the Olympics to promote a deeper understanding of how maths is at work in the real world.

“ ̽��ֱ��Millennium Mathematics Project is dedicated to inspiring students and teachers: we believe that the role played by maths in sport offers an exciting opportunity to enrich the teaching of mathematics in all schools and shed new light on sporting activity.”

Lord Coe, Chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, commented: “Maths + Sport: Countdown to the Games will encourage young people to fulfil their potential.

“I am proud that partners such as the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge's Millennium Mathematics Project are delivering on our vision to use the power of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games to boost participation in education.”

*Maths and Sport: Countdown to the Games is supported by grants from the Nuffield Foundation and the Royal Commission of 1851 and by the award of the Gresham Prize from Gresham College.

̽��ֱ��'s mathematical contribution to the London 2012 education programme

I am proud that partners such as the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge's Millennium Mathematics Project are delivering on our vision to use the power of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games to boost participation in education.

Lord Coe

Usain Bolt

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Yes

What the Olympic Games have done for us

amb206 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:13:59 +0000

As the costs of hosting the upcoming Olympic Games spiral upwards, there is growing concern about the Olympic ‘legacy’. Will Britain as a whole benefit from the 2012 Games - or will the benefits, if there are any, be confined to London? Most of the discussion focuses on the physical and financial legacy of the Games: the new buildings, improved transport infrastructure and influx of tourist money. Some has considered less material consequences, such as the possible health benefits the Games might bring in inspiring the nation to take up a more active lifestyle, but other legacies have often been under-reported.

What might be surprising is how much scientific research is inspired by the Olympic Games. My work has shown that some of the most overlooked legacies of the Modern Olympic Games are those in the realms of science and medicine. It is easy, when we are interested in amateur performers and natural talents, to ignore the scientific and medical professionals working behind the scenes. In fact, modern sport and modern experimental medicine have enjoyed a close relationship since the end of the 19th century. Athletes are, after all, useful experimental subjects – where else could you find clinical volunteers who are willing not only to have their blood taken, but also to run for more than two hours?

̽��ֱ��first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896, in Athens. It was the inspiration for many other sporting events across the world, including the Boston Marathon, which was first held in 1897 and is now the oldest continuously-held marathon event. ̽��ֱ��Boston Marathon has attracted an extraordinary amount of medical attention. In 1899 several doctors from the Tufts Medical School performed respiratory and cardiovascular examinations of the entrants, concluding that long-distance running was a safe and healthy sport for robust young men. Between 1900 and 1903 a host of doctors performed more intensive studies – including weighing the competitors and examining their urine under microscopes – drawing conclusions about general human metabolism and health, and making suggestions for changes to military training and practice (particularly in relation to long-distance marching).

Olympic marathoners were first examined in 1908, when the London organising committee introduced medical checks, insisting that entrants to the marathon should bring a certificate or be examined by doctors. ̽��ֱ��committee also introduced the first Olympic dope ban. Similar checks were brought in for cyclists in 1912, but these examinations were to protect the health of the athletes, by looking for undiagnosed heart disease, rather than to produce scientific conclusions. ̽��ֱ��first serious research took place in 1928, when the Games were held in Amsterdam. This was a notable year for sports medicine in Britain as well as internationally; it was in 1928 that the British Olympic Association (BOA) first officially appointed a team doctor, Mr A L Baley. Adolphe Abrahams, brother of the famous sprinter Harold Abrahams, had already become the doctor for the athletics squad, and the boxers brought their own medic, Dr J Wyatt.

In 1928, at the Winter Games in St Moritz, a meeting of doctors from Olympic nations founded the Association Internationale Médico-sportive (AIMS), which changed its name in 1934 to the Fédération Internationale de Médicine Sportive, and remains the major international sports medicine organisation. ̽��ֱ��first President of AIMS, physiologist Professor Buytendijk, arranged for an international team of doctors and scientists to examine the athletes at the 1928 Summer Games. Among them were Crighton Bramwell and Reginald Ellis from Manchester, who examined the hearts and pulses of runners, cyclists and weightlifters. Bramwell and Ellis noticed that marathon runners had exceptionally stable resting pulse rates – something we now attribute to the high fitness level the marathon requires, but which they suggested might be because of the phlegmatic temperament of the marathoner, compared to the more ‘highly-strung’ sprinters.

It was through examinations like these that the extraordinary nature of the elite athlete became apparent – unusually low resting heart rates, massive lung capacities and phenomenal muscle development. This was obviously important for further work in sports science and medicine, but also contributed insights into the metabolism and medical needs of the general population.

