The recently concluded Olympics Games provided important lessons for PR people that should never be forgotten

I’ve long said that the IOC’s claim that the Olympics brings people together doesn’t hold water.

On September 11, my contention was confirmed when French officials said, “French authorities foiled three plots to attack the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris and other cities that hosted the summer events, the national counterterrorism prosecutor said on Wednesday,” reported the Associated Press and other news organizations. 

“Olivier Christen said the plots included plans to attack “ Israeli institutions or representatives of Israel in Paris” during the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympic competition. The prosecutor told broadcaster France Info that “the Israeli team itself was not specifically targeted.” He didn’t give further details.

“In all, five people, including a minor, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the three foiled plots against the Summer Games, which were held against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s war in Ukraine. The suspects are facing various terrorism-related charges while they remain in pretrial detention,” the Associated Press reported.

The good news was that the Olympic Games were held in a democratic country—France.

The bad news is that in recent years it has too often been staged in totalitarian countries—Russia in 1980 and 2014 and China in 2008 and 2022.

But no matter where the games are staged—in a democratic or totalitarian country—instead of demonstrating that the Olympics brings people together and can bring world peace, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) claims, history shows that it has the opposite affect – highlighting the political, religious and societal issues that separate countries.

And even prior to sabotage reports, the Paris Olympics did nothing to bolster the IOC’s claim, but did provide important lessons for PR people.

What does the above have to do with public relations, you may ask?

It means that Olympic Games PR accounts should not be staffed by sports fanatics. They should be staffed by seasoned PR professionals with international and crisis experience who understand that their clients can be targeted by protest groups, as happened when sponsors had to curtail their promotions during the 2014 Sochi Olympics because of Russia’s anti-LBGT laws.

Also, prior to the 2022 Olympics in China, U.S. Senators grilled representatives of sponsors Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Intel, Visa, and Procter & Gamble, asking them to condemn China’s human rights record.

A few examples that refutes the IOC’s claims:

• After several African countries threatened to boycott the 1964 Olympics because of South Africa’s apartheid policy, the IOC banned it from participating in the Olympics. until 1992.
• Protests from African countries also had the IOC banning Rhodesia from the 1972 Summer Olympics.
• Possibly the two most most famous Olympic boycotts occurred in 1980 and 1984, because of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
• Because of the invasion, in 1980, the United States led a boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow. The Russians retaliated by boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. 
• In 2021, several nations announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing to protest against the Chinese mistreatment of its Uyghurs population, the largest minority ethnic group in China’s north-western province of Xinjiang. Many countries did not send diplomats to the games, but athletes were permitted to compete.
• The IOC will not allow athletes from Taiwan to compete as representatives of their country. To appease China, they must compete as athletes from Chinese Taipei.
• To soothe Arab countries, the IOC permits athletes from Palestine to compete, even though there is no such country.

And the Games in Paris were no exception:

