If Salt Lake City is "desperate to boost its image," hosting the Winter Olympics probably wasn't the wisest choice, an Olympic scholar says.
Mark Dyerson of Pennsylvania State University and formerly of Weber State University said historically the media are never friendly to the Winter Games or its host cities. Possibly redeeming Salt Lake City are the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which could prompt "star-spangled sympathy" to America ? to an extent. Dyerson's address last week was the sixth installment in a 10-part lecture series on the Olympics at the University of Utah.
"The modern Olympic Games provide sensational stories for the media," Dyerson said. These stories range from religion and alcohol to Olympic host scandals ? stories that seem unique to the 2002 Games. But they're not.
The United States threatened to boycott the 1900 Paris Olympics because of planned events on Sundays, Dyerson said. The boycott was lead by Protestant Americans who wished to obey the Sabbath. In the end, the United States attended the Games and no event dates were changed.
In the 1924 Winter Games in Chamonix, France, the United States asked for "dry zones" where athletes could stay free from alcohol establishments and alcohol advertising. It was the Prohibition and some of the U.S. media agreed with the request, citing the athletes' safety as top priority. Again, the French denied the request, and the United States participated in the Games, Dyerson said.
After much debate, the United States decided to participate in the 1936 Nazi Games. But it is rumored the American athletes didn't dip the U.S. flag as they passed Hitler during the Opening Ceremonies. Critics say signs of anti-Semitism were hidden as Germany presented its best face to the world, Dyerson said. Germany took second place at the Games, and critics worried the victory would be interpreted as victory for the Third Reich.
As opposed to Summer Games, the Olympic Winter Games have always been a tough sell, Dyerson said. Skiing, curling, bobsledding and other Winter Olympic events are rare sports in the United States.
American journalists often made fun of the "odd Arctic events," and used as much space discussing lengths of female figure skaters' skirts as they did the competitions themselves. One journalist attending Lake Placid's 1932 Games wrote the true Olympians in a dog-sledding event were the dogs.
The Winter Games have received better treatment in the past 20 years, Dyerson said. He attributed that partly to the "Miracle on Ice" in which the U.S. hockey team beat the highly regarded Soviet team at the 1980 Lake Placid Games, staged during the height of the Cold War when sports and politics were intermixed.
The Winter Games' reputation also improved when Avery Brundage stepped down as IOC President. Brundage, who served from 1952-1972, never liked the Winter Olympics.
However, to American media the Winter Games will always be secondary to the Summer Games. Its events can't compete with the "Holy Trinity of American sports: baseball, basketball and football," common sports all Americans follow or play, Dyerson said.
"It's more something to watch," he said.
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com