Columbia International Affairs Online
CIAO DATE: 11/5/2007
Olimpiadas y Copa Mundial de Fútbol: ¿Competencias deportivas o instrumentos políticos?
October 2007
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract
The Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup: Sport Tournaments or Political Instruments?
This paper analyzes the setting of the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup employing a geopolitical approach. To identify in which way these international sports events are geopolitical instruments of the International System, I present a revision of different elements involved in the selection of China and South Africa as respective hosts of the Olympic Games of 2008 and the World Cup of 2010, such as the motives, goals and possible benefits of these two countries. In this way, I sustain the thesis that the Olympic Games and the World Cup are political instruments used by the States to pursue their geopolitical interests.
