The olympic movement and the middle east and north African region: History, culture and geopolitics - an introduction

Abstract

The appropriation of the Western-dominant model of sport in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region was seen as a necessity, given the multiple uses of sport as an element in political, social, and cultural recognition. The adoption of modern sport was accomplished through the integration (to different degrees) of newly independent countries into the relevant sporting and administrative structures, including compliance with the rules and regulations of the international sports federations (particularly the Fédération Internationale de Football Association and the International Olympic Committee). Sport came to be regarded as an effective arena and diplomatic tool for nation state formation, with a key example being the integration of Palestine (Palestinian authority) into the Olympic movement in 1996, a significant step towards the recognition of the Palestinian right to exist as an independent entity. Newly independent countries in the MENA region, as in other developing countries, have also used international sporting events such as the summer Olympics, and particularly the media coverage that such events attract, as a space to express their regional, political, and ideological concerns, informed by pan-Arabism, anti-imperialism, and pan-Africanism, to name but a few. This has sometimes led to real crises between the region and the Olympic movement, including, but not limited to, such incidents as the boycott of the 1956 Olympics over the Suez crisis, the nationalization of the Suez Canal by Gamal Abdel Nasser followed by the Tripartite Aggression by Great Britain, France, and Israel, the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes by the Black September armed group at the Munich Olympics in 1972, and the boycott of the Olympic Games to denounce apartheid in South Africa in 1976.