What changed the Olympics forever

(CNN) -- For the cheers, roars and ovations in all the Olympic stadiums and arenas all the years, perhaps the most significant Olympic sound heard the last quarter-century was a yawn.

Because a yawn, symbolically, was the public greeted what might have been the most controversial change rules that the International Olympic Committee instituted.

The one firm rule always governed the Olympic Games was that amateur athletes were permitted compete. Professional athletes were .

That's what the Olympics the Olympics.

Until it didn't.

And the fans, from protesting in outrage the change, didn't care. In fact, they seemed to like it a .

In the Olympic eras before television, athletes accepted money for their performances might as well have lepers, in the of the IOC. If it was discovered that you got paid playing, or that you accepted commercial endorsements, you were shunned, banished, cast to the cold .

In the famous example of the inflexibility of the Olympic organizers, Jim Thorpe, perhaps America's finest athlete of time, had his gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon the 1912 Olympics stripped, and his achievements nullified, because he once accepted small amounts of money playing semi-pro baseball during college summers. It his heart. The medals were reinstated in 1983 -- 30 years after his death, 30 years after the moment could have given him any .

It may be hard young viewers of this summer's London Olympics to imagine, but all the sponsorships, advertisements and marketing hoopla are a standard part of big-dollar contemporary Olympic Games thought to be an insult the Olympic spirit not so long . The Olympics were supposed to be love of sport, not love of money.

Then came TV.

The president of the IOC the years of television's phenomenal growth an American, Avery Brundage, and the guiding principle of his reign (1952-1972) was was called the "amateur code." He was unbendable on the subject. In a 1955 speech, Brundage said:
"We can only rely the support of those who believe in the principles of fair and sportsmanship embodied in the amateur code in our efforts prevent the Games from used by individuals, organizations or nations ulterior motives."

Meaning: to make money.

But once Brundage gone, the floodgates opened. The IOC, after his regime, realized that commercial interests could the Olympics into a bottomless goldmine. And to bring viewers, it was determined that an effective lure would the presence of the greatest and most athletes in the world. Many of are professionals.


Adapted and abridged from: CNN, July 22, 2012.