Five rings over Korea

by Richard W. Pound

In 1981, when the International Olympic Committee chose Seoul, South Korea, to be the site of the 1988 Summer Games, the decision was considered risky at best, potentially explosive, perhaps even fatal to the Olympic Movement. Amid a tenuous political climate, caught between the polarized agendas of North and South Korea, the IOC - guided by its skillful president, Juan Antonio Samaranch - was forced to become both an international trouble-shooter and a conciliator. The IOC had traditionally concerned itself with the sports-related aspects of the Games, staying clear of political confrontations. But faced with the prospect of the Games once again becoming the victim of boycotts and protests, the IOC took the uncharacteristically bold step of inserting itself fully into the arbitration between the two Koreas and their allies. From this intense, four-year process, a delicate and complex feat of diplomacy, emerged a political triumph, and one of the largest and most successful Games in hi