The Olympics has been in the press quite a bit lately, for many obvious reasons. However, I have come to the realization that I really don't care about it anymore and the reasons below should explain why:
1) IOC: The International Olympic Committee is responsible for running the Olympic Games in the spirit of the original Olympiad. In Ancient Greece, the Olympics were a gathering of the different city-states of the Mediterranean for a religious festival, which involved numerous competitions. These games were sacred, so much so that Sparta was loathe to send warriors to defend against Xerxes at Thermopylae because the invasion coincided with the Olympiad. They only dispatched a token force under Leonidas until the end of the festival, although to their credit that did seem to be enough. Outside conflict was not welcome at the Olympiad. Its purpose was peaceful competition with a spirit of unification rather than division. This meant a great deal at a time when nations were pretty much perpetually at war.
The current IOC's actions are nothing like that spirit. As with any entity which gets so large, the corrupting influence of greed has firmly infested the leadership of the modern Olympics. From the decisions of which cities get to host, to the ways in which tickets are distributed, it is clear that lining the pockets of the committee is first and foremost. They even manage to wield what power they have over their own partners, as evidenced by NBC's apparent refusal to allow Bob Costas to have an on-air minute of silence to mark the 40th anniversary of the tragic murder of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich games. If you think the IOC did not lean on NBC, I hope for your sake that you do not read any e-mails from Nigeria.
2) Hypocrisy: The reason given by the IOC for not having a minute of silence is that the Opening Ceremonies are not the place for such remembrances. According to Jacques Rogge (the head of the IOC), such a remembrance would not be appropriate and has no precedent. This is taurine excrement of the highest degree. The IOC was perfectly content to hold a memorial moment of silence in the Opening Ceremonies for the people slain in the 2005 bombing of the London underground. It is clear that the IOC has their own political agenda, one which is strongly in line with that of the Arab nations. The protests by various countries to having a moment of silence for the Israelis, such as the Palestinian contention that it would be "racist" (you keep using that word..I do not think it means what you think it means), were ludicrous. The massacre in 1972 was an act so contrary to what the Games should be about, that by not memorializing it, the IOC members clearly show that they are unfit for their jobs. The only part of this whole thing which surprises me is that somehow Israel is still allowed to compete in the Games.
3) Tape delay: Along the lines of money, the broadcast of the Games holds very little interest by the time it airs at prime time, because the results have already been reported. There are few enough events that I am interested in watching to begin with and a lot of those don't get aired, since they are not as interesting to the target audience. I did watch some of the women's gymnastics last night, even though I knew that the US had won, but that was mostly because a) there was nothing else on and b) my daughter is a gymnast and REALLY wanted to watch it. I will not lie and say I did not enjoy it; to say that the level of skill and dedication among the athletes is amazing would be a gross understatement. Of course, to get maximum ratings NBC intersperses coverage of different events so that I had to endure a few swimming races and synchronized diving events in between. The "color coverage" stories in between the events is still as nauseating as ever.
I could probably go on about the things that are wrong with the Olympics, but I am sure that you, dear reader, are as tired of my complaints as I am of complaining.
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