Esporte e relações internacionais: análise da não-adesão do Brasil aos boicotes aos jogos Olímpicos de Moscou (1980) e Los Angeles (1984)

Abstract

The sport, understood as an international cultural phenomenon is usually associated to a universal symbol of union and peace between the peoples. This work, however, focuses on another dimension of the sport in the world: its use as political instrument. The Olympic Games are detached as the biggest and more prestigious sporting events in the world. Beyond the huge far-reaching and international visibility, the Olympic Games present others characteristics that permit them to be utilized as an efficient political tool by governments around the world. Among these characteristics, this study detaches its apparent apolitical character. The Games were utilized by diverse States in different forms along the history. However, the characteristics of the international environment of the period called "Second Cold War", added to the fact that the Olympic Games were scheduled to be held respectively in the Soviet Union and United States, permitted that the Olympic Games of this period were utilized in special way as foreign policy instrument by the States. With the advent of the boycotts of 1980 and 1984, the biggest boycotts ever occurred up to this time in the Olympic Games, was permitted that not only the hosting country or the country with more victories would utilize the Games politically. The wide visibility of the boycotts allowed that countries like Brazil could also utilize these Games in benefit of their international environment. This research analyzes exactly the Brazilian instrumentalization of the boycotts of the Olympic Games held in Moscow (1980) and in Los Angeles (1984). The decision of Brazil in not adhering to these boycotts, opponent of the idea that it would show a not politicization of the sport in Brazil, consists in a fundamental part of the strategy found by the Brazilian government of also be benefited by these Games. The central question of this work is based, therefore, in the utilization of the boycotts of the Olympic Games of 1980 and 1984 as an instrument of foreign cultural policy by the Brazilian government. An intense search performed in documents of the Itamaraty Collection in Brasilia, in addition to the inquiry in the Brazilian press of this period permit to arrive at this conclusion