In my lifetime, the most worrisome period of political instability lasted from 1968 to 1984. This sixteen-year period saw increases in social strife, proxy wars, civil wars, coups d’état, dictatorships, nuclear threats, inflation and recessions on a scale unmatched since the Second World War.

One way to illustrate this is to look at the Summer Olympic Games during that time. From 1948 to 1964, the Olympic Games were relatively uncontroversial.

The 1968-1984 Olympic Timeline

  • Mexico City (1968): Many remember the Mexico Games for the Black Power Fist salutes of Tommie Smith and Dr. John Carlos — as well as Bob Beamon’s extraordinary long jump world record of 8.90 m, where he beat the previous record by 55 cm. Beamon’s record stood for 23 years. It was also the second Olympics at which South Africa was banned. What is less remembered are the large labour and student demonstrations protesting the games, including the most tragic one held on the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, Mexico City, which was brutally repressed by the military, culminating in over 350 dead and more than 1,000 injured. This tragic event, now known as the Tlatelolco Massacre, occurred on October 2, 1968, or ten days before the start of the Olympic Games.
In early October, 1968, students gather at the Zócalo, or Constitution Square, in the heart of Mexico City, in order to protest the government in the weeks before the Olympic Games. The worst night of violence against the students erupted on October 2, and is today remembered as the Tlatelolco Massacre.
Photo by Jesus Diaz of the Associated Press.
  • Munich (1972): Mark Spitz won seven swimming gold medals and made headlines around the world. However, within two days of the last swimming event, 11 Israeli team members and one German policeman had been killed by eight Palestinians from Black September, a Palestinian terrorist group. It was the first time — and hopefully the last — that murders occurred at the Olympic Games.
  • Montréal (1976): In Montréal, Nadia Comaneci, age 14, made history by being the first gymnast to get a perfect 10.0 score. But a less-remembered fact is that the Montréal games were boycotted by 29 nations, mostly African. These nations wanted New Zealand to be banned from the Olympics because the All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby team, was touring South Africa in 1976 in defiance of the IOC sporting boycott on South Africa. When the Olympic Committee refused to ban New Zealand, partly on the grounds that rugby was not an Olympic sport and thus not within its jurisdiction, athletes from those nations left the Olympic Village and returned home.
  • Moscow (1980): In December 1979, the USSR invaded Afghanistan. In retaliation, over 60 nations led by the United States boycotted the Moscow Games, the first games to be set in the Eastern Bloc and the last to be set in a communist country until 2008. This was a considerable loss of face for the Soviet Union and remains one of the many grievances that Russia has against the West.
  • Los Angeles (1984): In retaliation for the Moscow boycott, the USSR and 13 of its satellites and client states, with the very notable exception of Romania, boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics. As the only member of the Eastern Bloc at the Games, Romania placed second to the United States in collecting gold medals.

The Quiet Olympic Period

From 1988 (Seoul) — the last games during which South Africa was banned — to 2016 (Rio), the games were again relatively quiet and concerns for the organizers were those that would normally be associated with the organization of events of such complexity.

The Current Olympic Period

The 2020 Tokyo Games (held in 2021 because of the Covid 19 pandemic) may represent the beginning of another cycle during which world events seriously interfere with the Olympics.

While the Winter Games have been generally quiet, as they are usually held in remote and richer locales, the Beijing Games (2022) were controversial. After some debate, a number of Western countries organized a “diplomatic boycott” of the Beijing Winter Games to protest the treatment of the Uyghur minority, particularly in Xinjiang, the use of forced labour, as well as China’s use of kidnap diplomacy, among other issues.

In two short years, Paris will host the Summer Olympic Games and — unless peace returns to Ukraine — there is every indication that Russia, Belarus and perhaps others will be banned from the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Are we entering a new cycle of significant turbulence? Populism is on the rise around the world, including in the United States. Inflation has surged and may morph into stagflation. Russia, a corrupt and waning nuclear power, shows sign of Stalinization as a murderous proxy war is fought in Eastern Europe. China, a rising authoritarian superpower, is experiencing slowing economic growth. Energy and other commodity markets have been thrown into chaos, with dire consequences for the world’s poorest. Climate change is accelerating, such as with the deadly heatwaves above 45 Celsius in parts of India and Pakistan of the last few days. Last, but not least, the Covid-19 pandemic continues in various forms, as medical systems around the world brace for the upcoming seventh wave.

Moreover, much of this bad news will serve as cover for more bad things to occur in less scrutinized corners of the world.

While we do not know how long this cycle might last, the one good thing that may be said here is that the world has survived troubled times before.