Written by The Beijing Olympics are underway, and I have settled into my usual Olympic stance. I ask myself questions. Do I care? Should I boycott? What is the Russian Olympic Committee? I’m curious, so I watch. Maybe something great, like the Miracle on Ice, will happen.
These Olympics are different for a couple of reasons. First, it seems too soon. Has it been two years since the 2020 Olympics? Didn’t we go through this six months ago? The concept of time has no relevance these days.
More importantly, however, we have the presence of China. Images and stories that shock and amaze us. The odd plight of tennis star Peng Shuai, people in hazmat suits enforce draconian Covid restrictions, human rights atrocities against Uyghurs, and the authoritarian bromance between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
Americans have a hard time understanding cultures that differ from ours. They all should pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They should have stable, democratic governments just like ours. Why are they not following our lead?
Robert Boland wrote an excellent article earlier this week explaining the history of the modern Olympic Games and the clouds hovering over the Beijing games. He asked us two questions. Can what happens on the snow and ice competitive surfaces help clear those clouds? Or will these Games be used to advance values that run contrary to those of the Olympic movement?
Let me take a shot at answering them. I will use a bad analogy for the first one.
I live in Houston. About every four years or so, usually in early February, we get a significant winter storm with either ice or snow along with freezing temperatures. Also, every four years or so, we come under a hurricane or tropical storm threat around late August or early September.
What if these storms regularly came every year? We would not consider them to be disasters because we would expect them. Preparation would be mandatory. Budgets would set aside funds to deal with the aftermath. They would come and go, and we move on to the next.
But, because they happen every four years rather than annually, we allow time to adjust our perspective. We forget what we said we would do next time. We either overreact or underreact, depending on how severe the last storm was. Our anxiety levels rise when the weather forecasters show the storm’s path heading right up I-45. We wait to prepare until the last minute, then we storm the supermarkets and empty their shelves.
I have noticed a strange dynamic during the storm and its immediate aftermath. People set aside politics, class, race, and national identity. We unite. Then, when it’s over, we retreat to our corners. The storm itself is terrible, but it provides us a brief respite from the struggles we face during typical weather.
I think the two weeks of the Olympic Games are like that. The clouds will clear while we try to understand the difference between an axel and a lutz, wonder how curling became a sport, and be amazed by Russian Kamila Valieva for her ability to complete quad jumps with ease. Once the flame goes out, we go back to normal. The clouds will reappear.
The second question is much harder to answer. To answer it, you have to understand better the values the Olympic Games are promoting.
Pierre de Coubertin proposed the phrase “Citius, Altius, Fortius” is the motto of the Olympics. In English, this translates to “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” The Olympic Creed supports this ideal:
“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.”
Later, the word “Together” was added to the end to represent unity among the world’s inhabited continents. The famous Olympic Rings are symbolic of this. The different colors of the rings and the white background demonstrate this. They represent the colors of the flags of all countries that competed in the Olympic Games at the time.
ABC’s Wide World of Sports gave us a more modern interpretation of these values:
“Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!
If we assess these values against the signal sent by the competition, we can agree that the values have held up well over the years. We are only halfway through this version of the games, but there are many examples. The Jamaican bobsled team qualified to compete for the first time in over 20 years. The Covid restrictions have provided all athletes with an additional struggle to overcome, with some arriving just in time to compete. Nathan Chen’s record-setting performance exuberated the thrill of victory. Mikaela Shiffrin’s agony of defeat was on display after she skied off of her second straight competition.
Unfortunately, noise generated by and around the event usually drowns out the values signaled by the competition. Nationalistic pride emphasizes the result over the struggle. Money seems more important to the organizers than either of these, and doping scandals taint the spirit of fairness.
In the end, it comes down to a choice. Suppose you choose to hunker down for two weeks and focus on the competition rather than the absurdities the event itself presents to us. In that case, you can experience the values of the games as de Coubertin envisioned them. If you choose to focus on the noise, you miss out on this respite while promoting the competing values.
I’m choosing the former. There will be plenty of time for the latter after next week.