Athletes Behaving Badly

The Ambiguous Crime of Smuggling: Both A Prized Reward and Punishable Offense

The act of smuggling constituted an ambiguous space within the sphere of Hungarian elite sport. By and large, sport leaders typically allowed athletes to bring prized goods in and out of Hungary amidst their travels abroad. Their overall stance towards the activity was ambiguous though, because at times they supported and even facilitated athletes' ability to bring in goods, and other times they penalized athletes for it. Sport leaders understood that the ability to obtain hard-to-find items served as one of the prime motivators for athletes to continue working hard and winning gold medals. The goods that athletes brought in ranged from mundane (but still rare) things like nylon stockings and cloth material like lace and wool in the 1950s, to jeans and pocket radios in the 1960s and 1970s, and even computer-related equipment in the 1980s. You can see a more detailed list of goods here.

The opportunity for athletes to smuggle was not all roses and cornfields. Since sport leaders viewed smuggling ambiguously, athletes could and did receive punishments for it. Athletes had to uncover and learn the unwritten rules of the game, especially when it came to the logistics of bringing goods in and out of the country. 

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