The Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang - A Step to National Unification? Korean Hopes and German Experience

Manfred Laemmer

German Olympic Academy, Frankfurt, Germany

The Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang in February 2018 have once again placed the political situation in divided Korea in the centre of international attention. In the region, there are extreme tensions. Even the participation of the North Korean athletes was not certain up to the last minute. As a consequence of the Second World War and the systemic dispute between the great powers of the USA and the Soviet Union (“Cold War”) there were several countries which took part in the Olympic Games with two competing teams. Germany, which despite the division, from 1956 to 1964 initially still went to the start with a united team, was until 1988 in Seoul also represented by teams of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Various times attempts were made to form a unified Korean team or at least to unite both teams at Olympic Games, in order to promote the creation of trust between the two hostile neighbours. The symbolic acts at the Winter Olympic Games in 2018 should not be overestimated. Also the influence of the united German Olympic team on the feeling of togetherness of people in both parts of Germany was relatively slight. It was above all economic factors, which led the process of reunification to its conclusion – not sport.

Manfred Laemmer

European Olympic Academies

Prof. Dr Manfred Laemmer, born on 13 February 1943 Studied Sport Science at the German Sport University Cologne and Greek, Latin and History at Cologne University 1975-2009 Full Professor and Head of the History Department of the German Sport University Main focus of research: Gymnastics and Athletics in Greco-Roman antiquity History and Ideology of the Olympic Movement Sport and Politics Sport in Jewish History and Culture Has more than 250 publications, including pioneering studies on the Olympic Games and the influence of antiquity on the emergence and ideological development of the Olympic Movement and, in particular, its contribution to international understanding and the promotion of peace. Founder and Editor of STADION. International Journal of the History of Sport Initiator and co-founder of the German Sports and Olympic Museum 1994-2012 Vice-President of the European Fair-Play Movement Since 2007 Member and Vice-Chairman of the Board of the German Olympic Academy Since 2018 President of the Association of European Olympic Academies (EOA) 2010 Annual Award of the International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport (ISHPES) 2012 Pierre de Coubertin Award of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) 2019 Federal Cross of Merit, first-class, by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany