The Rio Olympics were meant to be golf’s moment. Seven years ago, the International Olympic Committee granted the sport a spot at the Games for the first time in 112 years. At the time, fans and athletes hoped the world stage would not only bring a more global reach for golf but also increase the sport’s legitimacy. Now, only a few weeks before the Rio games commence Aug. 5, those once lofty expectations have faded into the background.

Since the start of the year, some of golf’s top contenders and biggest names — Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, and Rory McIlroy — have said they will not participate in the Olympics. The reason they give is Zika, the mosquito-borne illness that hangs as a dark cloud over Rio. Other athletes have announced they will also stay home, but no other sport has been as affected as golf. And the reaction has been sweeping from disappointed spectators and professionals alike.

Yet, there is a long history of skipping the Games. In his upcoming book, “The Games: A Global History of the Olympics,’’ journalist and former professor David Goldblatt digs into the many controversies — from the Nazis to doping — that have interrupted the planning and execution of the world’s most watched sporting event.

Ideas talked with Goldblatt by phone. Below is an edited excerpt.

IDEAS: Why is it a problem when athletes decide to skip the Olympics?

GOLDBLATT: What makes the show go on, without being too cynical, is the fact that NBC pays for two-thirds of the TV rights. They want the very best [athletes] because that’s what puts bums on seats and people in front of screens. For all of its ideological flummery and internationalism, the Olympic Committee also trades on the notion that it is the very pinnacle of competitive sports.

IDEAS: What has happened in the past when athletes decide not to attend the Games?

GOLDBLATT: Historically, the reasons people have not gone are the individual idiosyncrasies, if it is not an injury. Often, there will be commercial and political forces at work. One interesting example, dating back to the 1896 Games, is the German ultranationalist gymnastics association thinking that the Olympics were dangerously cosmopolitan and internationalist. As a consequence, quite a lot of athletes did not go, and those who did, including people who won medals in the Olympics, were then banned when they went back to Germany.

IDEAS: Obviously, there are quite a few reasons why people do not attend the Olympics. Nevertheless, people often assess the legitimacy of a league or a tournament based on the depth of the field. Does this apply to the Olympics?

GOLDBLATT: The legitimacy is a balance with the Olympics. It is partly important that the whole world is there and it is a kind of global show, but you do absolutely want the best to turn up. If the absences like there are in golf were happening in many sports, then I think the Olympics would begin to become devalued. If people of the stature of sprinter Usain Bolt say, “I’ll give the Olympics a miss,’’ then there is certainly a problem.

IDEAS: Will the absence of the sport’s top players reduce the legitimacy of winning a medal in golf at the Rio Olympics?

GOLDBLATT: Legitimacy is a sort of strong, legalistic word in this case. Obviously, if the top four players in the world are not there, then it threatens the competition. At the moment, the Olympics has enough additional cachet that people will be quite pleased, but it will not be like winning a major. That is also true of the tennis tournament. After all, the Olympics is already not in the league of the other major golf tournaments.

IDEAS: Will the cancellations lead the Olympic Committee to not include golf in upcoming Games?

GOLDBLATT: Well, they only just got golf back, so I don’t see a problem with that. The golf courses, with depressing regularity, are usually real estate scams designed to make luxury housing rings even more expensive and exclusive. It depends on what goes on within the IOC. If they are serious about trying to trim the size and the cost of the Games, then getting rid of golf will be a very simple solution. But you can never bank on the IOC to do a sensible thing.

IDEAS: Could the Olympic Committee enact reforms in the future to prevent athletes from skipping or boycotting the Games?

GOLDBLATT: When it comes down to this level of nitty-gritty regulation of how the Games work, the IOC does not actually have any power. The fine detail of how qualification works, who has to be there, how the thing is done when you get there is all specified by the golfing authorities or the tennis authorities or whichever international athletic body is subcontracted to run this stuff at the Games. It could enter into negotiation with sporting bodies, and I could imagine a situation where people who sign up to be on the professional golf tour or the professional tennis tour have to compete in the Olympics. If we come around to the next Games in Tokyo and there is widespread defection, they might do something about it. Still, I do not think it will become widespread.

IDEAS: Have you been surprised by the fans’ response to the lack of participation?

GOLDBLATT: Fans are interesting. People are quite cynical already about sports figures, so hearing Rory McIlroy say, “I didn’t come into golf to grow the game. I came to win majors,’’ will cause most people to take it with a grain of salt. If these guys stood for something more than their own individual athletic excellence, then maybe people will care. If in 1984, Carl Lewis had said, “I am not showing to the LA Games,’’ that would have been an issue. I am not getting the sense that people feel as though America’s national well-being or purpose in the world is in jeopardy if Jordan Spieth doesn’t show up or similarly with Rory McIlroy.

Marshall Sloane can be reached at marshall.sloane@globe.com.