The growth
of sport in the 20th and 21st centuries was helped along
by technological change. Not only did this affect the equipment and the venues
for sporting events, but also the ability of far ranging teams to meet and
play, and, maybe even more significantly, media changes brought sporting events
more spectators, ones that didn’t even need to leave their homes to follow the
big game. And the games became bigger and sometimes international.
The late 19th
century, saw the revival of the Olympic games. Here was a venue that would
allow nations to compete with each other through their athletic representatives.
These games have turned into the ultimate in spectator sports with people from
all the competing nations interested in how their athletes fare against those
of other nations. Winning engenders a sense of national pride, something that
politicians can use for their own ends – witness the 1936 Summer Olympics held
in Berlin, Germany, games that Hitler’s regime anticipated would showcase the
superiority of the Aryan race.
The 1936
games were an extreme case. Most Olympic hosts, while hoping to showcase their
own athletes, have a less controversial agenda behind their games. I personally
witnessed how a venue can get into the Olympic spirit when Vancouver hosted the
2010 Winter games. While most of the actual games were held elsewhere, the
people on the streets of Vancouver became part of the action, visiting the art
gallery, riding on the zip line and/or breaking into a dancing flash mob on
Robson Street. This showed how sport can bring people together in a positive
way.
Zip line on Robson Street, Vancouver
Of course,
sport can also have a less positive side. Bringing together large groups of
people to focus on one event is a double edged sword. The Vancouver Olympics of
2010 showed how the crowd can use its energy in a benign way. The following
year, in the same city, the crowd turned ugly when the visiting team won the
Stanley Cup. In the ensuing riot, people were stabbed, cars were toppled and
torched, windows were broken and stores were looted. But, for good or evil,
sport and the ability to participate in it in various ways are now taken for
granted in a way that would amaze our forebears.
The boarded up windows of the downtown Bay Store after the riot.
A close up of one of the window boards which attracted an outpouring of love and healing for the city.
