Amateurism

Amateurism is the philosophy that elevates things done without self-interest above things done for pay, especially with regard to sports which require participants to be amateurs. A zealously guarded ideal in the 19th century, it faced steady decline throughout the 20th century and is now held to by few organisations, even if they maintain the word "Amateur" in their titles.

The Olympics

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Until the late 20th century the Olympics nominally only accepted amateur athletes. However, successful Olympians from Western countries often had endorsement contracts from sponsors. Complex rules involving the payment of the athlete's earnings into trust funds rather than directly to the athletes themselves, were developed in an attempt to work around this issue, but the intellectual evasion involved was considered embarrassing to the Olympic movement and the key Olympic sports by some. In the same era, the nations of the Communist bloc entered teams of Olympians who were all nominally students or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full time basis.

Related Topics:
20th century - Olympics - Sponsors - Communist bloc - Student

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Jim Thorpe was stripped of track and field medals for having taken expense money for playing baseball in 1912. After the 1972 retirement of IOC President Avery Brundage, the Olympic amateurism rules were steadily relaxed and in many areas amount only to technicalities and lip service. In the United States, the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 prohibits national governing bodies from having more stringent standards of amateur status than required by international governing bodies of respective sports.

Related Topics:
Jim Thorpe - Track and field - 1912 - 1972 - IOC - Avery Brundage - United States - 1978

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In 1982 Adidas was paying British Olympic athletes to wear their gear. The main person involved in the scandal was Horst Dassler.

Related Topics:
Adidas - Horst Dassler

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Olympic amateurism regulations were eventually abandoned in the 1990s.

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