Olympic Farce

February 11, 2002 5:52 PM

Olympic Farce "...there has been an attempt over the past few years to hijack the Olympic spirit, to minimize national pride and turn the events into a UNICEF-style celebration of global harmony and cooperation. The organizers are trying to turn the Olympics from a series of sporting contests into a multinational festival..."
posted by bunnyfire (29 comments total)

Crush the Soviet scum!
posted by Slagman at 6:17 PM on February 11, 2002

If you read the olympic charter that outlines the mission of the olympics, you'll see things like:

"...the goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play."

Where you see "national pride?" Why does it matter how many medals each country gets? It's a sporting contest, between athletes pushing themselves to do their best, and it doesn't matter what country people are from. The only people that seem to care are the announcers.

turn the events into a UNICEF-style celebration of global harmony and cooperation

And how exactly would that be a bad thing?
posted by mathowie at 6:21 PM on February 11, 2002

"Global harmony and cooperation." Now there's something to fear and loathe.

And this guy's so right about Communists and their use of steroids. The bastard commies were just cheaters. Thank God we in the west have never used any performance enhancing substances in athletic competition. Right?
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 6:29 PM on February 11, 2002

The views in my opinion are not mutually exclusive. One can feel both national pride and strive to build a peaceful and better world.
posted by onegoodmove at 6:35 PM on February 11, 2002

Fuck the Olympics. If things like curling, snowboarding and ballroom dancing are taken seriously enough for a gold medal, I couldn't care less what they do.
posted by RylandDotNet at 6:57 PM on February 11, 2002

Hey, don't be so quick to dismiss curling. I was watching it this afternoon on MSNBC and it was actually quite exciting.
posted by gyc at 7:21 PM on February 11, 2002

You know what's even cooler than maximizing national pride? Combining it with a healthy dollop of religious fervor.
posted by Optamystic at 7:28 PM on February 11, 2002

I have never thought of the Olympics as anything more than a celebration of global harmony.

Personally I think the Olympics are ruined by folks who thinks that there is a 'winner' or a 'winning' nation. Them and NBC.
posted by DragonBoy at 7:42 PM on February 11, 2002

Patriotism, the love of something larger than oneself, is one of the noblest passions known to man.

Humanism is nobler.
posted by Optamystic at 7:43 PM on February 11, 2002

That whirring sound you here is Baron Pierre de Coubertin spinning in his grave.

The Olympics were always intended to be a celebration of internationalism, never a festival of national pride. Hitler gets the nod for starting the swing towards a more politicized tone to the games, and then the whole Cold War mentality just solidified it. This past Friday night, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and NBC pretty much buried the last remaining vestige of the real Olympic spirit once and for all.
posted by briank at 7:50 PM on February 11, 2002

If we made the athletes compete without national uniforms that might fix it...heh heh....but would you have the tv coverage if you did?
posted by bunnyfire at 8:01 PM on February 11, 2002

Yeah, damn commies and their steroids. We can all thank God that Rocky is coming back. He'll sort out the bastards.
posted by hipstertrash at 8:03 PM on February 11, 2002

Hey - curling is an interesting game with a long history - They've found curling rocks that date to 1511. It's fun to watch as well - kind of like chess on ice. Very neat.

As for this essay - he's upset because the Olympics aren't about nationalism then gets upset when the US team celebrates a victory, then somehow links their lack of sportsmanship to Communism, which is somehow the fault of all this multi-culturalism? He lost me somewhere. Is curling on yet?
posted by kittyloop at 8:07 PM on February 11, 2002

I really don't see the Olympics as a one or the other proposition. The Uniceffy aspect is cool, in that basically all the world's nations a getting together to play some games and compete peacefully.
The national pride part basically means that generally speaking I pull for the US athletes and am glad when they win, which is really the same as when I'm glad when my beloved Mets have a good season.
In the end though I simply enjoy watching great athletic performances in any sport, from any country, for the same reason I enjoy watching a great movie, reading a great book, or hearing a great song. Athletics, at it's best, is a work of art.
For instance, my girlfreind(who like me generally roots for the US) just called me into the living room to complain that Sale & Pelletier(Canadian) were robbed of the gold in Pairs Figure Skating.
It's All About the Game, everyone.
posted by jonmc at 8:15 PM on February 11, 2002

Where's this guy getting his idea of the purpose of the Olympics?

