The Olympics: What Could Have Been and What Is

Posted on 18 August 2008 by Michael Callaway

For the last few days I have been watching hours upon hours of Olympic coverage.  We did not leave the house all day Saturday or all day Sunday because of the games, of course it did not help that it was over a hundred degrees here in North Texas.  During this time we watched beach volleyball, cycling, basketball, swimming and of course gymnastics, the track and field events will be coming up soon and I am quite excited about that.

However, as exciting as watching the men’s four by one hundred swim relay was, the Olympics will never be able to achieve the dreams of French nobleman Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin.  He had hoped that the spirit of unity would solve world problems such as hunger and war, sadly this will never be the case.  There was war before the Olympics began on 08/08/08 and there will be war after they end, ironically on the day of the best opening ceremony ever a new war started when Russia invaded Georgia.

Another ironic twist of the Olympics was the games that were supposed to bring peace brought about the epic clashes of the super powers during the cold war.  While the USA and USSR never meet each other in the battle field, they did meet each other at the Olympic Games and the competition was fierce.  I remember as a kid watching my first Olympic event in 1980 when team USA beat the Soviets in hockey, there is no event in 2008 that will ever be able to equal that accomplishment.

Personally I think the Olympics were better during the Cold War; I would become visibly shaken whenever the communist flag was waving higher then the good old red white and blue.  If the USA was not competing in an event I would then root for a fellow NATO member over the communist bloc.  Back then the games were good versus evil, now it is just a sporting event.

Even though the battles of the cold war are gone I still love the Olympics.  I love watching with fear as the women’s gymnastics teams do things that defy all common sense.  I love watching the records fall and the new heroes be born.  I love it when someone who should win fails because of their pride and someone who no one thought had a shot guts it out and surprises everyone but themselves.   I love the pageantry of the open ceremony and watching the athletes who know they will never win a medal enjoy that moment.

So while the Olympics are no longer good versus evil like during the cold war or going to bring about world peace as Baron Pierre had hoped, they are still the best sporting event in the world.

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