2016

Holmila, Antero

One of the best known Cold War era conflict in the sporting field – or in this case in the pool – was the Melbourne games’ water polo semifinal between Hungary and the USSR, played on 6 December. In international sports literature the event is known as the “blood in the water” match. The Hungarian uprising which had begun in October and was still continuing when the semifinalists met formed the background context for the bloody match which the Hungarians won 4–0. Given the background events, the Hungarian uprising and escalating Cold War mentality in the Olympics, the match was evidently more about politics than sports in itself. In historiography which examines the collision between Olympic Games and politics/international relations, the match has attained an iconic status which is often referred to when research seeks to highlight the role which politics has played in the Olympic movement. This article sets out to explore how the Finnish and Anglo-American press wrote about the politics surrounding the Melbourne games in general and the water polo match in particular. I will examine to what extent the politics of sport featured in the press while these events were unfolding. I will ask whether the press reporting framed these events as “sport and politics” or whether the more traditional frame of sports reporting prevailed concentrating more on the description of athletic endeavors, the Olympic spirit, and fair play in which the politics was pushed to the background.