The Olympics and Modern Philosophy

The more enlightened of modern philosophers assure us that whether a particular action, stealing, for instance, or adultery, is wrong depends, not on outmoded codes but on the situation at the moment. We are indebted to the Olympic Committee for the application of “Situation Ethics” to sport. Sanctions, as I write, are being considered by the American Olympic Committee in the case of two skiers who are alleged to have infringed the Olympic amateur rules, but no such sanctions have ever been invoked against the representatives of Communist countries in the Olympic Games. Whether an athlete is or is not an amateur apparently depends on his geographical situation. There are no professional athletes in Soviet Russia.

On January 30, 1950, Lord Montgomery of Alamein opened a correspondence in the London Times on Olympic amateurism. “In a Communist state,” he wrote, “every adult is employed by the state; an athlete is as much a professional as a school teacher or a doctor or a commissar. True amateurism depends on a free press in which scandals can be ventilated, and on the right to protest against infringements of rules. Neither of these conditions prevails in Russia. Every factory has its paid teams who do no work in the factory, and who receive special rations. Whether the Olympic Games should or should not be amateur is a question of opinion. That they have ceased to be amateur is a question of fact.”

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Sir Arnold Lunn

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The more enlightened of modern philosophers assure us that whether a particular action, stealing, for instance, or adultery, is wrong depends, not on outmoded codes but on the situation at the moment. We are indebted to the Olympic Committee for the application of “Situation Ethics” to sport. Sanctions, as I write, are being considered by the American Olympic Committee in the case of two skiers who are alleged to have infringed the Olympic amateur rules, but no such sanctions have ever been invoked against the representatives of Communist countries in the Olympic Games. Whether an athlete is or is not an amateur apparently depends on his geographical situation. There are no professional athletes in Soviet Russia.

On January 30, 1950, Lord Montgomery of Alamein opened a correspondence in the London Times on Olympic amateurism. “In a Communist state,” he wrote, “every adult is employed by the state; an athlete is as much a professional as a school teacher or a doctor or a commissar. True amateurism depends on a free press in which scandals can be ventilated, and on the right to protest against infringements of rules. Neither of these conditions prevails in Russia. Every factory has its paid teams who do no work in the factory, and who receive special rations. Whether the Olympic Games should or should not be amateur is a question of opinion. That they have ceased to be amateur is a question of fact.”