Dai boicottaggi statali alle sanzioni istituzionali: l'evoluzione del rapporto tra politica e Olimpiadi

The relationship between politics and the Olympic Games emerges with particular clarity in the phenomenon of boycotts. From the initial debates over the 1936 Berlin Games to the large-scale boycotts of the 1970s and 1980s, states have used Olympic participation as a tool of diplomatic pressure, linking competitions to ideological conflicts, wars, and racial issues. With the end of the Cold War, however, the "classic boycott" has progressively declined, giving way to more nuanced forms of protest: diplomatic boycotts, IOC-imposed suspensions, and the neutralization of athletes, as in recent Russian cases. This transformation reflects the Olympic movement's attempt to preserve universality and neutrality, but it also highlights the continuing politicization of sport in its increasingly global dimension. Analyzing the evolution of the Olympic boycott therefore means understanding how the Olympics remain a privileged vantage point from which to grasp certain features of international tensions.