Olympics
August 11
I missed the weekend as far as computing activities are concerned, because we took Isabella to Redondo beach and a Chinese restaurant on Saturday, and wound up getting back after midnight, so I was burnt out Sunday, but still had to accompany Eunice to church in the morning, then go back to Isabella's house again in the afternoon to help out around her house. That was followed by a trip to the Chinese supermarket (99 Ranch Market, a chain store). Oh well, sometimes life is full of unexpected activities. I was going to write about a different topic today, but since the Olympics are going on, I thought I would express my feelings about the Olympics.
Olympics = Hideous Sportsfest
My mother always used to call sports "hideous sports," for reasons of her own, which I intend to write a post about sooner or later. While I was growing up, I didn't really feel that way, since I played sports quite a bit, so I thought of her "hideous sports" comments as a sort of inside joke. As time has gone on, although I still find the most sports games to be of some intrinsic interest, and the cooperation and competition and drama of sports to be interesting, I find myself more and more in agreement with my mother. In fact, I already wrote a post about the potential future of sports, which is archived under the "imagination" heading. The Olympics is a special case, however, which I did not address before.
What bothers me most about the Olympics is that the competitors seem to have lost sight of their originally noble goals. First and foremost, the Olympics were established as a showcase of amateur athletes. Let me check the word "amateur" in the dictionary. My Random House Dictionary says that an amateur is "a person who engages in an activity for pleasure rather than financial benefit." Apparently, the Olympic athletes are using a different dictionary than I am -- one with a very broad definition that allows engaging in an activity for status, and financial gain to be considered an amateur activity, as long as the athletes are not directly paid to compete. The athletes can be treated like celebrities, made rich by corporate or state sponsors, and be coddled as much as they wish, and still be considered amateurs. In fact, in some sports, such as basketball, top professional athletes are chosen to compete in the Olympics, with the excuse that the players are volunteering their services. Now we get to see the debacle of that miscreant/probable rapist Kobe Bryant, along with other multimilllionaire basketball players, attempt to win a Gold Medal in basketball in Beijing. (I am so glad the Lakers didn't win the NBA championship this year; actually, I have always disliked the Lakers, even before Kobe Bryant.) I am not that old, but I am old enough to remember when college players were the participants in Olympic team sports. (They still are in baseball, but only because this is baseball season.) I remember when the Olympics had an amateur feel to them, which they no longer do.
Many athletes become celebrities, at least in their own countries, as a result of the Olympics, rather than already being celebrities before participating in the Olympics. The winners of Olympic Gold clearly enjoy the benefits of celebrity status. That is a strong incentive for many athletes. Many of them may participate in their sports out of enjoyment, at least initially, but the celebrity status conferred upon Olympic winners adds a new dimension to sports which would otherwise not be paid much attention. Another aspect of the Olympics which is distasteful, is the politicization of the Olympics. Nations seek status through Olympic success, or Olympic hosting. The leaders of China clearly see the current Olympics as a chance to show off China as a modern society and future superpower -- and they are probably correct about that. Of course, it is also a chance for Chinese citizens to cheer on their own athletes in person as they win a treasure trove of medals. When athletes from a particular nation do well, the citizens of that nation feel better about themselves. It enhances nationalism by adding to national pride. "If our athletes are so good, so are we" seems to be the meme that applies. When I was a kid, I used to root for American athletes, but that was before I realized how rich and spoiled the athletes had become, and before I had realized that the American athletes, along with those of a few other nations, enjoyed advantages not enjoyed by the athletes of other nations. I began to feel sorry for nations such as Trindad and Tobago, Zaire, Belize, which rarely won any medals, and even larger nations such as Brazil, which seemed to garner few Olympic medals despite having a rather large population. Now, I root for those poorer nations every chance I get during the Olympics, but of course, the television coverage here in the U.S. focuses primarily on athletes from the U.S.
To add to the above problems, is the issue of performance-enhancing drugs in Olympic sports. There is an active drug-testing program in place, but the more unscrupulous -- and all-too-often, winning -- athletes and their coaches often manage to stay ahead of the testers. Performance-enhancing drugs in sports in general is a very entrenched problem which makes sports much more hideous than they would otherwise be. These drugs are almost like bacteria, which continue to mutate in response to antibiotics so that the antibiotics lose their effectiveness. It becomes a sort of endless cycle, which ruins the integrity of sports. Since the benefits of winning Olympic medals are so great, the temptation to use performance-enhancing drugs is great. How many times have we asked ourselves, while watching the Olympics "Is that really a woman?" How many times does it take to realize that something seriously wrong is going on? Meanwhile, pre-pubescent appearing gymnasts dance across our television screen.
There are some good things about the Olympics still. Perhaps it promotes a much needed sense of international cooperation. Also, it gives exposure to nations which we may usually hear little about. At the same time, both male and female athletes are given relatively equal time and status during the Olympics. Also, the Olympics promotes sports which we usually hear little about, but in most cases, I do not think these sports merit much attention. There seem to be inordinately many medals awarded for swimming, for instance. (I don't even like swimming, and I think a good percentage of the population agrees with me.) And why does winning the 100 meter dash result in the same medal as winning the 26.2 mile Marathon race? That does not seem fair. And I've seen enough of synchronized swimming, weightlifting, and other sports whose names I do not recall. Perhaps it is a good thing that channel 4, which airs the Olympics, is the one station has very poor reception of where I live, presumably due to the nearby mountains. In fact, Eunice and I hurried home from fishing at Perris Lake on Friday although the fishing was fairly good (including a couple of large "Redear Yumfish" which Eunice said were God's gifts in honor of Isabella's birthday), because Eunice was eager to see the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. But when we turned on the T.V., the screen was fuzzy and almost dark. I hope that is not the future of the Olympics.