When, in 1948, Britain hosted the Olympics for a second time in London, the country was under the ration book. Much ink was spilt over the problem of feeding the visitors and athletes, and there were fears that the long-term under-fed British population would perform badly compared to teams coming from nations which had not been rationed. Eventually, athletes were given special dispensations to consume more calories than the average physical labourer, and special restaurants were set up to provide the extra food (some of which was donated, including deliveries of fresh fish from the British Trawler’s Association). ̽��ֱ��Nutrition Society organised a special conference in 1948, which included a panel dedicated to the athletic diet. ̽��ֱ��discussions about the relative merits of high-protein, high-fat or high-carbohydrate diets, and the nutritional work this inspired, had an impact on general dietary advice, research into diabetes, and innumerable other areas of food science.

̽��ֱ��Nutritional Society’s panel noted that athletes were rather suspicious people; they favoured a traditional high-protein diet, despite the scientific evidence that it was carbohydrates which offered a sporting advantage. ̽��ֱ��‘psychological factor’ in sporting success became a real bone of contention between scientists and sports authorities in the 1960s, when both began to worry about the effects altitude might have on performance. ̽��ֱ��1968 Olympic Games were awarded to Mexico City, which at 7,500 feet above sea level is at mid-altitude, high enough for some visitors to experience the symptoms of low barometric pressure. What would the effect be on athletes? To answer this question the British Olympic Association (BOA) organised, for the first time, its own scientific expedition.

At a cost of £5,000 (something like £150,000 in today’s money) the BOA collaborated with the Amateur Athletic Association, and co-funders the Medical Research Council and the newly-founded Sports Council to send a physiologist (Dr LGCE Pugh), BOA representatives, and six athletes to Mexico, to discover what effects altitude would have on performances. What became clear was that some high-profile events might be positively affected, as the lower air resistance improved performances; on the other hand, endurance events would be negatively affected by the lower oxygen partial pressure in Mexico City. Athletes would also have to acclimatise to altitude, which would be difficult because the amateur rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were strict about how long athletes could spend in intensive ‘training camps’ (in the end the research from Britain and other countries persuaded the IOC to increase the maximum time from four to six weeks). ̽��ֱ��BOA was pretty sanguine about the ability of their athletes to acclimatise, but was worried about the overexcited coverage in the media; Gold medal winner Chris Brasher claimed in the Observer that some athletes might even die in Mexico. Because it was believed that some athletes could suffer psychosomatic altitude sickness and performance problems, the BOA needed to produce a convincingly objective and scientific report on the altitude problem.

With increasing security at Olympic Games, it has become far less common for research to take place at the Games themselves. However, the events have continued to prompt research, while sports organisations have continued to fund scientists in their work. When we think of sports medicine and the Olympics, the topics that spring most readily to mind are drugs and sex testing scandals. Here too there is a legacy beyond the headlines: sensitive drug tests are used outside sports too, and research into intersex and gender identities has been – at least in part – informed by the experience of sports authorities and their sex testing regimes. For more than a century, the Olympic Games have provided the inspiration, support, and subjects for thousands of clinical and scientific studies. From cardiology and nutrition to genetics and biomechanics, scientific innovations have started with an Olympic event. ̽��ֱ��Olympic science legacy has probably affected all of us far more than a glamorous new stadium or a healthy eating campaign ever could.

Vanessa Heggie is author of A History of British Sports Medicine (Manchester ̽��ֱ�� Press, 2011). She is currently working on two other books – one on how athletes have been used in scientific experiments, and the other on the history of scientific expeditions and exploration physiology.

̽��ֱ��genuine scientific benefits that have emerged from the modern Olympic Games have often been lost in the hype surrounding these high profile international events. Dr Vanessa Heggie, a Teaching Associate in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, puts the record straight.

For more than a century, the Olympic Games have provided the inspiration, support, and subjects for thousands of clinical and scientific studies.

Vanessa Heggie

Dr Vanessa Heggie

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Yes

̽��ֱ��1972 Munich Olympics and the Making of Modern Germany

bjb42 — Sat, 01 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��staging of an Olympic Games is both a formidable task and an exciting opportunity, not least because it firmly places the host nation on the world stage. Take the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada – an event that was viewed by some 3.5 billion people, more than half the world’s population. In effect, the event is a chance for the host country to promote itself globally.

Perhaps one Games above all others in the last century was imbued by a particular eagerness to present a national identity afresh to the world and to erase past memories: the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. As events transpired, it is almost exclusively remembered for a very different reason – the murder of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team by the terrorist group Black September. Yet, this tragedy is only part of the story of the Munich Games.

Although some aspects of the 1972 Games have received academic attention, most notably from scholars of terrorism, there has been a major gap in research that uses the Games as a case study to highlight broader historical currents in Germany. As a topic, the Munich Games lies neatly at the intersection between my research interests in Germany and in sports history and so, a few years ago, I set out with historian Dr Kay Schiller from the ̽��ֱ�� of Durham to provide the first cultural and political history of the Munich Olympics. ̽��ֱ��resulting book, ̽��ֱ��1972 Munich Olympics and the Making of Modern Germany, seeks not only to explain the significance of the event in modern German history, but also to ask why such great store was set on hopes for its success.

