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:
that 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 were there the
incidents of tragedy involving murder 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,with the losers objecting to the final decisions.
They were convinced that one of their goals should not have been disallowed and that their opponents'
victory was unfair.Their manager was in a rage 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 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 end to their contest.The game had ended in disorder.It was thought at first that the United
States had won by a 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 that 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 present organization of Olympics there is far too much that encourages
aggressive patriotism (爱国主义)．