Can Anything Really Be Done To Save Them?
Once again, it’s time for that love-fest of international togetherness, the Olympic Games. This is the time when all differences are put aside, religious polemics forgotten, and politics shelved for the nonce. This is when all the best athletes gather to measure themselves against the best the world has to offer, and to achieve in the name of Sport.
At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. In the last few years here, we’ve seen so many silly, tacky things done in the name of international sport that I frankly wonder if we shouldn’t just write the whole thing off as a bad idea and move on.
What Seems To Be The Problem Here?
This year, hopes were high. Along with our Sport, we got a free history lesson. We returned to Greece, the legendary home of the original Games (as held in Olympia, hence the name), the birthplace of the modern Games, and seemingly the birthplace of everything we cherish – philosophy, drama, medicine, science, democracy, and perhaps even civilization as we know it today. It may not explain those Opening Ceremonies, but it certainly does explain a lot.
There’s just one problem with this rosy picture, though: the original Games were an opportunity for Greece’s greatest warriors to meet in a battle where they could come home with their shields, rather than on them. The javelin is merely a cultured spear, and the hammer-throw and shot-put practice for projectile weaponry. Fencing? Archery? Equestrian events? Heck, even the Marathon, now a long-distance race, was named when a messenger arrived at the city gates to announce a military victory at Marathon, some 26-point-some-odd miles away (the fact that he promptly fell dead should be a clear warning to anybody involved in long-distance running).
Hmm, That’s Not Very Sporting, Is It?
Perhaps not. Perhaps we have outgrown the celebration of warlike sports. Perhaps swimming, and tennis, and basketball, and volleyball can take their place amongst the more traditional maiming skills. Time will tell.
Of course, part of the problem is that, in the last few years, the purely amateur status of the Olympic Games has become a thing of the past. We now have professional athletes out there along with the purely amateur, contesting for glory and gold medals. Part of this may be due to the fact that, during the Cold War, much was made of the Communist nations placing their “amateur athletes” in their militaries, essentially paying them to train all day, while our people had to worry about earning a living while training for the Games (and yes, the Chinese are still at it). Parity being what it is, we eventually wound up with our basketball team being filled with NBA players, rather than college kids. This has eventually led to the astounding spectacle of multi-million-dollar players having their butts handed to them by basketball powerhouses like Puerto Rico and Lithuania. A little more teamwork and a little less prima-donna, boys – you may be astounded at how well it works.
Not So Good, Is It?
Well, let’s be honest. When you put nations out there against each other, you’re bound to get all sorts of unpleasantness. A perfect example: the head judge for the gymnastic events, a Japanese gentleman, suddenly decided one day before the Games that he would change the values for the skills in some of the events. No harm, no foul, right? Except, of course, for the fact that gymnasts like to practice a routine for nine months to a year before using it in competition (muscle memory, and all that). This led to the fascinating sight of at least one American gymnast falling off the apparatus onto his head, and missing the rest of the day’s events.
Now, mind you, everybody was equally affected by this little set-to, with one exception: it seems none of the Japanese gymnasts was using those skills with the changed values. At the end of the team competition, there were the Americans, in silver medal position – headed only by (you guessed it) the Japanese. What’s wrong with this picture?
Despite that unfortunate two-tenths deduction each American athlete gets in judging for the cosmic affront of being American, these poor gents did pretty darned well, but came up a bit short due to circumstances beyond their control. This was the only obvious example of an unfair situation, right? Oops, guess not. There’s also the case of a Japanese swimmer who used an illegal kick during a race, and was called for it by an American swimmer. Nothing was done, but in the American’s next race, he was disqualified for supposedly using an illegal kick. The false accusation against the American was overturned in time for the medal ceremony (the official in question was “mistaken,”) but the message was clear: don’t rock the boat, or you will be punished. Gosh, now that’s international goodwill at its finest!
Why Do We Let This Go On?
Okay, that’s a fair question. It is not unprecedented for large, powerful nations to boycott the Games. After all, the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest the former Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan (like so many of Jimmy Carter’s ideas, it seemed a good idea at the time, but fell victim to the Law Of Unintended Consequences). An entire generation of American athletes was scarred by that little contretemps – some couldn’t remain at their athletic peak for four more years, and so missed out on Olympic gold, and others four years later would have to live with the ignominy of having an “asterisk” next to their names in the record books when the Soviets retaliated for the American boycott by staying away from the Los Angeles games in 1984. (By the way, I’m not ignoring the irony of American troops in Afghanistan, or of the Russian gymnasts’ struggle to maintain their proud tradition of excellence in the face of lost State funding—the world is what it is, I’m just an observer.)
