Public Diplomacy: The Power of Sport

Diplomacy is an essential part of foreign policy. The postwar period saw the rise of public diplomacy, which went beyond traditional diplomacy in that it tried to influence public opinion in other countries.
 
It dealt with influencing public attitudes on the formation and execution of foreign policy as private individuals began to engage in intercultural communication. Organized cultural visits like performances by philharmonic orchestras became part of public diplomacy.
 
One must not forget, however, that public diplomacy goes beyond one-way communication -- it is about listening not only to fellow diplomats but to a wide range of actors. For public diplomacy to succeed, it must actively engage with the public in a way that builds, over a period of time, a relationship of trust and credibility. Sports events are a prime venue where this endeavor can and does take place.
 
2013 IAAF World Championships in Athletics – Moscow
 
A good example is the event that began yesterday in Moscow. Very few spectators and members of the global audience will be knowledgeable about Jamaica, some perhaps never having heard of this small Caribbean island. It is not a country that appears very often in the global mainstream media. Nevertheless, even people with a passing interest in track and field are longing to watch the 100-meter final. In that race they are following the ongoing exploits of Usain Bolt -- who they know is Jamaican. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that a single individual, a single sports personality, has put his country on the map, with his distinctive yellow jersey, for all to see.
 
Global sports forums like the one in Moscow provide Jamaica with an enormous opportunity to associate itself with victory and glory. With no disrespect to Jamaican diplomats, it is simply not possible to achieve such publicity through other channels of traditional or public diplomacy.
 
The potential benefit of such a positive sports message is that it can be used as a platform for other messages. Unfortunately for Jamaica, the country's opportunity to do this has been badly damaged by the revelation that five of its athletes -- including the country's most successful female athlete, two-time Olympic 200-meter champion Veronica Campbell-Brown -- tested positive for drugs. This is a tremendous blow not only for Jamaica, but the whole sports community striving to embody noble values like fair competition. The inclusion of former two-time world champion Tyson Gay, tied for the title of second fastest man ever over 100 meters, was devastating for athletics enthusiasts and an embarrassment for the United States.
 
A particularly disappointing recent development has been the participation in doping of athletes from countries that aren't usually identified with doping or major athletics success, such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Albania, Myanmar, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey.
 
In June the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) declared that two Turkish athletes were suspected of doping. The second confirmation of the 2012 Olympics 1,500 meter champion, Aslı Çakır Alptekin, as a user of banned substances -- she was banned from the track for two years in September 2004 after testing positive -- had already left a very bad taste in the mouths of some Turkish athletics fans. When Nevin Yanıt, the two-time European 100 meter hurdles champion, was the second athlete after Alptekin to be charged, the taste got worse.
 
Therefore, as Jamaicans have learned, athletic success is a double-edged sword. It's very welcome when the athletes are proven to have competed fairly, though it's a disaster when they are accused of -- in effect -- cheating. Yet as optimists always assert, in every crisis there is an opportunity. Both for Jamaica and Turkey, effective and decisive action by their athletics federations to punish the perpetrators and impose much stricter testing regimens could put them in the lead in the fight against doping -- and hence the countries could be seen as trailblazers.
 
Therefore, sport crosses physical and institutional borders. Each sport has a federation, whether FIFA for football, the IAAF for athletics, FINA for swimming or FILA for wrestling. While all of these organizations are meant to transcend nations and be arenas for interaction, it is clearly observable that federations work on behalf of nations. Though these federations are founded on the idea of being above nationality, the machinery for maneuvering to satisfy national demands is plain to see.
 
One of the reasons for such actions is the undeniable fact that each sports competition has to be held somewhere. The current IAAF World Championships in Athletics is in Moscow and will end next Sunday. The next will be held in 2015 in Beijing, and London will host in 2017, giving the countries that have held the past two Olympic Games another opportunity to shine on the sports stage. Another Olympic city that is once again enjoying the limelight is Barcelona, currently hosting the FINA Swimming World Championships. All three cities and countries have benefited from positive images portrayed on the global stage and fervently hope to replicate the same experience and appearance.
 
Hosting major sporting events, however, doesn't necessarily mean projecting a positive image. The worst example was Munich when it hosted the Olympic Games in 1972 and suffered a terrorist attack. Despite not experiencing such a tragedy, Athens and Greece didn't fare well after 2004. The impression that the venues for the games were barely completed on time and grossly exceeded their budgets has been worsened by the ongoing economic difficulties the country has been experiencing over the past few years. As the international financial markets and credit ratings agencies can attest, Greece is not considered a credible country to invest in.
 
To conclude, while there are countries in the world, there will be a need for diplomacy. Policymakers will strive to find or create new and imaginative ways of getting their messages across. In the past, conquest was the preferred option. In today's world using or threatening force is not preferred, but convincing your target that what you offer is really what they want.
 
Even if what is offered differs greatly from what is desired, an attractive image -- rather than an attractive reality -- is being pursued by all powers great and small. Sports is a wonderful arena in which to pursue such a strategy. By 9 o'clock tonight the whole world will probably be paying homage to an immortal hero who sprints as fast as a lightning bolt. Importantly, they will know he is from Jamaica.