On Sept. 7, the host for the 2020 Summer Olympics was announced.
Hayden Crosby | Argonaut
University of Idaho assistant track coach and Vandal hall-of-famer Angela Whyte is training for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Whyte finished sixth in the 100-meter hurdles at the International Association of Athletics World Championships. Director of the Martin institute Bill Smith said the Olympics are important even in a local community.
“The naming of an Olympic host is a process that takes three years. Out of the candidate cities, it looked to me like Tokyo always had the inside track,” said Bill Smith, director of the Martin Institute and International Studies Program.
Smith has taught several courses on the Olympics and how they not only affect the international political landscape, but also are relevant to local communities.
The two other candidate cities for the 2020 Olympics were Istanbul and Madrid. Smith said, Istanbul’s chances were compromised, after this summer, when Istanbul suffered big social protests at the proposed venues for the 2020 Olympics, and Madrid became questionable because of the current Spanish economic crisis.
“Japan is a good non-political choice and it’s a rich country in which they don’t have internal poverty issues, or crime issues, or internal political issues. Japan is a modern nation and it has money. So that’s why it’s a good choice for the 2020 Olympics,” said Sharon Stoll, Director of Center for ETHICS (Ethical Theory and Honor In Competition and Sport).
In addition to Tokyo being named the host city for the 2020 Olympics, two other decisions were released. Wrestling was admitted back into the Olympics and a new president for the International Olympic Committee was named.
Stoll said that the fact that wrestling got approved for 2020 was a big deal because wrestling is one of the only original games from the ancient Olympics that still exist.
“More than 1/3 of the countries in the world still haven’t won a medal in the Olympics. And one of the reasons we watch the Olympics is both for spectacle and sports but we like to see people from our country win,” Smith said. “Most Olympics there’s someone affiliated with the University of Idaho competing in the Olympics.”
Stoll said the Olympics are relevant to UI because so many alumni have competed.
“The University of Idaho has had a number of Olympians. It’s very relevant and current to students here at UI because it is a huge part of our culture,” Stoll said.
Smith said there is a UI athlete who won the gold medal in the decathlon — traditionally considered the toughest Olympic event.
“The gold medal in the decathlon is seen by many to be the medal for the top athlete of the world. We’ve got one of those from Moscow, Idaho. That’s incredible,” Smith said.
Currently at UI, there is a Canada native training for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Angela Whyte is a current graduate student who earned her undergraduate degree in Crime and Justice Studies from UI in 2003.
Whyte has previously competed as a hurdler in track and field in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“All sports are funny because you can be training for the Olympics but things happen because it’s a four year period,” Whyte said. “Maybe you decide you don’t want to do the sport anymore, maybe there’s personal things, people start families, people get careers, and people get injured.”
Whyte said even though she is training for the 2016 Olympics it doesn’t mean that she will make the team, since there are younger athletes coming up and trying for spots, and there are only three spots on each team.
“A lot of our sports that are in the Olympics both winter and summer don’t have another athletic outlet as far as major championships,” Whyte said. “You bring together the entire world into one area to compete in a multitude of events.”
Whyte said that she thinks the Olympics are important because it brings together many different cultures and experiences.
“If you are a sports fan and are on the University of Idaho campus it should matter to you because it’s one of the greatest sporting events of all times,” Whyte said.
Whyte said the Olympics are a good way to be able to see the way other countries showcase their cultures.
“After you guys graduate, you’re going to go all over the world. You guys will be all over the place in 2020 and you’ll be in society where these kind of things matter,” Smith said. “You will have people you know, or know of in the Olympics.”
Iris Alatorre can be reached at [email protected]