Sports and politics, while not the most obvious of companions, nonetheless do have a storied relationship from the first games in ancient Olympia to the most recent modern Olympic games in Beijing. Sports have become more global, now that athletes traverse oceans and continents to compete. The politics of sports also are more complicated—and more interesting. South Korea is a quintessential case of how sports can be a major channel of globalization through which political signals can be communicated both intentionally and unintentionally. The political changes that occurred in South Korea between the awarding of the Olympic Games to Seoul in 1981 and their implementation in 1988 is a case study of how—under the world's watchful eye—host nations may feel compelled to embrace the liberal values of the Olympic ideal or risk embarrassment on the world stage.