I managed to watch the Olympics on and off over the last couple of weeks, and came up with some observations (bearing in mind that, being one of the least athletic people on the planet, I have no “standing” to make comments):
The Olympics, although they are called “games”, seem more real, authentic, solid, and honorable than pretty much anything else that is happening in the world right now, particularly in politics and in the crushing load of propaganda that is imposed on the citizenry every hour of every day on pretty much every issue or subject. We are, it's said, living in a post-reality era – which is true, since everything is politicized (therefore subjective) and we can't take anything for granted, including much of what is happening (or seems to be happening) right in front of our eyes. Of course the Olympics are politicized to some extent as well, and always have been... but they are still ultimately about natural talent, discipline, practice, and coaching. While perhaps not “pure”, they are as close as we can reasonably expect anything to come. (And things have improved considerably since the Cold War era, when you could always count on those stone-faced Russian judges to boost the scores of Russian athletes, and perhaps shave a bit off American scores.)
Also noted, and not for the first time – every sport, and every event, has its ideal body type – and there is very little variation within a given sport or event. This is, of course, the result of a kind of natural selection – as practiced by coaches, athletic directors, and so on... and reinforced through competition, training, conditioning – diet and nutrition as well, surely. A person's natural genetic potential will, hopefully, lend itself to one or more athletic endeavors... but surely it can never be that anybody can become anything in the world of sports (although we have had some pretty amazing people who came close – Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Jim Thorpe come to mind). What's intriguing is the possibility that, by the time anyone gets to Olympic level, all the DNA factors have been sorted out, and then it becomes purely a matter of conditioning, discipline, coaching, and raw determination. (And of course we can't discount a bit of randomness either. When outcomes are determined down to the hundredth of a second, or a centimeter, it would be a bit strained to claim that the winner was a significantly better athlete than the runner-up – especially when you could run the same event the next day and possibly get the opposite result.)
On the lighter side – I noticed that the later I stayed up to watch Olympic events, the more likely I was to see an event, or a sport, that I never knew even existed. (Cue expression of incredulity: “THAT's an Olympic event??”) I fully expect, some time in the future, to see sack races and three-legged races included (maybe not for medals, but at least for “demonstration”). (Well, why not? At least those are events I actually competed in in grade school, on “field day” – my introduction to abysmal failure, by the way.)
It should have been a lesson in geography as well. I've heard of all the countries that attended, but I'll bet many people haven't. There are some interesting entries way down on the participation list that should send people running to their atlas. (And yes, I had to look up ROC. My first thought was Republic of China, but that's out of fashion.)
And by the way, how often do you get to hear the national anthem of Fiji? Or Qatar? Don't tell me that isn't fun.
And then we have this phenomenon of athletes who weren't born in a given country, and didn't grow up there, winding up on their Olympic team. How long has this been going on? I don't remember that in the old days. Back then, everyone on the Swedish team had to be a Swede... and everyone on the Botswana team had to be Botswanian... etc. I guess it's kind of like the draft system in the NFL – it's a way to level the playing field a bit. But still... (I can see San Marino becoming an ice hockey powerhouse. Hey, if Jamaica can do bobsledding... )
And speaking of which, I loved the way the commentators for the women's basketball game between the U.S. and Japan were going on and on about the “size” issue. Well duh! But even so, the Japanese managed to get to the gold medal round which means they had to beat plenty of other tall people. (Even so, I spotted what appeared to be some “ringers” on the Japanese team. See previous item.)
The most enjoyable, i.e. least boring, event in my book: Skateboarding (Uh-huh, I know, it's not a classic – Avery Brundage would turn over in his grave. Well, tough!)
Most boring: Water polo (mostly a lot of splashing, and headgear that makes them look like extras from a cheesy 1950s sci-fi movie)
Most riveting: Shot put. Yes! The sight of those incredible hulks whirling around that ring before letting fly was mesmerizing.
Most gratifying: Everyone took the mask mandate in stride.
Second most gratifying: I didn't see any medal award “demonstrations”. Maybe I missed it, or just maybe the activists weren't quite up to medal level.
Also noted – the absolute perfection (at least to the untrained eye) of all the venues and the surrounding area. I didn't get the impression, as I have with some of the more “third world” sites, that the Olympic Village was also a Potemkin Village.
And thank goodness the summer Olympics can all happen in the same area – unlike the winter Olympics where some events can be 100 miles from other events, and where so much depends on the weather. (I do have to give the women runners credit for racing in the pouring rain. That had to be a good test of traction (shoes vs. track surface).)
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