TEXT A
The Olympic Games originated in 776 B.C. in Olympia, a small
town in Greece. Participants in the first Olympiad are said to have run a
200-yard race, but as the Games were held every four years, they expanded in
scope. Only Greek amateurs were allowed to participate in this festival in honor
of the god Zeus. The event became a religious, patriotic, and athletic occasion
where winners were honored with wreaths and special privileges. They were banned
in 394 A.D. by Emperor Theodosius, after they became professional circuses and
carnivals. The modern Olympic Games began in Athens in 1896 as a
result of the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator whose
desire was to promote international understanding through athletics. Nine
nations participated in the first Games; over 100 nations currently
compete. The taint of politics and racial controversy, however,
has impinged upon the Olympic Games in our epoch. In 1936 Hitler, whose country
hosted the Games, affronted Jesse Owens, a black American runner, by refusing to
congratulate Owens for the feat of having won four gold medals. In the 1972
Munich Games, the world was appalled by the deplorable murder of eleven Israeli
athletes by Arab terrorists. The next Olympic Games in Montreal were boycotted
by African nations; in addition, Taiwan Province withdrew. In 1980, following
the former Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, sixty-two nations caused great dismay
to their athletes by refusing to participate in the Games. The consensus among
those nations was that their refusal would admonish the Soviets. From the passage, we can infer that Hitler’s refusal to congratulate Jesse Owens was an indication of
A．jealousy B．national pride C．racial discrimination D．political prejudice