Sports in China's Internationalization and National Representation: China's Participation in 1932, 1936 and 1948 Olympic Games

Abstract

At the dinner that concluded the founding congress of the modern Olympic movement in 1894, the movement founder Pierre de Coubertin expressed high expectations for the twentieth century internationalism that would be realized through his games. However, his new century would be a century of nationalisms which would have a strong impact on the Olympic movement. Even the Olympics, which were designed to express and celebrate internationalism, originated in the modern urge to nationalism. On November 16, 1894, Coubertin told a gathering of founding Olympic congress that “as you toil on behalf of sport, rest assured that you are working on behalf of your native country!” Coubertin's motives to found the modern Olympic Games thus “were a mixture of nationalism and internationalism.” Coubertin became convinced that “patriotism and internationalism were not only not incompatible, but required each other.” In fact, individual states' responses to the Games and people's evident emotion whenever their national flag is raised and their national anthem played to honor a winner, continue to represent classic nationalism.