Mapping the World

Olympic Games: a geopolitical flame

The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games raise major sporting, symbolic, economic and ecological issues. This major Olympic event should also be an opportunity for states to continue their geopolitical confrontations on other fronts. The 1936 Olympic Games in Hitler's Berlin, the boycott of the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, in the midst of the Cold War: there is no shortage of examples of Olympics that have become geopolitical platforms. This year, attention will be focused on Ukraine and especially on Russia, whose athletes will be banned from competing under their national banner. Enough to push Vladimir Putin to organize his own games, the "Friendship Games".