‘Seoul to the World, the World to Seoul’ … and Ben Johnson: Canada at the 1988 Olympics^†

Abstract

Should Olympic athletes, coaches, and delegation officials learn other languages and the skills of intercultural communication so that they can fully engage in the intercultural exchanges so fundamental to the Olympic Movement? Should they be expected to do their pre-Games training in the cities and towns of the host country and stay after the closing ceremonies to immerse themselves in the host culture and contribute to the social networks that enhance respect for other peoples and combat xenophobia and ultimately war? With the pressures they face to medal, is it still possible for Olympic athletes to live the full Olympic experience? These were the questions I wrestled with during the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary and the Olympic Games in Seoul. Both organizing committees made exceptional efforts to spread the humanitarian message of the Olympic Movement, prepare citizens for their responsibilities as international hosts, and encourage exchanges. Yet many Canadian sports leaders and coaches, driven by the ‘ideology of excellence’ and the structures of funding from the state, discouraged athletes from taking advantage of these opportunities, fearing that they would ‘distract’ them from training and the pursuit of the podium. This paper summarizes the research I conducted on Canadians in Seoul. I was there as part of the international social research team recruited by Kang Shin-Pyo and John MacAloon to track the intercultural activities stimulated by the Games.

Notes

^†Originally published in Byong-Ik, K., and Park Heung-Soo, eds. Toward One World Beyond All Barriers, vol. 1, 434–54. Seoul: Poong Nam, 1990

^1. ‘Words of Welcome’, Canadian presentation to the Olympic Youth Camp, Seoul, 25 September 1988.

^2.Williams, Culture.

^3.Kidd, ‘Philosophy of Excellence’.

^4.Williams, Culture, 69–70.

^5.Gruneau, Class, Sports and Social Development; McLaughlin, ‘Vice-Regal Patronage’; Metcalfe, Canada Learns to Play.

^6.Cosentino, Ned Hanlan.

^7. Canadians competed in the 1900 and 1904 Games on an individual basis. In 1906, at the initiative of Governor-General Grey, the warring Canadian Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and Amateur Athletic Federation (AAF) of Canada agreed to form a joint Canadian Olympic Committee and stage selection trials. But the AAF continued to push the quarrel, seriously underestimating the strength of national feeling associated with the Games. In 1908, it supported the protest of the US Athletic Union against popular AAU of Canada marathoner Tom Longboat. The resulting storm of outrage contributed significantly to its demise (Kidd, ‘In Defense of Tom Longboat’; Morrow, ‘Case Study in Amateur Conflict’).

^8.Berger, Sense of Power.

^9.Boileau, Landry, and Tempe, ‘Les Canadians Francais’.

^10.Kidd, ‘In Defense of Tom Longboat’.

^11.Kidd, ‘Canadian Opposition to the 1936 Olympics’.

^12.Jackson, ‘Olympic Games Comment’.

^13.Trudeau, Federalism and the French Canadians.

^14.Laxer and Laxer, Liberal Idea of Canada.

^15. In the ‘speaking bitterness’ groups, which they often form, Canadian athletes pass down the legends of courageous athletes dismissed and smeared by the media for less than winning performances. Brian Orser is the latest of these. A world's champion and world medallist for five consecutive years, Orser was headlined a ‘loser’ for finishing narrowly behind his friend Brian Boitano at the Calgary Winter Olympics.

^16. The present flag, introduced by the Liberal Government of Lester Pearson in 1965, has been the dominant symbol of pan-Canadian nationalism. It replaced the Red Ensign with the British Union Jack in the upper left-hand corner, which earlier replaced the Union Jack. English-Canadian nationalists and monarchists still fly these other flag.

^17.MacIntosh, Bedecki, and Franks, Sport and Politics in Canada.

^18.Beamish and Borowy, Q:What Do You Do for A Living?

^19. It was not only the eastern Europeans who did this. During the track and field, I met several African diplomats from countries which do not officially recognize the Republic of Korea who took advantage of the Games to pursue contacts.

^20.Whitson and MacIntosh, Game Planners, 46–58.

^21.Harvey and Proulx, ‘Sport and the State’.

^22. Coaches in the subjective disciplines strongly supported this view. In 1987, the synchronized swim team sought out a competition in Seoul with the specific objective of establishing a friendly audience for the Olympics.

^23. Most Korean immigration has occurred during the past 25 years, and most immigrants are from the South. In 1986, the year of the most recent census, there were 27,685 Canadian citizens and landed immigrants of Korean origin, most of whom live in the cities of Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver. Annual immigration was about 1000 per year.

^24.Palmer, Immigration and the Rise; Peters, ‘Myth of Multiculturalism’.

^25.Canadian Olympic Association, Come Together, 1988.

^26.Johnson, ‘Olympic Head Coach’.

^27. However, the Canadian Mission had an influential friend in Kim Jang Hwang, the vice-chair of the Korean Canadian Council. At one meeting of SLOOC officials, Park Seh-Jik introduced him as ‘my younger brother’. As a result of Kim's interventions, the COA was able to obtain more credentials than expected, to have their living quarters moved to a building distant from the Americans, with whom they did not wish to be confused, and ‘get quick action’ on other problems. Ultimately, many of the Village difficulties were reduced or eliminated altogether. It should be remembered that SLOOC had to accommodate a record 9184 medal-sport athletes, 35% more than at Los Angeles, plus their coaches and officials.

^28. Toronto Women's Field Hockey Association, ‘Toronto's Seoul Supporters’, Newsletter, June, 1989.

^29. Regrettably, Bud Greenspan chose not to use T'Len's voice in the official film. Instead, a California choir was hired to tape the soundtrack.

^30.Kidd, ‘Lubicon Boycott’.

^31. Initially, the sole native member of the youth delegation refused to participate in these rehearsals, fearing that they would denigrate his people's traditions. But gradually he became respectful of their intent, and contributed his grandfather's headdress to the performance.

^32. One exception was a Korean Canadian from Toronto. During the first week, he continually absented himself from Camp and Canadian activities in seeming rejection of ‘traditional Korean culture’, expressed in an agitated binge of ostentatious spending. Boreskie had not anticipated how stressful the intercultural project became for him. Not wishing to embarrass him by sending him home, she decided to discipline him by leaving him home for the opening ceremonies. By the end of the Camp, he was back in the group.

^33. The Declaration also stated: ‘We challenge each participant, upon return to their respective homelands, to actively promote – by means of personal communication and media coverage – friendship and goodwill amongst the youth of the world, thus demonstrating the power of the Olympic Movement to bring about international understanding and acceptance of different cultures for the everlasting peace of the world’.

^34. The recording of ‘O, Canada’ used in the Stadium was several bars short, prompting a flood of telephone complaints to the COA and CBC. Letheren immediately obtained recordings of the full anthem and took them to those venues where Canadian victories were anticipated. When Carolyn Waldo won the solo event in synchronized swimming, the presentation ceremony was delayed until Letheren was absolutely sure that officials had the proper cassette.

^35. MacAloon, Intercultural Education and Olympic Sport.

^36. The only deconstruction of ‘Canadian’ participation occurred after Johnson's disqualification, when suddenly his Jamaican birth became a frequent topic of attention. This racist rejection was effectively satirized into a widely circulated cartoon. In all three panels, the drawing of Johnson was the same. In succession, the captions read: ‘Canadian Wins Gold Medal, Jamaican-Canadian Accused of Steroid Use, Jamaican Stripped of Gold Medal’.

^37.Kidd, ‘Olympic Movement’.