Some people believe that international sport creates goodwill between the nations and that if countries play games together they will learn to live together. Others say that the opposite is true: international contests encourage false national pride and lead to misunderstanding and hatred. There is probably some truth in both arguments, but in recent years the Olympic Games have done little to support the view that sports encourage international brotherhood. Not only was there the incident of tragedy involving murders of athletes, but the Games were also ruined by lesser incidents caused principally by minor national contests. One country received its second-place medals with visible anger after the hockey final. There had been noisy scenes at the end of the hockey match, as the losers disagreed with the final decisions. They believed that one of their goals should have been allowed and that their opponents’ victory was unfair. Their manager was in great anger when he said: “This isn’t hockey. Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished.” The president of the Federation said later that such behavior could result in the suspension(停赛) of the team for at least three years. The American basketball team announced that they would not yield first place to Russia, after a disputable(有争议的) end to their contest. The game had ended in disorder. It was thought at first that the United States had won by a single point, but it was announced that there were three seconds still to play. A Russian player then threw the ball from one end of the court to the other, and another player popped it into the basket. It was the first time the US had ever lost an Olympic basketball match. An appeal jury (评审委员会) debated the matter for four and a half hours before announcing that the result would stand. The American players then voted not to receive the silver medals. Incidents of this kind will continue as long as sport is played competitively rather than for the love of the game. The suggestion that athletes should compete as individuals or in non-national teams, might be too much to hope for. But in the present organization of the Olympics there is far too much that encourages aggressive patriotism (爱国主义). 小题1:According to the author, recent Olympic Games have ____.
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