Olympics!

Okay, so it's been a few days since my last post on this one too. I had some stuff happening in my personal life that made it difficult to do any blogging at all, and then the Olympics started. So all of a sudden, I'm watching Olympics every day, and so I thought that this would be a good topic for this blog. But how to present two sides to the Olympics? Well, let's see what happens. 

Olympics are Good: Olympics encourage people - every demograph, from every country - to seek out the best in themselves. We are inspired by our athlete's performance, and it is the one place where the prize goes to the top performer - no questions asked. If you run the fastest, you win. If your team runs the fastest, they win. No "A" for effort, or a ribbon just for showing up. You work hard, you win.

Our Olympic athletes are Role models for our young people. They come from all walks of life, from rich countries and poor countries. Seeing our athletes perform and do well is important to us, it raises our national pride levels, makes us proud to be from wherever we are from. We may come from Trinidad and Tobago, but if the fastest sprinter is from Trinidad and Tobago as well, the world looks at our little country different. A star is s star, and this is a place to shine. 

This is a venue where everyone is the same. It doesn't matter what colour your skin is, what language you speak, what accent you have, what religion you are. Egyptians race against Israelis. Irish against English, Muslim against Christian. It truly is democratic. 

Then there are the economic benefits for the region the games are hosted in. In addition to the immediate impact, the facilities created for the games will be used for generations to come. The games allow a region of a country to showcase itself to the world, to elaborate on why everyone should come back again and again. 

Olympics are Bad: All the Olympics do is highlight how out of shape westerners are. While we sit at home and watch the Olympics on TV, we get a momentary burst of energy to go walk to the fridge. but then that passes. Most of realize that we can never be an Olympian, and never will be; and that compared to the specimens we watch on TV, we are actually pathetic. 

How can the athletes be role models? We don't trust them - we have to monitor them with a microscope to make sure they aren't using drugs, and far to often our "role models" come out after and admit to cheating. And even if they aren't cheating, you pretty much have to give up your youth and live away from your home just you can get coaching at an early age, and when you don't make it to the games, or you lose when you get there, your dreams are crushed and your purpose for existing is gone. Is that what we want for role models - destroyed athletes with no purpose in life, and then tossed aside once they lose or the next champion comes along?

Economic benefits are a myth. Countries and cities that host the Olympics end up paying for them for years after the games have passed. This imposes a tax burden on future generations, and the businesses that came in for the games are out as soon as they are finished- leaving no taxes, no employees, no economic spin offs. When you consider the amount of money spent on the games and spent it instead on, say, health care, you could actually make a difference in the world. 

As for being a democracy - only if you come form a rich country. Niger doesn't win many medals; nor does Chile. The only countries that worry about medals at the Olympics are countries that spent tens of millions on their athletes. Somehow, starving peasants don't seem to care who wins the 100 metre hurdles. 

What I think: I like the Olympics; I'm proud of our athletes. I want them to win. I know that it is a lot of money being spent on them that could go elsewhere, but even poor people play soccer and like to be entertained by other sports. I do agree that rich countries have an unfair advantage, but that's not really news. I do think that it is good that it is harder to tell where the athletes are coming from- at  least in the western countries. What I mean by that is that even 10 years ago, the teams were overwhelmingly the same colour; but now, the western teams have many different races and names on them. This, I think, is a good thing. I am not so happy with people changing countries to compete because their own country wouldn't take them, though. I know this does give some people an oppourtunity that they may not otherwise have, but still. 

How I relate: I don't know any athletes, nor will I ever be one. (Olympic, I mean). Canada does better at the Winter games, so I like the Winter games more; but they do okay at the summer games - far better than our population suggests. And I do feel pride when the Canadians win, and I feel their pain when they lose. So keep it up Canada!