What Happened to Sportsmanship at the Olympics?

Tuesday, March 2nd is National Sportsmanship Day (NSD), a day formally recognized by the White House and the US Congress. This year's theme: competitive self-restraint. That got us to thinking, what the heck happened at this year's Olympics? In the end, isn't sportsmanship what the Olympics is ultimately about? While, of course, there are many admirable stories out of the 2010 Vancouver games , what's sad is that we are also going to remember the numerous headlines of poor sportsmanship amongst the moments of glory.

As you probably know, the most talked about example involves the behavior of Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko. For details on that and other examples of less than stellar behavior, click here.

What is going on? How can such elite athletes on the world's biggest stage use their moments to dish sour grapes?

Come on, it's the OLYMPICS, people! If we're not above poor losers at the Olympics, what shot do we have to teach our kids how to play for more than a score? We turned to leading sportsmanship expert Daniel Doyle. He founded National Sportmanship Day as part of The Institute for International Sport, a non-profit organization that uses sport as the way to promote and improve international relations.

Q: Mr. Doyle, when it comes to sportmanship in Vancouver, what's going on? It seems like we're hearing a lot of cases of sour grapes... and it seems like it's worse than in other years. Is this the case?

A: Dan Doyle, Institute for International Sport:

It is difficult to quantify the overall level of fair play in Vancouver; it is difficult to compare the practice of fair play from one Olympiad to another. Three personal experiences that may add some perspective to the issue:
1. For the last 19 years, our Institute for International Sport has administered National Sportsmanship Day. About a decade ago, we received a letter from a college basketball fan regarding coverage of a fight in a college basketball game. The fan made the point that, based on his research, there had been approximately 3,000 high school and college boys basketball games played that evening. To his knowledge, there was but one fight. That fight was the lead story on ESPN's Sports Center. The point the gentleman made was that, by watching Sports Center, one might deduce that sportsmanship was a major problem when, in point of fact, it was only one incident in over 3,000 games played in one evening. Media coverage of the Olympics, and of sport in general, has expanded to the point of providing a lens to any bad act. (For more on how media has changed since Ty Cobb has played baseball, click here.)

2. The most famous Olympic basketball game in history was also the most controversial. In 1972, the Soviet Union "defeated" the United States men's Olympic Team 51-50. The game ended with a series of misjudgments by the officials which caused justifiable outrage on the part of Americans.Two years later, I brought my Kingswood-Oxford School boy's basketball team to play in the Prague Christmas Festival Tournament in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic.) At a dinner with rival coaches, where I was the only American representative, it was fascinating to hear their perspective about the '72 game. My position was that the officials had made egregious and correctible errors at the end of game, and that their misjudgments had cost the United States the gold medal. My fellow coaches from Europe and the Eastern Bloc took a decidedly different view. Their opinion was that the Americans had demonstrated "sour grapes" and should have been much more gracious in the "loss."

3. In 1984, I was in Ireland during the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games. Over a two week span, I watched the '84 Olympics on BBC and RTÈ, the Irish network. That was the Olympiad to which the Soviet Union did not send a delegation, and America was the overwhelming medal winner. The Irish and British commentators were harshly critical of what they perceived to be excessive American nationalism displayed in Los Angeles. 'Jingoism" was a word commonly used during that two-week period.
Because I had several friends competing in the '84 Olympics, (and well before Tivo came into existence), I arranged for some of the events on ABC to be taped so I could view them upon my return to the United States. Watching the American network version was a fascinating experience. Not once during the telecast was any mention made of excessive nationalism. In fact, the common theme was a celebration of sport at its best. It was as if I was watching two different events, given the contrasting perspective of the commentators. The points that I drew from these latter two experiences include:

a. Beware of the fallacy of the innocent past. Things are never perfect at the Olympics but they are always compelling, and always worthy of our attention and analysis.

b. Competing in international sport at any level provides the participants with the important opportunity to look at the world through the eyes of others.

Q: The most talked about case is that of Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko making remarks about the judging, the caliber of the competition, his silver medal , and a scandal this week involving a fictitious medal on his website. He has since denied any involvement. That is not the only story of questionable conduct, either. Even when bad behavior permeated sports at the lowel school and even upper school levels, it always seemed like the Olympics were 'above' this kind of behavior. What can we take from these latest cases?

A: Dan Doyle, Institute for International Sport:
We have to measure this issue with both constructive criticism and empathy. There are certain countries, and Russia is one of them, where winning a gold medal is one of the most important aspects of that culture - in many ways tied to the country's sense of well being. This puts overwhelming pressure on the athletes to perform. In the case of Evgeni Plushenko, his loss in the Olympics was not only devastating to him, but to his country as well. Americans would probably have to go back to ...Read more...

Q:Can poor sporstmanship carry beyond the individual athlete caught up in a moment of frustation? What is the impact when we are at the Olympic level?

A: Dan Doyle, Institute for International Sport:

There is no question that any Olympic athlete is automatically in the "higher zone of public scrutiny." As such, our American sports governing associations, from USA Hockey to USA Swimming, spend considerable time with their athletes instructing them on the need to display good behavior and avoid the old saying: We are often judged not by our most virtuous qualities but by our last bad act.

(What do our younger athletes need to learn from these stories? For the important answer, Click here.)
Q: What does everyone need to take from these examples and what should we remember most about the Vancouver games and the Olympics, in general??

A: Dan Doyle, Institute for International Sport:So far, my most important "take away" from the Games is Bode Miller. In 2006, Bode joined the likes of President Bill Clinton and Claes Nobel, senior member of the Nobel Peace Prize family, as speakers at our World Scholar-Athlete Games to which 157 countries sent delegations. Bode had come off an extremely disappointing Olympic experience in 2006. Indeed, perhaps no other American Olympian in history has faced more criticism as a result of a disappointing performance. When Bode arrived at the World Scholar-Athlete Games, he was a model of goodwill, and he was completely without pretense. That evening, Bode presided over a wonderful discussion with our scholar-athletes and scholar-artists. Our arrangement with his agent was to provide Bode with limousine service from Rhode Island to his home in New Hampshire. When the session ended, Bode came to us and said, "I don't need a limo. Just have one of the young people in my age range drive me to New Hampshire - that will be fine."

Perhaps as much as any Olympian in recent memory, Bode has exemplified the Olympic spirit by turning what was, in the view of most, a disastrous performance in '06 to an inspiring performance in '10.

The Olympics offers an interesting paradox concerning human nature. A key element of that paradox, I suppose, is that the flaws - from false starts to honest expressions of wounded feelings - contribute to its magnificence.