• When the IOC announced that it will allow athletes from Russian and Belarus to compete more than a year ago, there were threats of boycotting the games from countries opposing the decision. The IOC also ruled that no Russian or Belarusian athletes or officials who support the war are eligible to participate, according to a New York Times article on July 26
• On July 22, Reuters reported, “Israeli athletes will receive 24-hour protection during the Paris Olympics, France’s interior minister said, after a far-left lawmaker said Israel’s delegation was not welcome and called for protests against their participation.”
• The same day, Reuters reported, “The Kremlin said on Monday that a decision by France to refuse to accredit some Russian journalists for the Paris 2024 Olympics over security fears was unacceptable and accused the French authorities of undermining media freedom.”
• The day of the Opening Ceremonies saboteurs disrupted the French national railroad system by setting fires at several locations.
• Because spectators at a soccer game between Argentina and Morocco threw objects on the field after a disputed goal, the officials stopped play for an hour and didn’t resume the contest until the stadium was cleared of fans.
• Always willing to stir the pot until it boils over, former president Donald Trump, known throughout the universe as the most religionist of religious s zealots, attacked the producers of the Opening Ceremonies for making a mockery of the Last Supper because of a scene featuring drag performers and artists, even though the artistic director said that it had nothing to do with the Last Supper, but was inspired from Greek mythology—the Feast of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and was meant to celebrate inclusion. Mr. Trump said “…I thought it was a disgrace.” Joining Mr. Trump to politicize the games that the IOC says are politics free, was Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who Reuters reported “ told Pope Francis in a call on Thursday that the “immoral” Olympics opening ceremony had made a mockery of sacred values and called for a common stand to be taken against it, his office said.” On August 5, the New York Times
• reported that French D.J. Barbara Butch, who appeared in a scene called “Festivity,” received death and rape threats from around the world.
• “Apparently, booing and whistling during the Israeli national anthem at the Olympic Games wasn’t enough for the antisemites who would prefer that the only democracy in the Middle East with a free press, freedom of religion, LGBTQ rights and other Western values was wiped from the face of the earth,” wrote Dave Wolken in USA TODAY “…,According to multiple news reports, some protestors chanted “Heil Hitler” and unfurled a banner that read “Genocide Olympics,” prompting a local police investigation. There were also, according to the French publication Le Parisien, gestures to Israeli supporters referencing Jewish stereotypes like hooked noses that have been part of antisemitic propaganda going back centuries.,” he wrote, in part.
• News reports also said “Iran condemns the “reception and protection” of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Paris, demanding their exclusion over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza…“Announcing the reception and protection of the apartheid terrorist Zionist regime’s delegation means giving legitimacy to the child killers,” Iran’s foreign ministry said in a post on X.”
• A few days before the Opening Ceremonies, Middle East Eye reported “At a pro-Gaza rally on Saturday, France Unbowed (LFI) MP Thomas Portes was filmed saying Israel’s Olympic delegation was “not welcome in Paris,” and that there should be protests against its taking part in the games. “Israeli athletes are not welcome at the Olympic Games in Paris,” Portes said, calling for using “the deadline” of the event and “all the levers that we have to create mobilizations and denounce the presence of a state which today massacres the Palestinian people.”
• On August 7, the Associated Press reported that “Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into emailed death threats to Israeli athletes, and the national cybercrime agency is looking into the leak of some Israeli athletes’ personal data online…which has since been taken down. Prosecutors also launched an inquiry into inciting racial hated after Israeli athletes received “discriminatory gestures” during an Israel-Paraguay match.” In addition to its own security team, Israeli athletes received 24 hour protection by a French security team.
• When Taiwan defeated China in badminton it was not permitted to display its national flag because of IOC rules that prohibit flags or signs that include political messages or support countries that are not participating at the Olympics. Taiwan competes at the Olympics as Chinese Taipei to avoid objections from China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own territory. Taiwan’s government rejects Chinese sovereignty claims, Reuters reported.
• On August 6, the Associated Press reported, in part, “Moscow is making its presence felt during the Paris Games, with groups linked to Russia’s government using online disinformation and state propaganda to spread incendiary claims and attack the host country—showing how global events like the Olympics are now high-profile targets for online disinformation and propaganda.”
• And on August 7, Reuters reported, “Russia and Algeria threw diplomatic punches at the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday after Russia brought up an Olympic boxing gender row during a meeting of the body focused on women, peace and security. Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy accused western countries of monopolizing the Olympic movement and “aggressively imposing an LGBT agenda on the rest of the world that he said was damaging women’s rights and dignity.”

So much for the IOC declaration that the Olympics brings people together. That was never true. What is true is that it brings a limited number of athletes together to compete in what is the world’s most commercial athletic event.

Also, what is indisputable is that the Olympic Games provide a propaganda tool for totalitarian countries when they are awarded the games by the IOC

The most notorious example was the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, known as the Nazi Olympics. American religious, political and sports leaders urged that Germany be stripped of the games because of its treatment of political opponents and people the Nazi’s believed didn’t fit the Nazi image. The American Olympic Committee whitewashed the Nazi actions and the game provided Hitler with his first worldwide platform.

More recently the propaganda rich games have been awarded to Russia and China—Russia in 1980 and 2014 and China in 2008 and 2022.

Olympic history shows that the Olympic Games do not bring people together, even when they are being staged in a democratic country.

What it does show is that the Olympics highlights the differences, political and social, about people and their governments, as well as providing a worldwide platform for totalitarian countries like the Nazi 1936 Olympics and the above mentioned Russian and Chinese Olympics.

And even though France is a democratic country, and Paris is a beautiful city, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games couldn’t heal the divides among people and countries for the few days that the artificial flame flew over the City of Light skies.

The Two Important Lessons For PR People That Should Never Be Forgotten

1) Never staff your Olympic accounts, or any other sports-related accounts, with sports fanatics. Too often they forget that clients spend millions of dollars on these types of accounts for one reason – they hope to get a ROI on their money. Thus, while it’s okay to staff the accounts with personnel who are sports fans, they primarily must have experience working on brand or corporate accounts and also include an individual whose expertise is in crisis communications.

2) The next Summer Olympic Games will be held in 2028 in Los Angeles. PR agencies should remember the important lessons from the Paris Olympics and those in the past: Just because the Olympics are held in a democratic country doesn’t mean that protests against sponsors will not happen. They assuredly will and have already begun. In L.A, groups are already highlighting how mega events like the Olympics are detrimental to host city residents because of the problems it causes, which include housing, homelessness, policing, and cost overruns that fall upon the public to pay. Thus, Staff your Olympic accounts accordingly.