I am responding to blog question number 3.

International sporting events such as the Olympics and the World Cup have absolutely massive audiences. Almost the entire world is focused on that one thing. A diplomat could never hope to have that many people paying attention to them at once. For that reason I feel that countries should be very aware of how their national sports teams perform at such events. If a team does well, it can create a sense of unity and common bond for the people of that country. One example that portrays a situation similar to this is, in this years World Cup, all of the African countries put their support across country lines to back Ghana, once they were the only African country left in. Also, depending on how a team acts, whether they win or loose, could be important as well. If a team acts rude and doesn’t work well together people from other areas of the world might interpret that as how the rest of the country is, too. The flip side of this is, if the team is unified and are good sports that would be what came to people’s minds when they thought about that country as a whole. It is not only the team as a unit that a country should pay attention to at these events, but also the individual athletes. An athlete can become a very powerful spokesperson for a certain cause and can be seen as a face for an entire country. States should pay close attention to this, to be aware of how they are being represented to the rest of the world.