I'm a pretty hawkish patriotic conservative kinda guy, but all things have their place. And didn't think the Olympics were supposed to be all about nations battling it out in a global arena. I thought it was about giving the best athletes in the world the opportunity to compete with each other.

Surely each nation is entitled to be proud of their medalists, but I've always thought that the way the networks keep a running tally of which countries are racking up the most medals was somewhat antithetical to the whole undertaking.
posted by Tubes at 8:19 PM on February 11, 2002

And about the "commies did doping, bad commies" ..well don't forget Ben Johnson. It doesn't matter your country, if you suck so much that you need to use doping you're welcome in the country of cheaters. Not losers, losers at least tried without cheating.
posted by elpapacito at 8:20 PM on February 11, 2002

Damn Canadians. Go USA! Go Jamaica Bobsled!
posted by owillis at 8:23 PM on February 11, 2002

Patriotism, the love of something larger than oneself, is one of the noblest passions known to man.

Patriotism is not the love of something larger than yourself, it is an example of the love of something that is larger than yourself. Who edits the editors?

This is without even mentioning the fact that your love of the country is generally tied to love of yourself. Ex: "I love Sweden!" Why? "Because it is my homeland!"
posted by Hildago at 8:43 PM on February 11, 2002

the fact that your love of the country is generally tied to love of yourself

Very true. Real love should be about someone or something you choose; not about something chosen for you. It's easy to love the country, language and culture you were born into - but it's sublime to love one you just fell in love with. It's also much more inspirational. Any duelling-banjos Louisiana hick can go on about the wonders of gumbo but when you get, say, a noblewoman from Marseilles praising it as better than "bouillabaise", the whole world rejoices.

Nations do love each other - it's a crime to think that patriotism and the passionate adoption of other countries(mine are Italy, Ireland, the U.S., Denmark, Israel, Ethiopia, Brazil, Norway, France, Mozambique, Japan)are incompatible. A crime!

This surely should be the main focus and benefit of international sporting events.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:01 PM on February 11, 2002

"It's a Small World After All"...
For those who weren't alive for the '64-'65 World's fair.
(And to suffer that refrain ever since!)...
...
...
Gee...I'm SO SORRY, but I couldn't find a link to that wonderful song, no matter how hard I looked....I guess it isn't THAT small a world after ALL!
posted by HTuttle at 9:35 PM on February 11, 2002

"Dueling banjo" translates into "bluegrass" here in the states, Miguel, not Cajun music. Hee-hee. Which is not to say that I don't dig Cajun music, or that Cajun music cannot include banjo parts. Etc., etc. (One could also find out through a cultural exchange that the banjo is of African origin. I love that little factoid.)
posted by raysmj at 9:46 PM on February 11, 2002

I think Miguel was referring to the scene in Deliverance where the inbred kid and Jon Voight (I think it was him) plucked an impromptu hoedown. Dueling Banjos was the song, and ever since then, it's been shorthand for all things redneck.
posted by Optamystic at 9:59 PM on February 11, 2002

No, Optamystic, but you have the right movie, at least. It's still not Cajun music, in any case. And . . . Oh, never freakin' mind.
posted by raysmj at 11:23 PM on February 11, 2002

Deliverance was somewhere in Appalacia ... long ways away from the bayou
posted by hipstertrash at 1:16 AM on February 12, 2002

The original Olympics in ancient Greece were indeed "UNICEFy". An integral part of the festivities was the Olympic Armistice that demanded no participating city-states to be at war with each other during the Games. Interestingly, Athens 2004 is trying to revive the armistice concept. Utopian? sure. But a noble concept, nonetheless.
posted by costas at 2:24 AM on February 12, 2002

Patriotism is OK. Nationalism sucks. The Weekly Standard sucks even more. Global harmony and cooperation is great. The spirit of internationalism is great. Unilateralism sucks. Good morning all.
posted by nofundy at 4:57 AM on February 12, 2002

It's easy to love the country, language and culture you were born into - but it's sublime to love one you just fell in love with.

I don't know, there seem to be a lot of people for whom the opposite is the case. They are totally infatuated with other places and cultures but don't appreciate any of the good stuff about the place and culture in which they were born.
posted by straight at 7:21 AM on February 12, 2002

"The organizers are trying to turn the Olympics from a series of sporting contests into a multinational festival."

David Brooks: grandmaster of the rhetorical technique known as False Dichotomy.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:22 AM on February 12, 2002

damn that UNICEF, they're up to no good!
posted by rhyax at 10:23 AM on February 12, 2002