Archives and oral histories

With funding from the British Academy, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), I was able to delve into documents, most of which had only recently become available, held in archives around the world.

̽��ֱ��research reached from the federal archives in Koblenz and Berlin to the Bavarian State Archives and the city archive in Munich, from the research libraries at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne to the Amateur Athletics Foundation in Los Angeles, and even to the archive held at the ̽��ֱ�� of Illinois relating to Avery Brundage, the IOC President who controversially decided to continue the Munich Games following the terrorist attack.

Supplementing the investigations was an array of oral history sources gained from interviews of political and societal figures involved with the planning and staging of the Games. These included Hans-Jochen Vogel, the Mayor of Munich at the time, members of the Organizing Committee for the Games, participating athletes, an Israeli survivor of the terrorist attack and the now deceased Markus Wolf, formerly the head of foreign operations at the East German Stasi security service.

Showcasing a modern Germany

Much of the research focused on the years leading up to the ’72 Games. ̽��ֱ��Federal Republic of Germany was at a crossroads in the mid-1960s, still under the shadow of World War II but viewing the future with optimism. In the seven years between being chosen as host and staging the event itself, Germany experienced favourable economic conditions and a belief in technocratic optimism, but was equally marked by national and international debate and dispute.

Against this background, the symbolic potential of the Games did not escape the organisers of the Munich Olympics, who took just one month in 1965 to secure promises of funding from the city of Munich, the Bavarian State and the Federal Government. Hosting the Games was deemed to be of immense importance. As Chancellor Willy Brandt put it succinctly, Munich 1972 was to serve as a ‘showcase of modern Germany’, a chance to replace memories of the Third Reich with images of a thriving and prosperous Federal Republic, an opportunity to present an optimistic Germany to the world through its ‘Happy Games’ – its official motto.

In the end, the hopes were shattered by the horrific terrorist attack in the early hours of 5 September. As on 11 September 2001, the world had been caught off-guard and unawares, and the Munich organisers, from the chief committee members down to the hundreds of stadium hostesses who had welcomed the international community to Germany, saw the life seep out of their Games overnight. Years of effort now left a dubious legacy and, more immediately, the Federal Republic was plunged into months of diplomatic firefighting with Israel and the Arab world.

Into the melting pot

It’s impossible to write such a book without combining perspectives of political, social, cultural and urban history. As a result, ̽��ֱ��1972 Munich Olympics and the Making of Modern Germany is really about a nation’s handling of a melting pot of issues: Germany’s urban, regional and national identity; intergenerational conflict and social transformation; ideologies of the past; political and diplomatic disputes; architectural visions and ceremonial imaginations; terrorism and security; East and West Germany; and Israeli–Arab relations.

At the same time, however, it’s a book about sport or, more accurately, about sport’s slippery nature as a phenomenon that is both apolitical and deeply rooted in political discourse. To take one example: even for an event that claimed its legitimacy through an Olympic tradition reaching back to antiquity, it was impossible to make a complete break with the political past – ‘Hitler’s Games’ of 1936 loomed large over the ’72 Games.

A question of sport

Until this research project, apart from the extensively studied inaugural Athens Games of 1896 and the Nazi-influenced Berlin Games of 1936, there had been virtually no attempt within sports historiography to write comprehensively about the impact of individual Games on their respective host nations. Remarkably, there has also been no general account of the modern history of European sport from a comparative and international perspective. This is the case despite sport being such a central cultural feature of European life, both as a participant activity and as a spectator entertainment.

To remedy this situation, an AHRC-funded Network entitled Sport in Modern Europe has begun the first comprehensive historical analysis in this area. ̽��ֱ��overarching aim of the research network, which is led by Cambridge, together with academic partners at the ̽��ֱ�� of Brighton and De Montfort ̽��ֱ��, is to establish the central themes for the writing of a history of modern European sport. At a series of three international workshops, colleagues from around the world have been looking both comparatively and chronologically at sport, encompassing the elite diffusion of British sport in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as its modern-day democratisation, and exploring the problems associated with defining a distinctive European model of sport.

For me, moving from an in-depth analysis of the Munich Games to a broader outlook on European sport has been an enrichingtour d’horizon– and the work is only just beginning.

For more information, please contact the author Dr Chris Young (cjy1000@cam.ac.uk) at the Department of German and Dutch, or visit the Sport in Modern Europe Network.

A new analysis of the Munich Games of 1972 places the event at the very centre of modern German history, as Dr Chris Young explains.

Public conflicts arose over political ideology, culture and the legacy of the German past, and foreign policy shifts impacted in intricate ways on East–West German relations.

Alexandra Young

1972 Munich Olympic Stadium

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