Tuesday, June 12, 2012

I like the Olympics, But

I like the Olympics. I have since I was too young to remember. I loved the idea of Canada challenging on the world stage. In reality we didn't do as well as i would have liked. From the Olympic Games reinvention in 1896  we were always niche players we won medals just not a lot of them. The Pre-War field was held by the great powers America , England, France and Sweden. Canada showed up,  did well at times but never dominated. In the Cold War era the United states and  the USSR  faced off against each other substituting athletics for war. An attempt to prove National superiority through sport.

When I became aware of the Olympics we were still middle of the pack. I didn't really mind that we didn't always win, I just liked seeing the Maple Leaf. For me the Olympics were never about anything other than competition. I liked seeing the world's best compete, even if it wasn't a Canadian. It wasn't a great patriotic struggle, a gold medal wasn't a vindication of my way of life. Since Canada seldom competed on the highest level it was easy or even necessary for me to feel that way. After all if your athletes lose a lot it would be hard too claim any type of superiority.

I think I was lucky to live in a country that didn't invest enormous energy into the Olympic Games and so turn them from sport to politics. I don't believe as some Canadians suggested, that we became habituated to losing, we couldn't do better so we lived with it. I think coming in Seventh teaches you a different and but just as valuable a lesson as coming in First.

Things changed for Canada after the Cold War era. Our government started to invest money into Olympic Athletes and programs to create winners. This was a response to our lack of success at the Games. Canada's pride suffered uncountable harms because we didn't win gold medals. We were admonished by critics who pointed to other countries with higher medal counts, that "by god we should do better and be better than".

Had we at last succumbed to the notion that winning is the only thing? That a nation is tied in some manner to its on field performance? It was more an understanding that The Games were no longer an amateur affair and hadn't been so for along time. It was a recognition, that without similar spending programs our athletes were at a disadvantage, other nations spent money to win, we needed to as well. We did do better. More medals, especially more gold ones. Though never as many as the critics would like.

Today we have a different Olympics. Pride is still a key factor, winning a show of cultural strength, but that has been displaced by money. Corporate sponsorship, Media rights, a need to reel in consumers and turn them into profit. You need athletes (that can barely be considered amateur and ones that fully professional brought in to win a national sport to a salve a nations  pride), to put on the best show possible, records must be broken. You need to spend to win.

Funny thing at the same time Canada was spending to win medals we were also recognized as the best place to live in the entire world. We are consistently near the top of the ranking as most livable. That to me is worth any number of medals.

I can't miss the Olympics even if i do miss what the they used to be. It's a spectacle I'll be watching. I wish good luck to our Athletes and a good Games to everyone that competes and attends.

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