But it still begs the question: why do we allow American athletes to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous behaviors by those “durn furriners?” In simplest terms, it’s because Americans still believe in fair play and good sportsmanship. We firmly believe that, if we play fair, others will follow our example and everybody will get along, and we’ll all hold hands and sing “Kumbayah.” Ain’t gonna happen, friends, not in my lifetime or yours. There are still nations on this planet to whom the concept of “fair play” means “whatever we can get away with.”
When the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Committee got caught bribing officials, most Americans were shocked. Elsewhere in the world, the news elicited only a shrug, along with some mild wonder at why Americans were so amazed at how the rest of the world really works. So when the Chilean tennis player who’s so tired he can’t continue ducks into the locker room to get shot up with some wonder stimulant that won’t show up in drug tests and goes on to win the gold medal, we Americans just shrug and blandly accept the silver. An illegal kick in the swimming pool? Oh, well, that’s just sports. Bad faith in judging? Par for the course. Nobody could really be doing these things on purpose, could they? That would be bad sportsmanship!
Nothing Is Ever Perfect, Is It?
Well, other than Nicole Kidman’s, um, diction, perhaps not. But still, there is a great deal to admire about the Games. The Greeks put on quite a nice show, didn’t they? Wasn’t it nice to see the Iraqi soccer team do so well? There wasn’t much of an Afghani team, but it was there for the first time in 20-plus years, as was a young lady from Pakistan, whose full-body swimsuit allowed her to maintain her Muslim modesty while being the first woman from her country to compete in the Olympics.
And let’s not forget that singular American, Our Mr. Phelps. In case you’ve been spending some time in a cave, swimmer Michael Phelps has been seen in ads from Visa (“One….”) to AT&T Cellular (“Here, man, you’re gonna hurt yourself!”). Throughout it all, he has maintained that, win or lose, he was just happy to be taking part in his second Olympic Games. The proof? Our Mr. Phelps stepped aside from swimming in the finals of a relay in favor of a teammate who would not have received a gold medal had Phelps not done so. Yes, they won, and yes, his comrade (and former rival) got his gold medal. Of course, so did our hero, as the rules state that anybody who swims in the prelims is also entitled to any medals won by the team, but think of it: rather than hog the glory and wallow in the spotlight, he shared the joy with somebody who would have gone without had he not been magnanimous and inclusive.
There may be hope for all of us. See you in Beijing in 2008.
Once again, it’s time for that love-fest of international togetherness, the Olympic Games. This is the time when all differences are put aside, religious polemics forgotten, and politics shelved for the nonce. This is when all the best athletes gather to measure themselves against the best the world has to offer, and to achieve in the name of Sport.
At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. In the last few years here, we’ve seen so many silly, tacky things done in the name of international sport that I frankly wonder if we shouldn’t just write the whole thing off as a bad idea and move on.
What Seems To Be The Problem Here?
This year, hopes were high. Along with our Sport, we got a free history lesson. We returned to Greece, the legendary home of the original Games (as held in Olympia, hence the name), the birthplace of the modern Games, and seemingly the birthplace of everything we cherish – philosophy, drama, medicine, science, democracy, and perhaps even civilization as we know it today. It may not explain those Opening Ceremonies, but it certainly does explain a lot.
There’s just one problem with this rosy picture, though: the original Games were an opportunity for Greece’s greatest warriors to meet in a battle where they could come home with their shields, rather than on them. The javelin is merely a cultured spear, and the hammer-throw and shot-put practice for projectile weaponry. Fencing? Archery? Equestrian events? Heck, even the Marathon, now a long-distance race, was named when a messenger arrived at the city gates to announce a military victory at Marathon, some 26-point-some-odd miles away (the fact that he promptly fell dead should be a clear warning to anybody involved in long-distance running).
Hmm, That’s Not Very Sporting, Is It?
Perhaps not. Perhaps we have outgrown the celebration of warlike sports. Perhaps swimming, and tennis, and basketball, and volleyball can take their place amongst the more traditional maiming skills. Time will tell.
Of course, part of the problem is that, in the last few years, the purely amateur status of the Olympic Games has become a thing of the past. We now have professional athletes out there along with the purely amateur, contesting for glory and gold medals. Part of this may be due to the fact that, during the Cold War, much was made of the Communist nations placing their “amateur athletes” in their militaries, essentially paying them to train all day, while our people had to worry about earning a living while training for the Games (and yes, the Chinese are still at it). Parity being what it is, we eventually wound up with our basketball team being filled with NBA players, rather than college kids. This has eventually led to the astounding spectacle of multi-million-dollar players having their butts handed to them by basketball powerhouses like Puerto Rico and Lithuania. A little more teamwork and a little less prima-donna, boys – you may be astounded at how well it works.
