Paris expo recounts global struggles throughout Olympics history

French culture chiefs on Friday unveiled their latest blockbuster exhibition aimed at adding a more reflective level to the Olympic and Paralympic fever set to grip France from the middle of July.

Showing at the national History of Immigration Museum in eastern Paris, the exhibition highlights the fractious hinterland of the Games since they were prised out of the ancient history books and repackaged during a Franco-Hellenic love-in at the end of the 19th century.

Developments in social, gender and racial equality are also outlined through the 600-odd posters, letters and mementos in "Olympisme, a History of the World1896-2024", which runs until 8 September – the end of the Paralympic Games.

"We talk a lot today about the impact of the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East," said museum director Constance Rivière.

"As far as the Games are concerned, there is a lot of talk about things like inclusion, the environment and sustainability. But these are issues that have existed almost since the inception of the Games."

Seven curators have worked for the past five years to sift through a treasure trove of sporting memorabilia.

Each of the 33 Games receives its own array of panels featuring details such as the boycotts of 1976, 1980 and 1984, the star athletes who emerged, and the contemporary geopolitical crises that were burning the firmament or smouldering.

Gender battle

Also outlined are the number of male and female athletes as well as their origins.

Pierre de Coubertin, the Frenchman who dreamed up the idea of reinvigorating the ancient Greek model, was eventually forced to concede that the inaugural event should take place in Athens.

But his concepts about women remained: they were essentially on earth to bear and look after children. Sporting pursuits would, for him, harm that capacity.

Consequently, no women were among the 241 participants at the 1896 Games, which was exclusively populated by Europeans. There were no Asian or African competitors.

Four years later in Paris, 22 women were allowed to take part in sports such as golf and tennis. Amsterdam in 1928 marked the first time they could compete in athletic events.

"The inclusion of women in the Olympic Games was an extremely slow process," added Rivière. "And it's only now, in 2024 that parity is finally being forced through.

"That's an incredible achievement. And it didn't happen by itself. It happened because women had the courage to fight for their rights."

Racial divide

Fittingly for a museum dedicated to the movement of peoples, the black American athlete Jesse Owens leaping to glory in the long jump at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin takes primacy as the poster for the exhibition.

His exploits – featured in extracts from Leni Riefenstahl's film of those Games – debunked the Übermensch efforts of the Nazi regime to promote its theory of blonde-haired and blue-eyed Aryan power.

Owens, though, for all his wonders and four gold medals in Berlin, returned home to a segregated society.

In Mexico City, just over three decades after Owens' brilliance, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their hands on the podium following respective gold and bronze medals in the 200m as part of a protest for racial equality in the United States.

"All these struggles have had an impact, whether on the inclusion of women, on the issue of minorities, or on the inclusion of the different continents of the world," added Rivière.

"At one point, the Olympics were truly the Games of the northern hemisphere. They were also very bourgeois games because you had to be an amateur and professionals weren't allowed to take part."

Boycott threats

Nearly 11,000 athletes of all hues and income streams are expected in Paris for the 2024 Olympics – half will be female.

But they will come to an event where organisers have trumpeted the low environmental footprint and the sustainability of the buildings.

Threats of boycotts due to the conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East permeate the prelude.

"A question arises," said co-curator Sandrine Lemaire, a specialist in French colonial history.

"Can we continue to organise this type of mega-event with the traditional rules of unity of place and unity of time? For example, the next football World Cup has been split up to be in several countries.

"Will the Olympic Games have to do the same thing? Today there are a lot of young people who prefer sport but not as we see it in the Olympic Games. It's clear that the current model is running out of steam."