While I understand that the games is supposed to be apolitical, the practical reality isn't so simple. Nevertheless, while watching the opening ceremonies of the Sochi games last week, I was impressed that for over 100 years, nations from around the world have gathered in peace (perhaps Munich would be an exception) for an exhibition of sport and athleticism.
So I wondered, in a macro-historic sense, is this 100 year run proof that we are living in a period of unprecedented peace despite the occurrence of 2 world wars, and innumerable smaller conflicts? Have there been other periods where nations involved in physical and political conflict have gathered together for some other sort of celebration or endeavor?
Bonus call for rampant speculation: Do you foresee the games continuing into perpetuity or could something, say terrorism, bring an abrupt halt to what I believe to be one of the greatest international celebrations in history?
In a way yes because the geo-political landscape is such that nations compete economically more than militarily now. This isn't the time of the European monarchies and imperialistic powers violently competing for resources and territory. I wouldn't include the first half of the 20th century though because the destruction caused by the two world wars was too much to be included. The cold war marked a shift in the way countries compete. Superpowers started to use proxy wars as a less expensive means of securing their interests and even those have gotten less violent over the decades(Vietnam compared to Afghanistan today). The United States is the dominant power in the world and during the Cold War, the US beat it's enemy basically by letting Russia bury herself economically instead of fighting. Of course nuclear weapons have to be discussed when talking about peace in the world and just weapons technology in general. That being said the Olympic games are a sign that the former rivalries that often broke into conflict in the past are either resolved(NATO, the UN, the EU) or that they have shifted emphasis from warfare to economics(the rise of China as a potential superpower).
As for the future, it would take something monumental to end the games especially if something as big as World War 2 couldn't cause enough bad blood to end it. The whole point of the Olympics is for the world to put those differences aside and compete in athletics. The original Olympics in ancient Greece served this exact purpose as City-States would end their wars for this period of time and compete in the games against the very men they fought on the battlefield.
Just checking: you do know that the games were cancelled in 1916, 1940 and 1944, right? Also, there have been many wars in the past 100 years, it's just that few resulted in any game cancellations. The US didn't go to the 1980 games because of the invasion of Afghanistan. China didn't go for many years due to their own internal conflicts. Koreans were forced to compete as Japanese in all of the Olympics from 1908 until 1952. At many Olympics, certain countries refuse to compete against Israel, or even have Israel precede them in the parade of nations.