by L Hurley

Created on: April 30, 2008   Last Updated: August 07, 2008

"Faster, higher, stronger," the Olympic motto has been part of the Olympic Games since 1894 when the International Olympic Committee was formed. Olympic athletes are driven by the desire to do just that. For most of the twentieth century Olympic competition was restricted to amateurs, but in 1986 the amateur rule was overturned and professional athletes were permitted to compete.

The original restriction of Olympic competition to amateurs had a philosophical base. To compete for the love of sport was seen to be superior to competing for money. There was however a more practical reason for excluding professionals. Being paid for their performance allowed professionals time to train and develop skills in their sport and because of this in the majority of cases they obtained better results than the amateur athletes. It was considered the professional athletes had an unfair advantage over those with higher ideals, the amateurs.

In the early twentieth century professionals were paid directly for their performance in their sport. As the century moved on the definition of professional became more problematic. Amateurs could compete in professional races and retain their amateur status as long as they declined the prize money. When race organizers substituted goods for prize money a decision had to be made on whether this constituted payment for performance. As television took advertising to a broader audience successful amateur athletes were sought after for product endorsements. Both race prizes and payment for product endorsement were ruled to be payment for performance.

While it remained true that athletes performed for the love of sport as opportunities to make a living from their sports expanded more athletes chose this path. Being professional allowed them time to focus their training and realize the peak of their potential. Olympic competition on the other hand began to lose some of its prestige. Everyone knew that the gold medal winning basketball team was not the best basketball team in the world, that title belonged to the team who finished first in the NBL.

Eastern Bloc countries were the first to work out a way to enable amateurs to train full time without losing their amateur status and as a result the advantage of professional athletes in many Olympic sports began to be eroded. By the 1980's the two original reasons for restricting competition to amateurs had disappeared in all but name. Many countries had by this time set up "Institutes of Sport" to assist their best athletes to train full time while retaining their amateur status. A gold medal brought media offers; multiple gold medals could ensure a lucrative future. Rather than sport for the love of it, the Olympics had become a stepping stone to a career as a professional sports person or celebrity.

By overturning the amateur rule in 1986 the IOC was merely responding to the changing world in which sport had become a business. Excluding professional athletes meant excluding many of the best athletes the world had to offer and in so doing reduced the prestige attached to Olympic achievements. The inclusion of professional athletes in Olympic competition means that once again the Olympic motto has substance. "Faster, higher, stronger," we will watch as the best in the world compete.

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www.infoplease.com/spot/olympi csceremonies.html
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professio nal_sports
www.bls.gov/oco/ocos251.htm

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