One of the FT’s Blogs has this excellent item on why it is time to kill off the Olympics.
I have given the opening paragraph, the first paragraph of each of the 3 main sections and part of the conclusion, so readers can get the flavour. However, please read the entire item. It is well worthwhile. Adam just wishes he could be so articulate.
Opening paragraph:
The Olympic games have become a joke. A bad joke. It is time to put the event out of its misery. There was about a 1500 year gap between the last of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, and the first of the Games in the new Olympic era. Let’s have another 1500 years without Olympics. Then we can see again. There are three arguments that support this recommendation.
Then first paragraph of argument 1
(1) Who wants to watch a contest between pharmacological labs?
I won’t be watching the Olympics this year. A sufficient reason for this decision is that the spectacle is just not interesting anymore, because most of the time I don’t know what I am watching. Is it a competition between athletes or some convolution of a competition between athletes and a contest between pharmaceutical labs trying to find the optimal combination of illegal performance enhancement and likelihood of detection?
Then first paragraph of argument 2
(2) Today’s Olympics desecrate the Olympic ideals; it is an exercise in collective hypocrisy
It is difficult to read the Olympic creed - “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”- and keep a straight face. The Olympic creed may ring true for Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards, the worst ski-jumper ever, and for the Eric “the Eel” Moussambani, the slowest swimmer ever. It is a lie for most of the prominent participants in most events. Winning, winning at all cost, winning ugly, winning dirty, winning winning winning is the only thing that matters. The hypocrisy of the Olympic creed is staggering. Why not be honest and replace it with “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing”.
The first paragraph of argument 3
(3) The Olympics are at risk of being hijacked by totalitarian political regimes and turned into mass-political propaganda events. The 1936 summer Olympics in Berlin and the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen were used by the Nazis to showcase the strengh of their New Order, for the benefit of domestic and foreign observers. The Soviet Union used the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics to extol the virtues and merits of Soviet Communism. The 2008 Summer Olympics in China will be used by the Chinese authorities to showcase the arrival of China on the global scene as a financial, economic and political superpower. As indeed it is.
The first and last paragraphs of the conclusion
The Olympics are a hypocritical, dishonest, corrupt and wasteful event. One of the positive side effects of global warming could be that it kills off the Winter Olympics, because there won’t be winters any longer. To get rid of the summer Olympics, a concerted effort is required.
The Olympics: just don’t do it
This blog piece is well written and expressed. Adam wishes the author’s arguments could succeed.
Tags: 1936 Olympics, Beijing Olympics, Collective Hypocrisy, Corruption, Despotic Regimes, Financial Times, Hitler, IOC, Sport, Waste
April 29, 2008 at 12:07 am
Not only the Olympics but all current sport competitions. While most medals go to the US, the US public are the least fit in the developed world! Sport, and sport competition, should be part of the national health system and by extension part of the national civil and military defence system.
August 7, 2008 at 10:24 am
IMO American’s get the most medals cause the have the most well payed athletes in the events not necessarily cause there athletes are superior
Drugs are rampant these days, just look at how many athletes have already been kicked out b4 the games even started
and the “modern” Olympic Games are meant to be about bringing the world together in a 2 week gathering of peace and celebration of sport.
Pffft
How The Fuck did China get the Games anyway?
1) They have one of the highest poluttion rates in the world
2) Human rights violations that could rival the worst offenders in history
3) The venues weren’t even ready til the last minute (OK that could happen to anyone)
4) They are gonna ban all outside media from covering most of the event you just watch, or at the very least only allow what makes them look good.
This Sucks!!!!!!
August 8, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Who the hell cares how fast or straight someone can swim or run or dive, etc? Means nothing.. Bullshit athletes competing in bullshits events…Time to end this waste of time and money. And China! What a disgrace!