Mexico City Apartheid Analysis

The 19th modern Olympiad was held in Mexico City in 1968. The Mexico City Olympics would become tinted with international politics and controversy. In particular, the participation of South Africa would create havoc among the International Olympics Committee (OIC) and its partners. The racial segregation between blacks and whites or the Apartheid system became a note of concern for the IOC. The presence of the Apartheid system would create dissonance about South African participation, the participation of other nations and have financial implications on the Olympics held in Mexico City. As a result, questions about South Africa and its Apartheid system would lead to a huge host of complex issues for the IOC. The Apartheid system began 3 years

The counter-argument was that allowing South Africa in the Olympics would legitimize the apartheid and normalize the discrimination and injustice that the non-whites were suffering at the hand of the South African government. One by one country were pulling out to protest the IOC’s decision and taking a stand against the South African regime. Most of the African countries and star African and black Olympians of the United States had withdrawn from the Olympics, however, the largest impact was created when the USSR, a prominent participate, also threatened to pull out. This created a shockwave as the 1968 Olympics were now in jeopardy. With such an important player out of the games the Olympics would not be as entraining thus they would lose a lot of money. The disarray caused by the Olympic boycotts concerned the Mexican organizers, as a result, they pleaded Brundage, the IOC president at that time, to reconsider the IOC’s decision to allow South Africa to participate. Brundage under the pressure from the Olympic committee and the organizers asked Frank Braun (who was the president of South Africa at that time) to withdraw from the Olympics. In response, Frank Braun was famously quoted as saying, “I would rather be shot in Mexico City than lynched in Johannesburg.” Brundage was once again left in tough position as South Africa would not voluntarily withdraw, and he

This choice created dissonance among the nations and thus creating a large hurdle for the IOC to solve. The apartheid system caused problems for not only South Africa but for the other nations as they felt allowing South Africa would legitimize the partied system. As a domino effect, 1968 were in disarray as they would lose money, thus forcing a vote of exclusion as the final result. African international affair had a huge impact on the Olympics. If the right decision was not made the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City would have been an utter