Not So Good, Is It?
Well, let’s be honest. When you put nations out there against each other, you’re bound to get all sorts of unpleasantness. A perfect example: the head judge for the gymnastic events, a Japanese gentleman, suddenly decided one day before the Games that he would change the values for the skills in some of the events. No harm, no foul, right? Except, of course, for the fact that gymnasts like to practice a routine for nine months to a year before using it in competition (muscle memory, and all that). This led to the fascinating sight of at least one American gymnast falling off the apparatus onto his head, and missing the rest of the day’s events.
Now, mind you, everybody was equally affected by this little set-to, with one exception: it seems none of the Japanese gymnasts was using those skills with the changed values. At the end of the team competition, there were the Americans, in silver medal position – headed only by (you guessed it) the Japanese. What’s wrong with this picture?
Despite that unfortunate two-tenths deduction each American athlete gets in judging for the cosmic affront of being American, these poor gents did pretty darned well, but came up a bit short due to circumstances beyond their control. This was the only obvious example of an unfair situation, right? Oops, guess not. There’s also the case of a Japanese swimmer who used an illegal kick during a race, and was called for it by an American swimmer. Nothing was done, but in the American’s next race, he was disqualified for supposedly using an illegal kick. The false accusation against the American was overturned in time for the medal ceremony (the official in question was “mistaken,”) but the message was clear: don’t rock the boat, or you will be punished. Gosh, now that’s international goodwill at its finest!
Why Do We Let This Go On?
Okay, that’s a fair question. It is not unprecedented for large, powerful nations to boycott the Games. After all, the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest the former Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan (like so many of Jimmy Carter’s ideas, it seemed a good idea at the time, but fell victim to the Law Of Unintended Consequences). An entire generation of American athletes was scarred by that little contretemps – some couldn’t remain at their athletic peak for four more years, and so missed out on Olympic gold, and others four years later would have to live with the ignominy of having an “asterisk” next to their names in the record books when the Soviets retaliated for the American boycott by staying away from the Los Angeles games in 1984. (By the way, I’m not ignoring the irony of American troops in Afghanistan, or of the Russian gymnasts’ struggle to maintain their proud tradition of excellence in the face of lost State funding—the world is what it is, I’m just an observer.)
But it still begs the question: why do we allow American athletes to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous behaviors by those “durn furriners?” In simplest terms, it’s because Americans still believe in fair play and good sportsmanship. We firmly believe that, if we play fair, others will follow our example and everybody will get along, and we’ll all hold hands and sing “Kumbayah.” Ain’t gonna happen, friends, not in my lifetime or yours. There are still nations on this planet to whom the concept of “fair play” means “whatever we can get away with.”
When the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Committee got caught bribing officials, most Americans were shocked. Elsewhere in the world, the news elicited only a shrug, along with some mild wonder at why Americans were so amazed at how the rest of the world really works. So when the Chilean tennis player who’s so tired he can’t continue ducks into the locker room to get shot up with some wonder stimulant that won’t show up in drug tests and goes on to win the gold medal, we Americans just shrug and blandly accept the silver. An illegal kick in the swimming pool? Oh, well, that’s just sports. Bad faith in judging? Par for the course. Nobody could really be doing these things on purpose, could they? That would be bad sportsmanship!
Nothing Is Ever Perfect, Is It?
Well, other than Nicole Kidman’s, um, diction, perhaps not. But still, there is a great deal to admire about the Games. The Greeks put on quite a nice show, didn’t they? Wasn’t it nice to see the Iraqi soccer team do so well? There wasn’t much of an Afghani team, but it was there for the first time in 20-plus years, as was a young lady from Pakistan, whose full-body swimsuit allowed her to maintain her Muslim modesty while being the first woman from her country to compete in the Olympics.
And let’s not forget that singular American, Our Mr. Phelps. In case you’ve been spending some time in a cave, swimmer Michael Phelps has been seen in ads from Visa (“One….”) to AT&T Cellular (“Here, man, you’re gonna hurt yourself!”). Throughout it all, he has maintained that, win or lose, he was just happy to be taking part in his second Olympic Games. The proof? Our Mr. Phelps stepped aside from swimming in the finals of a relay in favor of a teammate who would not have received a gold medal had Phelps not done so. Yes, they won, and yes, his comrade (and former rival) got his gold medal. Of course, so did our hero, as the rules state that anybody who swims in the prelims is also entitled to any medals won by the team, but think of it: rather than hog the glory and wallow in the spotlight, he shared the joy with somebody who would have gone without had he not been magnanimous and inclusive.
There may be hope for all of us. See you in Beijing in 2008.